It’s not often that you see a team in the NFL drop a fifty burger on an opponent, especially as the road team. However, this New Orleans Saints (8-1) isn’t a typical NFL team and Sunday afternoon’s dominant 51-14 win over the Cincinnati Bengals was another example of that.
The Saints started things off with an incredible 15-play drive that ate up eight and half minutes of clock in the first quarter and capped it off with a seven-yard pass to Michael Thomas to take the early lead. Andy Dalton and the Bengals offense responded just before the first quarter was finished with a short two-yard pass to John Ross to even things up at seven.
It didn’t take long for the Saints to find paydirt on the next drive thanks in large part to Mark Ingram and the former first-rounder was able to shred the Bengals defense for a 28-yard touchdown reception to get the lead right back. It was at this point, New Orleans really started to take hold of the ballgame with a pair of touchdown runs by Alvin Kamara to make it 28-7 with 1:22 left until halftime.
The Bengals tried to end the half on a positive note, but Marcus Williams was able to pick off Dalton and returned it to the Cincinnati 17-yard line with eight seconds left on the clock. The final nail was driven in on the very next play with a 17-yard pass to Michael Thomas that made it 35-7 at the break.
The Bengals came out of the second half already beaten and went three-and-out to start the second half and that resulted in a 29-yard field goal courtesy of Wil Lutz. The game was well in hand, but the Saints polished off the Bengals before the third quarter was finished when Drew Brees did his signature leap over the offensive line to make it 45-7 with 2:27 left.
The Saints will return to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome when they take on the defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (4-4) with kickoff slated for 3:25 pm.
-Clint Domingue