After losing to the Arizona Cardinals in week one, the New Orleans Saints regrouped and took on another NFC foe, this time the San Francisco 49ers. The Saints never led in the ball game and had a chance to steal a win before Spencer Rattler fumbled on fourth down with less than a minute to go. New Orleans would lose 26-21 to fall to 0-2 on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Black and Gold won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball first. Spencer Rattler connected with Rashid Shaheed for a 39-yard pass down the left sideline to the San Francisco 26-yard line. Chris Olave dropped a pass in the endzone, and the Saints settled for a 40-yard field goal. Blake Grupe would miss the kick and set up the 49er offense at their 30-yard line.
Alontae Taylor broke up Mac Jones’ pass on third down and forced San Francisco to go three-and-out on their first drive. On the second Saints possession, Alvin Kamara rushed for 19 on a pair of carries but had to punt after Rattle threw three consecutive incompletions to Juwan Johnson and Olave.
The 49ers struck first with a 14-play, 65-yard drive. Isaac Yiadom extended the drive with a defensive pass interference on third down. Carl Granderson cleaned up with a coverage sack the next play, but Jones found Ricky Pearsall across the middle for a gain of 15 on 3rd & 14. Luke Farrell capped off the drive with an 11-yard touchdown catch. Newly signed kicker Eddy Pineiro’s PAT went wide right, putting San Fran ahead by six with 3:32 to go in the opening quarter.
The Niners added onto their lead early in the second. They got down to the 22-yard line of the Saints before an aborted snap lost them five yards and Jones’ pass to McCaffrey fell incomplete. Pineiro drilled a 44-yard field goal to put the Scarlet and Gold ahead by nine.
New Orleans answered with a big scoring drive. The Black and Gold with 84 yards in 12 plays and took 5:34 off the clock. After getting sacked on first down, Rattler found Brandin Cooks for a 20-yard gain before Kamara moved the football beyond midfield with a 15-yard run. Rattler scrambled for a gutsy nine-yard run on 3rd & 6 and then hit Johnson for an 18-yard touchdown, making it a two-point game with 1:14 to go in the second quarter.
San Fran responded with another touchdown drive mere seconds before halftime. Jauan Jennings made a 29-yard catch to get the ball into field goal range before Jake Tongues took a screen pass 11 yards to the New Orleans 12-yard line. Jones would find McCaffrey three plays later for a seven-yard score. That put the Niners ahead 16-7 at the break.
Kool-Aid McKinstry was called for illegal hands to the face to extend the 49ers’ drive coming out of the half. Chris Rumph II stripped Jones for an eight-yard sack, and Demario Davis recovered the fumble at the San Francisco 47-yard line.
The turnover helped the Saints get into the endzone for a second time. The possession was 10 plays for 47 yards and concluded with a three-yard touchdown pass to Shaheed. New Orleans was down by two with 7:11 remaining in the third quarter.
Pineiro tacked on another field goal on the following drive to put the 49ers ahead by five. After that, Rattler was hit late out of bounds by Dee Winters, setting up the Saints’ offense at the San Francisco 48-yard line. Three plays later, Kamara had to make an unconventional catch with his helmet. Fred Warner forced the ball loose on the play and recovered the ball, creating the game’s second turnover.
McCaffrey got open on multiple plays, having three touches for 32 yards. Jones then found Jennings for a 42-yard touchdown, putting the Saints behind 26-14 with 12:18 to go in the fourth.
Down two scores, the Black and Gold mustered up another touchdown. A pair of defensive penalties kept the drive alive. Rattler connected with Olave for a 13-yard gain to set up a three-yard pass to DeVaughn Vele. That score made it 26-21 with 6:18 to go.
The New Orleans defense got a stop and gave the offense one more chance to take the first lead of the game. The Saints began at their six-yard line and coughed up the football. San Francisco went into victory formation to secure the five-point win. The loss drops the Black and Gold to 0-2 on the season.
BIG NUMBER: 6
All six of Sunday’s touchdowns in the Caesars Superdome came through the air as Spencer Rattler and Mac Jones each threw three. This was the first time that Rattler threw multiple touchdown passes in a game in his career.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Mac Jones
The former Alabama quarterback had to fill in for an injured Brock Purdy, but that was no issue. Jones completed 26 out of 39 pass attempts for 279 yards and three touchdowns as the 49ers took down the Saints 26-21.
NEXT UP: The New Orleans Saints will travel up to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Seahawks. This week three matchup is set for Sunday, September 21st, with kickoff from Lumen Field scheduled for 3:05 PM.