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There was the kick, the call, and the cell phone.
There were the injuries, the fumbles, the missed tackles and the turnovers.
Put it all together and it adds up to an 8-8 season for the New Orleans Saints and a third straight year without a playoff berth.
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``We had some strange things happen,'' a haggard Jim Haslett said on Monday.
Despite the disappointing season, Haslett believes his job is safe. He also defended offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy and defensive coordinator Rick Venturi.
Team owner Tom Benson met with the coaches last week and told them they and the players underachieved this year. But beating the Dallas Cowboys, the only team with a winning record the Saints beat this year, in the finale soothed Benson.
``It could have been better, but we ended on a high note,'' Benson said. ``Now we have to get ready for next year.''
Haslett said he stopped by Benson's office late Monday and asked what he should tell reporters waiting for him.
``I said what do you tell them, and he said, `Tell them we're moving forward, trying to get better, we'll look at the whole process and move on,''' Haslett said.
New Orleans opened the season 1-4, then fought back, winning five of the last seven games.
The near misses in some of those losses still haunt the coach.
The Saints lost 20-19 to Jacksonville despite a wild final play that went 75 yards for a touchdown, thanks to a forward pass and three laterals. Kicker John Carney missed the extra point that would have sent the game into overtime, his first miss since 1999.
After the game, the NFL notified the Saints that referee Gerry Austin made the wrong call when he overruled a pass interference penalty that would have given the Saints a first down at the 1-yard-line late in the game, Haslett said.
In a 14-7 loss to Tampa Bay, Joe Horn, the Saints' leading receiver, dropped a pass at the Buccaneers' goal line.
``There were times this year when we were our own worst enemies,'' said safety Jay Bellamy.
New Orleans' biggest victory of the season, a 45-7 win against the New York Giants, was overshadowed by the controversy Horn caused by pulling a cell phone from the goal post padding and pretending to talk on it after a touchdown. He was fined $30,000 by the NFL.
Injuries hit the Saints hard early on. At times as many as six defensive starters were out and the team was still working with many replacements in the last game.
Wide receiver Donte' Stallworth missed all of five games and most of a sixth with injuries, a pattern since the Saints drafted him in the first round in 2002.
``Donte' in a two-year period has played about 33 percent of the time,'' Haslett said.
The offense scored 432 points last year and had 49 touchdowns, both No. 1 in the NFC. This year, New Orleans scored 340 points and had 36 touchdowns.
Last year, Stallworth scored eight touchdowns, this year he had three. Running back Deuce McAllister dropped from 16 touchdowns to eight.
``We had opportunities all year that we just didn't take advantage of,'' McAllister said. ``We just didn't do what we needed to get it done.''
Aaron Brooks threw only eight interceptions this season, but had 13 fumbles and lost 10. Brooks fumbled four times in the loss to the Buccaneers and three were lost, all of them damaging to New Orleans.
``Take away the fumbles and everything else he did was outstanding,'' Haslett said.
Still, 8-8 is not outstanding.