The New Orleans Saints traveled up to Seattle to take on the Seahawks. The game was filled up penalties and weather-impacted sloppy play, but a short field goal to take the 13-10 lead late that elevated the Saints to a narrow road win.
How It Happened:
New Orleans as the away team won the coin toss and elected to defer to receive the ball to start the second half. Neither team could generate much offense on their opening possessions as both had to punt and barely took any time off the clock.
On Seattle’s second time on offense, running back Alex Collins rushed for no gain. On 2nd & 10, quarterback Geno Smith threw the ball down the right sideline. Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf came down with the catch but broke loose for an 84 yard touchdown reception. Star Marshon Lattimore was in coverage on Metcalf but lost his footing as the ball was coming their way.
The following four possessions were all punts, two between each team, including a 3-and-out by the Saints.
The Black and Gold on their fourth offensive drive of the night cut the lead down to 7-3. Starting at their own 12 yard line, New Orleans took 19 plays and over 10 minutes off the clock. Star Alvin Kamara had 10 touches by himself on the scoring drive.
Seattle would stall their next drive after seven plays, defensive end Marcus Davenport forced the 3rd-and-Long incompletion as the Saints would get the ball back.
After the punt, Jameis Winston was the center piece to New Orleans taking their first lead of the game. Winston completed five out of six passes for 79 yards, scrambled for 6 yards and threw the game’s first touchdown to Kamara. Saints now lead 10-7 with 47 seconds left in the first half.
A holding on the offense call would stunt the Seahawks offense and negate any chance they had of trying to point more points on the board. The Saints would head into halftime with a narrow three point lead.
Out of the break, Winston wasn’t able to convert on a 3rd-and-short to Marquez Callaway. Punter Blake Gillikin pinned Smith and the Seahawks offense at their own 12 to begin their next drive.
Smith was forced into his own 3rd-and-short early in the drive, but completed the attempted pass to Tyler Lockett for seven yards and the first down. Lattimore gave the Seahawks an extra 15 yards after the play because of an unnecessary roughness call on him. A few plays later, New Orleans would force a 3rd & 19 and stop Seattle running back Travis Homer short of the first down. Kicker Jason Myers would attempt a 44 yard field, but the kick was no good and went wide right.
Even with a short field to work with, each offense couldn’t get anything going and had to punt after short-lived possessions. Following a Seahawks punt, the Saints would start their next drive at their own 15 yard line. Winston on first down connects with Kamara for 13 yards and a fresh set of downs. The next play, Winston found tight end Adam Trautman for eight yards. Trautman would fumble on the play and the ball was recovered by linebacker Jordyn Brooks and brought back to the New Orleans 32 yard line.
The defense would make the third down stop and force another field goal attempt by Myers. The Myers 50 yard field goal attempt went through the up-rights and tied the game at 10 apiece with less than 20 seconds left to go in the third quarter.
On 2nd & 9 from their own 38, Winston completed a big 30 yard pass to Callaway, the play would be nullified because of offensive holding by center Eric McCoy. The drive would stall soon after and the Seahawks would get the ball for their 10th drive of the contest.
Smith and his offense would methodically move the ball down the field and only took a few plays to get into New Orleans territory. The Saints defense though would come up clutch on third down and put the Seahawks in another long field goal situation. Myers would miss his second field goal of the evening, this time from 53 yards away and set the Black and Gold up with a short field.
With a big third down on the line, Winston would get sacked by star linebacker Bobby Wagner and safety Marquise Blair. Blair would get flagged for roughing the passer after he collided helmets with the Saints quarterback.
With the fresh set of downs, the offense would move forward until they got to the Seattle 24 yard line, where they lined up newly signed kicker Brian Johnson for the potential lead swing. Before Johnson could get the kick off, defensive lineman Al Woods jumped into the neutral zone and was penalized five yards for encroachment. The penalty reset the Saints downs and gave the Saints a third shot at a touchdown opportunity. Seattle would stand tall and make the Saints bring out Johnson for the 33 yard attempt. The new kicker would give the Saints the 13-10 lead with just under two minutes left in the game.
The Juice Boys on defense would come in clutch one last time with a batted down pass by Demario Davis on 4th & 28 to seal the nail biter victory for the Saints.
BIG NUMBER: 2
Two missed field goals by Seahawks kicker Jason Myers kept the close and was a huge reason the Black and Gold leave the hostile environment with a win.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Alvin Kamara
Kamara’s 30 touches, 179 yards and receiving touchdown carried the New Orleans offense was exactly what the team needed to win on Monday night after the team had the previous week off.
NEXT UP: vs Buccaneers; Kickoff at 3:25