Sean Payton not frustrated with New Orleans Saints form

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton has insisted that he and his players are not frustrated with their recent form in the NFL, despite losing the lead in the NFC South with defeat to the Carolina Panthers.

The late defeat means that the Panthers need just a final win to top the conference and the Saints are now most likely to have to play as a wildcard in the playoffs.

"I think they saw and felt they had a great week last week coming off of obviously a tough loss," Payton told the club's official website. "I don't sense [frustration] at all. I think that, look, we've won some of these games in Tampa Bay earlier in the season, the Atlanta game came down – the first one – to the last possession.

"Those are some of the challenges and that's the challenge of our league. I don't sense that at all. I think the players, obviously all of us, hurt from that loss. It stung, but I think they felt pretty good about the preparation and the plan going in, and they did a great job of executing it. Obviously things changed in the second half with the conditions, but overall the attitude has been outstanding."

The Saints' final regular season game is on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.