NEW ORLEANS — Speaking of déjà vu, the 2-0 Saints entered their Week 3 game with high expectations, similar to last year, and failed to shut down an opponent. The loss to the Packers proved costly in the end, and hopefully that won't be the case after suffering a heartbreaking loss to the Eagles on Sunday.

It wasn't a pretty outing for the Saints. They had some good moments, made some big stops and turnovers, but the early loss of Erik McCoy proved to be something of an omen. There were pressure issues galore, and they couldn't gain a single yard to close the game out. Despite all of these tough situations, New Orleans could have won the game after taking the lead late. However, the defense allowed a big 3rd-and-16 from Dallas Goedert after a major communication error that led to Philly taking the lead again late. The explosive plays hurt all day, and the Eagles' 460 yards of offense were proof of that.

There are a lot of culprits for the loss, and is any of it relevant? Probably not. I don't think it's fair to simply say the offense wasn't strong or that the defense couldn't do what it needed to do. The bottom line is that New Orleans put themselves in a position to win the game after it was all said and done, and they couldn't finish it off. If they had won the game, things would be different. Nobody cares how you win when you win, and now the Saints have to show they're really different this time.

“Adversity is like a building block of life,” Tyrann Mathieu said after the game. “You can't go through life expecting great things without there being hiccups, without setbacks, without adversity. So that sucks. We put our heart and soul into the game. We sacrifice a lot to get to Sunday and we want to win, not just for ourselves but for everyone. It doesn't always go according to plan, but the positive is there are a lot of great times and great people that wouldn't be great without the hard times.”

Mathieu said the team can't sulk too long about the result. He added that players and coaches will learn from it and that while it's early, the confidence is still there. New Orleans knows what to expect in Week 4, and that's a divisional game against the Falcons.

“We know we're still a good football team,” Derek Carr said after the loss. He said adversity will come at some point and that this is a great opportunity for everyone to come into the building tomorrow and see if everyone brings the same energy they've had so far, but with a few more adjustments.

Carr said it was a race to see who could improve the most towards the end and right now there was no discouragement but was upset because they lost. He said the belief was so strong in the room. We saw it but actions always speak louder than words.

At the end of the day, here we are again with the 2-1 Saints wondering what Week 4 will bring when they play the Falcons. The film will hurt, but it will be a necessary lesson that we can learn from and hopefully overcome. Let's just hope it doesn't come back to haunt them in January.