The New Orleans Saints went up to Foxborough on Sunday and were able to come up with a few turnovers and the 28-13 victory over rookie Mac Jones and the New England Patriots. The Saints improved their record to 2-1.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Saints started off with ball, but neither team could get anything going offensively, each had three-and-outs.
The second drive for the Saints saw Alvin Kamara take a swing pass for nine yards. A few plays later on 3rd & 10, Jameis Winston threw a strike to Deonte Harris for a 12-yard gain. Terron Armstead was injured on the play and wouldn’t return.
On the next play, Winston found Kenny Stills for his lone catch of the game which moved the chains another 17 yards. The drive was capped off with an Alvin Kamara touchdown reception from Winston from 11 yards out to give New Orleans the 7-0 lead early in the first quarter.
CJ Gardner-Johnson had a five yard sack on first down on the Patriots next drive. On second down, Demario Davis came up with a tackle for loss on running back JJ Taylor, who caught the pass from Jones behind the line of scrimmage. Mac Jones completed a pass short of the first down and New England punted for the second time.
The Saints next drive looked good to start, but stalled after Taysom Hill couldn’t pick up the first down with his feet. New Orleans lined up for a 52-yard field goal but kicker Aldrick Rosas’ kick hooked left and missed it.
The next three drives all resulted in punts, but the third drive ended with Saints special teamer, Andrew Dowell, blocking the Jake Bailey punt and gave New Orleans a short field to work with.
The Saints followed the blocked punt with an eight-play drive that went only 31 yards. The drive ended with Rosas missing his second field goal attempt of the half, this one from 36 yards out.
The Patriots weren’t able to take advantage of the opportunity and on third down, Jones threw his first career interception. The pass was intended for tight end Hunter Henry but PJ Williams came up with the pick and returned it all the way down to the New England nine yard line.
On third and goal, Winston nearly was sacked but managed to throw the ball high in the back of the end zone and Marquez Callaway came down with the grab for his first career touchdown.
Before the first half came to an end, Jones lead his offense down the field and made their field goal attempt. Saints lead 14-3 at the half.
The Patriots got the ball to start the second half. Jones on the first play looked to get the ball to his tight end Jonnu Smith, but Smith popped the ball up and Malcolm Jenkins snatched it out of the air and took it home from 34 yards.
After punts were traded between teams, New England put up another field goal that came off a 16 play drive that took nine minutes off the clock. The Saints lead 21-6 with 95 seconds left in the third quarter.
A few drives later, the Patriots only needed three plays to go 44 yards to score their only touchdown of the game. Mac Jones hit Kendrick Bourne from 22 yards out. Bourne on the catch imitated walking a tightrope down the sideline before he got in for the score.
The final meaningful drive for New Orleans had running the ball with Kamara and Hill be the main focus. Hill would cap the drive off with a touchdown run from four yards out and gave the Saints the 28-13 lead with less than three minutes left in the contest.
Jones and the Pats offense would get intercepted for the third time by Marshon Lattimore and sealed the victory for New Orleans with a few seconds left. The Saints record improved to 2-1 on the season.
BIG NUMBER: 3
The Saints defense locked up the rookie quarterback and forced the first three interceptions of Jones’ career.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Alvin Kamara
Kamara recorded 27 total touches, over 100 scrimmage yards and his first receiving touchdown of the season to lead his team to their second win of the season.
NEXT UP: Sunday vs Giants; Kickoff at 12:00 pm