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Finishing Strong, the Saints Finish Off Colts With a Rout

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From Associated Press

For New Orleans, it was a great finish to a disappointing season. For Indianapolis, it was a disappointing ending to a promising season.

John Fourcade passed for two touchdowns and ran for one Sunday, leading New Orleans to a 41-6 victory over Indianapolis that ended the Colts’ playoff hopes and gave the Saints an unprecedented third straight winning season.

“Everything rolled their way,” Colt Coach Ron Meyer said. “It looked like we were always a play behind them.”

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New Orleans, which never finished above the .500 mark in its first 20 seasons, failed to make the playoffs despite a 9-7 record.

The Colts, who needed a victory to gain a wild-card berth, finished 8-8, one game behind Buffalo in the AFC East.

Fourcade, who had never started a regular-season game until three weeks ago, completed 21 of 28 passes for 291 yards and ran five times for 30 yards.

He hit Eric Martin with a three-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter and Hoby Brenner with a 30-yarder five seconds into the fourth quarter.

The Saints’ quarterback also came up with a few free-lance plays, such as a shovel pass to fullback Craig Heyward after being chased from the pocket.

“I used to be on a flag football team, and we had that play,” Fourcade said. “Craig wasn’t on that team, but he sure picked it up in a hurry.”

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The Saints won eight of their last 11 games after starting the season 1-4.

“We have nobody to blame but ourselves (for missing the playoffs),” New Orleans linebacker Pat Swilling said. “We dug our own hole with that 1-4 start. But it still hurts.”

The Colts also blew their chance to make the playoffs, but Meyer wasn’t bitter about it.

“Thank heavens we were in a position to be there,” he said. “There were a lot of football teams, like the Saints, playing on sheer pride.”

New Orleans scored on a seven-yard run by Dalton Hilliard in the third quarter, a two-yard run by Fourcade in the fourth period and a 63-yard interception return by Toi Cook with 1:37 left in the game.

Morten Andersen added two field goals for the Saints, a 21-yarder in the first quarter and a 29-yarder with 3:05 left to play in the game.

Hilliard scored 114 points and Andersen 104 this season, the first pair of 100-point scorers in Saints history. Hilliard is the first non-kicker to hit the century mark for New Orleans.

The Colts’ only points came on a pair of field goals by Dean Biasucci in the second quarter, from 41 and 22 yards.

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The Saints held Eric Dickerson, who rushed for more than 1,300 yards this season, to 54 yards in 16 carries.

“I had no idea we could hold them without a touchdown,” Saint Coach Jim Mora said. “We were concerned about their offense, with Dickerson and that offensive line they have.”

Indianapolis quarterback Jack Trudeau completed 15 of 27 passes for 118 yards and was intercepted twice.

Backup Tom Ramsey threw the pass that was picked off by Cook in the final quarter.

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