Franchise Moments: New Orleans' Top Moment of the Past Decade
The Saints were one of the NFL's first expansion teams when they joined in 1967, but it wasn't until 1987 that New Orleans got to witness a team with a winning record and postseason berth (fans would have to wait until 2000 for the franchise's first playoff win).
Their misfortunes continued through the first half of the 2000s, with the team playing away from the Superdome in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina rocked New Orleans and the southern coast of the United States.
The team's fortunes changed in 2006, starting with the head coach hiring of Sean Payton, who played a pivotal role in signing quarterback Drew Brees that offseason. The Brees-Payton tandem turned the Saints into perennial contenders, with their peak coming in a Super Bowl XLIV victory over Peyton Manning and the Colts.
The Saints haven't made the Super Bowl since that win in Miami, but that narrative would have changed had it not been for their most defining moment of the last 10 years, as voted by the RotoWire staff.
Saints' Top Moment of the Last Ten Years
The winner: Nickell Robey-Coleman's uncalled PI in the 2018 NFC Championship Game.
Nickell Robey-Coleman is an Eagle. The Saints are still crying about this today.
I'm here for it. pic.twitter.com/MUiKLKrn3K
— Victor Williams (@ThePhillyPod) March 25, 2020
It can be a badge of honor to have a rule changed because of your actions. We've seen this multiple times in the NBA from the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley and, more recently, Kevin Durant and his "rip-through" movement.
We've certainly seen it in the NFL, perhaps no more infamously than the "tuck-rule" that jump-started Tom Brady's career and the Patriots dynasty. However, when a call -- or in this case, a no-call -- is so disastrous that it causes a rule change within a year, you know it's going to be a moment to remember forever.
The NFC Championship Game between the Rams and Saints was a back-and-forth affair, pitting Payton and Brees against up-and-coming head coach Sean McVay, quarterback and 2016 first-overall pick Jared Goff and young defensive stud Aaron Donald. New Orleans held the lead for most of the game until Los Angeles tied things up in the fourth quarter, but with the game tied at 20-20, the Saints had the ball late in the final frame, deep in enemy territory with a chance to seal the game. That's when the infamous moment happened.
On a 3rd-and-10 inside the red zone and with less than two minutes left, Tommylee Lewis ran a wheel route to the right side of the field. Brees marked his man, but defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman got to the play before Lewis could.
The only problem was that Robey-Coleman took Lewis completely out of the play without attempting to make a play on the ball. It should have led to a pass interference penalty and, with just one timeout left for the Rams, would have led to a chip-shot field goal to send the Saints to the Super Bowl.
Except the flag never came.
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Inexplicably, the line judge right in front of the play elected to keep the yellow flag in his pocket. Instead of running out the clock to seal the game, the Saints sent out the field-goal unit for a 31-yard chip-shot from Wil Lutz. Goff successfully drove the Rams down the field to tie the game up at 23-23 and force overtime.
In OT, the Rams' defensive front pressured Brees into throwing an interception, and the offense took advantage with a field goal to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LIII, eventually falling to Brady and the Patriots in a 13-3 loss.
The Saints would make the playoffs in each of the next two years, losing in the wild-card round in 2019 and the divisional round in 2020. Brees retired following the 2020 season, and Payton was let go by the Saints one year later after the team failed to make the postseason with a 9-8 record. Dennis Allen took over as New Orleans' head coach in 2022 but was let go midway through the 2024 season, leading to the Saints hiring Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore as the new HC.
Meanwhile, the NFL implemented a rule change to make pass interference calls and non-calls reviewable in 2019. However, that was a short-lived experiment as the rule was scrapped after just one season.
Looking ahead to 2026 Saints Season
The Saints are coming off a 6-11 record, but there were a lot of positives that came out of the 2025 season. The biggest plus was the emergence of rookie second-rounder Tyler Shough, who took over as the starting quarterback in Week 8 and completed 68.0 percent of his passes for 2,384 yards, touchdowns and six interceptions while turning 45 carries into 186 yards and three scores over the final 10 games of the regular season.
New Orleans committed to Shough as the franchise QB this offseason by signing star running back Travis Etienne to a four-year contract, selecting Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson with the eighth-overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft and, most recently, giving wideout Chris Olave to a massive four-year contract worth up to $132 million. The NFC South is one of the most wide-open divisions in football this season, so it wouldn't be all that surprising to see the Saints back in the playoffs for the first time in six years.
More About The Campaign
The RotoWire expert panel voted to select the single most franchise-defining moment from the last 10 years for all 32 NFL teams. Voting has now closed. The results power a 33-article editorial series published across RotoWire ahead of the NFL season -- one dedicated article per franchise, plus one overarching piece covering the broader trends and standout moments across the league.
