New Orleans returned home to the Superdome with the opportunity to get back to .500 with Joe Burrow and the Bengals in town. The Saints offense was great in the first half, but staggered in the second and allowed Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase to torch the Saints’ defense and win the game 30-26.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
On the Bengals’ first drive, Demario Davis sacked Joe Burrow to force a punt. The Saints would go three-and-out as well, but a fumble on the punt return set the Saints up for a three-play scoring drive that ended with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Andy Dalton to Tre’Quan Smith to put the Saints ahead 7-0 early.
Joe Burrow answered in dramatic fashion, benefitting from a questionable roughing the passer call to find Joe Mixon for a nine-yard strike to tie the game at 7-7.
Early in the second quarter, Rashid Shaheed, who was elevated from the practice squad to replace Olave, went 44 yards on an end-around for a touchdown and the Saints retook the lead 14-7.
Later, Wil Lutz got his number called for a 35-yard field goal with 10:28 left in the quarter to put the Saints up 17-7. However, Burrow would lead an incredible drive down the field, going 75 yards in 10 plays and capping it off with a 19-yard Burrow touchdown run to make it 17-14 with less than six minutes left in the first half.
Wil Lutz knocked through a 30-yard field goal with one second left to give the Saints a 20-14 lead heading into the locker room.
New Orleans opened the third quarter with a strong drive that resulted in a field goal from Lutz once again, this time from 37 yards away to put the Saints ahead 23-14 at the 7:12 mark of the quarter.
However, Burrow and the Bengals wouldn’t stay down, as the former LSU star found his Tiger teammate Ja’Marr Chase from 15 yards away to close the gap and make it 23-21 with 3:30 left in the quarter.
Wil Lutz came on for the fourth time to hit a 31-yard field goal and put New Orleans up 26-21 with 11:07 remaining in the game.
New Orleans got back-to-back sacks on the Bengals’ next drive and that would force Evan McPherson to connect on a 52-yard field goal to make it 26-24 Saints with 3:41 to go.
Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase worked their magic once again following a shanked punt by Blake Gillikin when Chase went on a 60-yard scamper to put the Bengals up 30-26 at the two-minute warning.
The Saints would fail to get anything on their final drive and fall at home 30-26.
BIG NUMBER: 16-6
The Bengals outscored the Saints 16-6 in the second half as Cincinnati took down New Orleans.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ja’Marr Chase
Chase starred once again in the Superdome, racking up 132 yards on seven catches and scoring twice.
Davis also had a key performance on the defensive side, with nine total tackles and two sacks on Joe Burrow.
UP NEXT: The Saints will have a short break as they travel to Phoenix for Thursday Night Football against the Cardinals. Kickoff is at 7:15 p.m. and you can hear it on The Game following the Brian Kelly Coaches’ Show.