The New Orleans Saints remained at home for the second straight game as they hosted their NFC South rivals. The Black and Gold would be without Taysom Hill for the game but Derek Carr started despite dealing with three different injuries. New Orleans put up a couple of touchdowns late in the fourth quarter to secure a 28-6 win over the Carolina Panthers and improve to 6-7 on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Carolina received the football to begin the game. Chuba Hubbard carried the ball for three yards on the opening play from scrimmage and guard Justin McCray had to be carted off the field. Rookie quarterback Bryce Young overthrew both passes down the left sideline and Lynn Bowden Jr. returned the punt for 11 yards to the New Orleans 44-yard line.
Alvin Kamara and a pile of Saints offensive linemen pushed forward for an eight-yard gain on their first offensive play. Jamaal Williams had back-to-back carries for 19 yards to set up 1st & 10 from the 11-yard line. Derek Carr had to throw the ball away to escape the sack. Blake Grupe lined up for a field goal attempt and shanked the 29-yard kick to the left.
Young got the Panthers’ offense near midfield with an 18-yard pass across the middle to DJ Chark. On that next play, rookie Jordan Howden put on the pressure as he hit the football out of Young’s hand as he threw and Pete Werner came up with the fumble recovery at the Carolina 36. An intentional grounding penalty on third down moved New Orleans back three yards and Lou Hedley punted right back to the Panthers.
On their next drive, Kamara ran the ball on four of the six plays for 25 yards, including a nine-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter to put the Saints up 7-0.
Carolina responded with a 12-play, 46-yard drive that drained 5:39 off the clock. On 3rd & 9, Young escaped the pocket and ran for 21 yards to the New Orleans 31-yard line. This was the first time all game that the Panthers got into Saints territory. Young’s pass to Chark on this down was batted away and Eddy Pineiro made the 47-yard field goal to cut the deficit to four.
New Orleans punted on their next drive and Hedley was hit by a Carolina defender but because of the “Rugby style” kick, there was no flag thrown to reset the downs. New Orleans would force a punt of their own and Nephi Sewell blocked Johnny Hekker’s kick and D’Marco Jackson picked up the loose ball and returned it for a special teams touchdown. New Orleans went up 14-3 with 4:37 left in the second quarter.
The Panthers went for a fade on fourth down and Chark couldn’t coral the pass. That gave the Saints a chance to score before halftime but Carr was intercepted by Derrick Brown at the New Orleans 45-yard line. The Saints’ defense kept Carolina from scoring and went into the locker room with an 11-point lead.
Young extended their first drive multiple times on their first possession of the second half. The former Crimson Tide got flipped at the first down mark on 3rd & 8 and used his arm to find Theilen on the sideline for a pickup of 18. Miles Sanders broke multiple tackles on a 48-yard run and was pushed out of bounds by Paulson Adebo at the one-yard line. The Saints stayed strong as Demario Davis sacked Young on 2nd & GOAL and pressure by Zack Baun forced an incompletion. Pineiro’s 29-yard field goal made it a 14-6 game with 4:57 left in the third quarter.
Theilen made a big catch across the middle for a gain of 32 yards to the New Orleans 19. Carl Granderson sacked Young on 3rd & 8 and Pineiro went out there for another kick but missed from 41 yards out.
Following a missed fourth down attempt by the Panthers, Carr went deep to rookie A.T. Perry for a gain of 44 to the Carolina 20-yard line. Jimmy Graham went to the top shelf to catch Carr’s pass and extend the drive, then, Chris Olave made the seven-yard touchdown catch on a slant route to go up by two scores.
Carolina couldn’t convert on fourth down again and set up the Saints inside the 25-yard line of the Panthers. A screen to Bowden resulted in a gain of 15 yards to the six-yard line and Graham was rewarded for his big catch earlier with a four-yard touchdown grab to put the Saints up by 22 points with 4:29 left in the fourth quarter.
New Orleans held the Panthers out of the endzone one more time and would run out the rest of the clock to come out on top 28-6 and improve to 6-7 on the season.
BIG NUMBER: 0
Carolina was never really out of a majority of the game and would go for it on fourth down on six separate occasions. The Panthers would only convert on one of them as the Saints came out with the 28-6 win. The New Orleans defense also finished the day with Bryce Young only completing 13 out of 36 pass attempts.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jordan Howden
Howden didn’t make a crazy interception himself or have a big stop on fourth in the game but was all over the field on Sunday. The rookie out of Minnesota led the team in tackles with 10 (8 solo), had a pass breakup, and sacked Bryce Young, resulting in a fumble recovery and an opportunity for the offense to score.
UP NEXT: The New Orleans Saints will finish out their three-game home stand with a game versus the New York Giants. Kickoff in the Caesars Superdome is scheduled for noon on Sunday, December 17th.