The Saints were just a little too late on Saturday night against the Houston Texans after a first half offensive struggle led to another preseason loss to the Houston Texans by the score of 16-9.
“It’s a frustrating game in some regards with how we played offensively” Sean Payton said of the poor performance from the offense, “It was as bad as we’ve been in a while.”
The game started out strong for the defense, forcing a three and out on the opening drive, but a Marcus Murphy fumble off the punt return led to Houston scoring the first points with a pass from Brock Osweiler to Will Fuller to make it 7-0.
After the game, Payton made it clear that it will not be tolerated. “We get a three and out to start the game and the first punt’s on the ground. It just can’t happen, we’ll find another returner”
The Saints woes continued later in the first quarter as Drew Brees would throw an interception that would put the Texans around midfield which would set up a 49 yard field goal by Novak to make it 10-0.
Houston would close out the first half with another field goal from Novak, this time from 46 yards to head into the locker room with a 13-0 lead.
The Saints would finally get on the board late in the third quarter after a 14 play drive ended with a 33-yarder from Connor Barth to cut away at the lead. After the Saints defense forced another three and out, the Saints continued to chop away at the lead early in the fourth quarter after another lengthy drive that was capped off by a field goal from Kai Forbath.
The defense may have been the star of the game for the Saints on Saturday night as they were able to get two turnovers, most notably a fumble by Tom Savage that gave the Saints the ball at the four yard line. However, the Saints offense had to settle for another field goal from Forbath.
As the two-minute warning drew near, the Saints had a hard time stopping the Texans and they were able to get one more field goal by Novak to make it a seven point game.
Despite having 1:58 on the clock, the Saints were unable to bring the game to overtime as on the final play of the game, Garrett Grayson throws an interception to give Houston the victory.
The Saints drop to 0-2 in preseason play and will take on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Friday with kickoff set for 7 pm.
-Clint Domingue