The final score of this game did not show how poor of a performance it was from the New Orleans Saints, who tried to rally back with 17 unanswered points only to come up short with a 23-20 loss over Carolina.
On the opening drive of the game, the Saints looked to be starting a march down the field until Drew Brees was sacked and fumbled the ball and that would lead to Graham Gano getting the opening points off a 32-yarder.
The Saints would respond with a lengthy 14 play drive that took almost 8 minutes off the clock and ended it with a chip shot to tie things up at three points apiece late in the first quarter.
The bad luck for the Saints offense would continue halfway through the second quarter as Brees would throw an interception, giving the Panthers great field position. This would turn into seven points with a run up the middle from Jonathan Stewart.
That wouldn’t be the end of the Saints misfortunes as Marcus Murphy muffed the kick return at the one yard line giving the Saints less than favorable field position. It would lead to another field goal from Gano to make it 13-3. The misfortunes continued late in the second quarter with another blocked field goal that led to a touchdown courtesy of Cam Newton connecting with Ted Ginn Jr. to make it 20-3 at the half.
The Panthers would start the second half with the ball and had a lengthy drive that ended with another Gano field goal to make the lead even bigger. The Saints began to rally late in the third quarter with a drive that ended with a 30 yard field goal at the start of the fourth quarter from Lutz.
After forcing a three and out, the Saints cut away at the lead with a nice pass to Brandon Coleman to make it 23-13. Things looked to be more interesting late in the fourth with Brees finding Coby Fleener to make it 23-20 with 2:56 remaining.
However the optimism was short lived as the Saints would allow Carolina to get a first down with around two minutes left on third and 10.
The Saints (4-6) will return to the Superdome on November 27th when they take on the Los Angeles Rams (4-5) with kickoff set for noon.
-Clint Domingue