Preseason openers are expected to be bad. And this was one of those games. Costly penalties late cost the Saints a win over the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night by the score of 30-27.
The Ravens struck first with a 16 play drive that ate up a lot of clock in the first quarter that was capped off by a 1 yard run into the endzone by Lorenzo Taliaferro.
After a three and out by the Saints, the Ravens tacked on another touchdown with Matt Schaub connecting with Michael Campanaro for a 41 yard score. Justin Tucker kicked a 47 yarder in the second quarter to give Baltimore a 17-0 lead over New Orleans.
The Saints finally got on the board shortly after the Tucker field goal with a short pass to Brandin Cooks from Luke McCown that Cooks turned into a 28 yard TD to cut the lead to 17-7.
Tucker kept the Saints out of reach with another field goal, this time from 25 yards to increase the Ravens’ lead to 20-7.
But the Saints kept it close going with a two-minute offense and scoring off a 21 yard pass from Ryan Griffin to Khiry Robinson to end the first half down 20-14.
The Saints opened the second half with a long drive in the third quarter but missing out on a chance to come within three off of a 50 yarder by Zach Hocker. But the Saints got the ball back on the very next play off of an interception by Damian Swann. The Saints capitalized off of the turnover with Hocker redeeming himself hitting a 47 yarder through the uprights.
Hocker gave the Saints new life in the fourth quarter when he sent a 50 yarder sailing through the uprights to tie it up. But the Ravens’ Tucker got the lead back the next drive with a 51 yarder.
Terrence Frederick gave the Saints one final push late in the fourth quarter with an interception to give the Saints excellent field position. The Saints took advantage of the situation when Marcus Murphy walked into the endzone to give New Orleans the lead for the first time in the game.
The Saints kept the Ravens at bay until a 4th and long was converted off a short throw to rookie tight end Maxx Williams to give the Ravens a final chance in the closing seconds.
With the Ravens at the 13 yard line, Jamarca Sanford was penalized with defensive pass interference putting the ball at the one yard line and Bryn Renner put the game when he walked into the endzone, leaving two second left on the clock.
The New Orleans Saints will head back home to the Mercedes Benz Superdome to take on the New England Patriots on Saturday, August 22nd with kickoff set for 6:30 pm.
-Clint Domingue