The New Orleans Saints preseason may have been improved over the last couple of seasons, but when they took on the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night, it was an all too similar result after a late field goal from Wil Lutz went wide right in the final moments to give the Ravens a 14-13 victory.
Baltimore got out in front about midway through the first quarter after Chase Daniel was intercepted deep in New Orleans territory by Charles Davis. Four plays later, Ryan Mallet threw to Chris Moore for a one-yard touchdown.
While Lutz’ performance this preseason was solid through the first three games, a low kick in the second quarter was blocked and that led to another Ravens touchdown from Bobby Rainey to cap off a lengthy 12-play drive.
The Saints did have some positives to close out the first half with Chase Daniel getting them down the field in quick fashion to cut the lead in half after he connected with Josh Hill for the score with 10 seconds left in the half.
Lutz redeemed himself in the third quarter after Baltimore muffed a punt return with a 28-yard field goal. He found paydirt early in the fourth quarter, this time from 48 yards out to make it a one point ball game.
On the final drive, Garrett Grayson got the Saints just past midfield which made for a difficult 59-yarder for Lutz which had the distance, but sailed wide right to clinch the victory for the Ravens in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
The Saints will begin the regular season with a Monday Night Football matchup against the Minnesota Vikings on September 11th with kickoff set for 6:10 pm.
Extra Points:
Dural Shines Briefly: With this being the final game before the 53-man cutdown, every player out there on Thursday night for the Saints needed to make the best impression possible if they want to make it onto the roster.
Travin Dural was one of those and he had a decent evening with four receptions for 56 yards. However, the former Tiger did drop one pass that could’ve been the deciding factor in the Saints finishing out their preseason strong. That may be a big factor in him not being part of that roster once Sean Payton and the rest of the coaching staff looks at the tape.
-Clint Domingue