The New Orleans Saints looked great in the first half, but once Jimmy Garoppolo got in the groove, the Saints were exposed, losing late against the Patriots 26-24.
The Saints defense held Tom Brady to a three-and-out to open the game and Drew Brees capitalized in his first drive getting the Saints down the field, but had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Dustin Hopkins to take an early 3-0 lead.
Brady was once again held to a three-and-out, but this time Brees was able to get six on the board with a short 10-yard pass to Benjamin Watson. But that would be all the Saints would get out of that drive after a failed two-point conversion, a recurring theme throughout the night.
The Saints halted the Patriots once again with a three-and-out, ending Tom Brady’s night. Brees decided to end his night with a bang throwing a 45-yard bomb to the endzone to Brandin Cooks for an easy six points after another failed two-point conversion.
Luke McCown late in the second quarter extended the lead for the Saints with a six yard pass for the touchdown, but another failed two-point conversion only extended their lead to 21-0.
Jimmy Garoppolo cut the lead down to two touchdown in the closing seconds of the first half with a 24-yard pass to Chris Harper, who was a major target for Garoppolo throughout the night.
The Patriots continued to chop away at the lead with a 11-yard run by Dion Lewis to cut the lead to seven points heading into the fourth quarter.
Tyler Gaffney cut the lead to one point with a three-yard run into the endzone. But much like the Saints, the Patriots were unable to make the two-point conversion to take the lead early in the fourth quarter.
After Dustin Hopkins increased their lead off of a 21-yarder, Stephen Gostkowski came back within one with a 36-yarder with 3:21 left on the clock.
After the Patriots defense forced a three-and-out, Gostkowski boots a game-winning 35 yarder with 14 seconds left on the clock.
The Saints will stay at the Mercedes Benz Superdome to take on the Houston Texans on August 30th with kickoff set for 3:00 pm.
-Clint Domingue