Louisiana – the State we’re in. That was a theme the tourism department used not long ago. If you direct it toward sports, the one word answer would be SHOCK.

Hail Mary. More like holy cow.

The New Orleans Saints fell to 1-6 Sunday in an even unique way for them. Have you ever seen a time snatch defeat from sure victory as much as these guys?

With two seconds remaining in the game with Cleveland Sunday, Tim Couch completed a desperation 56-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Johnson with no time on the clock Sunday for a 21-16 victory.

It was the first win of the season for the Browns, who got a chance after New Orleans mismanaged the clock (sound familiar), calling a timeout with 26 seconds left rather than letting time run down. Doug Brien’s 46-yard field goal with 21 seconds left put the Saints up 16-14.

But Couch, who completed 11 of 19 passes for 193 yards, drove the Browns 75 yards on three plays, hitting Johnson in the corner of the end zone despite a swarm of Saints defenders around him.

New Orleans quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver took blame for calling the time out right after a draw play to Ricky Williams. But somebody has to be saying, &uot;Run the draw, let the time run down.&uot;

It’s like the third base coach who is going to tell the 20-year veteran to wait until the ball is caught to go, because these guys are in the heat of the battle and you can’t take anything for granted.

Do you remember those Bo Schembechler videos showing pee wee games. They were called something like &uot;How to Play Football.&uot;

I think I’m going to send a few copies down to New Orleans.

I’ll make extra copies of two chapters. Time management and how to defend the Hail Mary pass.

The Saints should actually have a copy of the last one from the days when Atlanta’s Steve Bartkowski tossed up a few answered prayers.

It was the second week in a row a desperation pass worked against New Orleans. The New York Giants completed a 53-yarder against the Saints as the half ran out last week.

And what about Mike Ditka now? He took over the play-calling for New Orleans against the Browns, because he was unhappy with game plans that he felt strayed from his desire to pound the football with Ricky Williams.

Ricky rushed for almost 200 yards, but fumbled three times. However, the Saints’ play-calling was so unimaginative I almost fell asleep watching.

So does Ditka go? I don’t think tha’s the answer for a franchise that needs to average 10 wins a year for the next 26 years to reach .500.

Owner Tom Benson does need to get more involved instead of sitting back and counting his money.

I do think Ditka needs to get rid of offensive coordinator Danny Abramowicz and bring in someone with a little imagination.

Meanwhile, up the road things are even worse.

After four games this year, Gerry DiNardo had a few backers. After six games, he had even fewer.

After pushing Mississippi State to the limit he gained a few more loyalists, but Dinardo likely lost them all in LSU’s 42-23 loss to Ole Miss.

The way I see it, the only chance DiNardo has of staying is if he gets rid of defensive coordinator Lou Tepper and gets a new offensive coordinator.

Bob McConnell was moved from receivers coach to offensive coordinator in the spring and he even displayed some doubt about the move.

Then comes word that two coaches – Hal Hunter and Mike Haywood – left the sidelines before the final horn Saturday.

I don’t care how bad things are or how much you disagree with what’s going on, that just sends the worst message possible.

DiNardo needs to clean house. But even that may not be enough for him to keep his own in Baton Rouge, La.