Time doesn't heal all wounds, as the few Indianapolis Colts players who showed up in the locker room Monday still were stung by Sunday night's 62-7 loss at New Orleans.
"We didn't play well at all, and there's no scapegoat in this," Colts center Jeff Saturday said. "We all screwed it up, and we all got beat as bad as you can get beat. There are not enough fingers to go around, so we all share the same burden here and the same blame. We've got to get it fixed and go play better next week."
Saturday reportedly said after the game that the Coltshad been out-coached, but he denied that Monday.
"I didn't say that," Saturday said, according to the team's website. "I said that as a team, we were out-played, we were out-coached. There is nothing that we did better than they did yesterday. I've been in this game way too long to try to lay the blame on anybody else. No coach put pads on."
Coach Jim Caldwell was blunt with his team in the locker room after the game.
"You tell them the truth," he said. "We just got licked in every phase. I told them last night that we got whipped in every phase, and I told them wasn't pleased with my preparation for them. I didn't get them ready, obviously, and I've got to do a better job."
The Saints passed for 325 yards and ran for 236. Drew Brees completed 31 of 35 passes and threw for five touchdowns.
"Right at the onset, we turned it over a couple times, and certainly couldn't get them stopped," Caldwell said. "Things just kind of snowballed on us. All you have to be is a little bit off against a team like that, and you're going to have some problems."
Caldwell said he's evaluating every aspect of how the team operates. He said personnel changes are possible.
"We're not into knee-jerk reactions around here," he said. "We have to evaluate and make some decisions based on what we see and what we think is best for our team. We've been making some little moves here and there, trying to tweak some things and get ourselves in a little bit better position. We will continue to evaluate, but we won't do anything out of haste."
Caldwell has become the subject of criticism from local fans, many of whom want him replaced. He said he's not worried about it.
"It's a business of performance," he said. "The thing I'm most concerned about is getting our team ready, getting our team focused. Those kinds of things occur in this business. I focus on the things I can control, and that's our preparation on a daily basis."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
