New Orleans Saints tight end Jared Cook isn’t the only one to be knocked out today.
The Who Dat Nation will be out for “weeks,” according to NFL Insider Ian Shittstirrer, due to 4,015,901 concussions suffered while watching the Saints lose 48-46 on the final play to the San Francisco 49ers in a battle of 10-2 teams for the NFC’s #1 seed.
Who Dats suffered the injury late in the fourth quarter when their faces collided with their hands in an attempt to cover their eyes as the 49ers converted a 4th-and-2 at their own 33-yard line with 39 seconds left. The brute force of the impact left the Who Dat Nation in a cursing, rambling daze as it deliriously watched San Francisco tight end George Kittle rumbled down the field to put the F*ckiNiners in position for the game-winning field goal.
The Saints did not elaborate on the exact nature of the injury or its severity, but a team source told Neutral Ground News that recovery time is expected to be similar to that for the concussions suffered by Who Dat Nation when the Saints lost to the Atlanta Falcons in 2014 week one on a Marques Colston fumble in overtime.
“It isn’t season-ending or anything like that,” General Manager Mickey Loomis said in a statement released by the team. “But obviously, we feel awful for the fans. They’ve worked tremendously hard to support the team through thick and thin. I’m sure they’ll bounce back after knocking back a few and come back stronger.”
Coach Sean Payton acknowledged the injury in his post-game interview, also declining to get into any specifics.
“The Who Dat Nation is certainly a fan base that has played a major role for us. I hate that for them. But, look, these things happen. It’s next fans up.”
Shittstirrer noted the Saints will try out free agent fan bases this week and will need to make a decision quickly in the Who Dat Nation’s absence. As a stop-gap, the team could add fans from Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, the veteran New York Jets Gang Green or even the recently released Cincinnati Bengals Who Deys due to their familiarity with a system similar to the Saints.
Considered by many experts to be a top-five fan base in the NFL and a franchise cornerstone, the Who Dat Nation has been a key member of the Saints for over 50 years and often has been the only bright spot through many dark seasons over the team’s history.
Injuries have become a problem for the Who Dat Nation, especially since the end of the 2017 season when the Saints experienced the first of two consecutive heartbreaking postseason losses. After the long-lasting concussions suffered during last year’s NFC Championship against the Los Angeles Refs, many experts weren’t sure if it would be able to resume its fandom after the Who Dat Nation mentioned to sources it was “done with the NFL.”
“It’s very disappointing because just when we feel like we’re finally at 100% something happens,” visibly shaken, slurring, and stumbling Who Dats said after the game. “But we’ll be back. It’s going to take a little bit of time to recover and we’ll have to take it easy for a bit. It is what it is. But we’ll be back. God help the league, we’ll definitely be back.”