There were quite a few questions for the New Orleans Saints (1-2) on Sunday afternoon after their tough loss against the New England Patriots at home. Most of those were answered with a convincing 34-13 victory over the Carolina Panthers (2-1).
The Panthers got it down to the New Orleans eight-yard line, but had to settle for a field goal after Cam Jordan sacked Cam Newton on 3rd and 4 to take an early lead. The Saints needed to respond on the next drive and did just that with a 13-play drive down the field that was capped off by a short pass from Drew Brees to Michael Thomas.
The Panthers had to settle once again for a field goal from Graham Gano to make it a 7-6 game. After forcing the Saints to go three-and-out, Carolina seemed poised to take the momentum back, but Newton was picked off by PJ Williams to give the Saints stellar field position. Brees took advantage of the short field to make it 14-6 with a short pass to Brandon Coleman. New Orleans would head into the locker room up 17-6 at the half with a 33-yarder from Wil Lutz as time expired.
The Saints picked up where they left off to open up the second half with Brees finding former Panther Ted Ginn to make it 24-6.
Newton found the endzone late in the third quarter as he took it himself to make it 27-13. After Lutz missed a 56-yarder with nine minutes remaining, the Panthers were looking to rally back. However, Kenny Vaccaro picked off Newton and got it inside Carolina’s 35 setting up a 25-yard run from rookie Alvin Kamara for the final blow.
The Saints will now get on the plane and head across the pond to take on the Miami Dolphins (1-1) with kickoff set for 8:30 am.
-Clint Domingue