Saints Edge Panthers in Game of Inches
Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints got off to a great start by striking first on the opening drive, which ate up nearly eight and a half minutes off the clock. Brees was a perfect 6/6 on the drive with four of those completions coming out of the backfield to running back Alvin Kamara. The drive ended with a beautiful catch by tight end Jared Cook in the back corner of the end zone that was tightly contested by safety Tre Boston.
Carolina responded with a score of their own on their first drive of the day but as the theme has been all season long, a nice drive that stalled out, resulting in a Joey Slye 43-yard field goal. However, the field goal try would not have been possible if Teddy Bridgewater hadn't escaped from pressure, rolling to his left and delivered a strike to a diving Curtis Samuel earlier in the drive. Bridgewater took a healthy hit on the throw but put the ball right on the money.
The Saints continued their offensive prowess on the next drive as running back Latavius Murray ripped off a 25-yard run up the middle to get the offense in motion and Brees sliced and diced the Panthers' secondary up the field before calling his own number on a QB sneak to punch in a one yard touchdown.
Throughout his entire career, Bridgewater has had a knock on him for his ability to throw the deep ball. Well, he proved that arm strength is not an issue early in the 2nd quarter as he dropped a 75-yard bomb deep down the middle of the field to a wide open DJ Moore that led him into the end zone for the Carolina touchdown.
The Panthers defense would have had a three and out on the ensuing drive but corner Donte Jackson was flagged for defensive holding away from the ball, giving the Saints an automatic first down. On the very next play, Alvin Kamara gashed Carolina for a 42-yard gain on the ground, getting the ball in plus territory. Fortunately, the penalty did not end up costing the Panthers as Brian Burns sacked/forced Brees to fumble the ball, which was recovered by fellow defensive end Marquis Haynes.
Carolina did a great job capitalizing on the turnover by getting Bridgewater in a groove in the passing game hooking up with Robby Anderson for 19 yards and a handful of quick passes. The Panthers took their first lead of the day on a touchdown pass from Bridgewater to DJ Moore, their second touchdown hookup of the day. Moore came in motion and was a touch pass from Bridgewater that traveled all of a half a yard, but it still goes down as a pass in the stat sheet.
The only problem with the Panthers scoring when they did? They left too much time on the clock for the Saints to answer prior to the half. Drew Brees went 5/5 on the drive aside from the spike to kill the clock at five seconds and New Orleans felt confident with no timeouts to go get a touchdown from the four yard line instead of kicking a field goal to tie the game. Brees found Deonte Harris in the end zone to give the Saints the lead back 21-17 at the break. Harris may have gotten away with a little bit of a push on rookie safety Jeremy Chinn, but not enough to warrant a flag.
Carolina punted on their opening drive of the 2nd half, which was the first time either team had punted in the game. New Orleans picked up where they left off offensively, putting together a 13-play, 58 yard drive that ate up nearly seven minutes. Brees connected with Tre'Quan Smith for an 11-yard touchdown on a corner route, but was called back after the Saints were called for offensive pass interference using a "rub route," causing the defenders to get clustered. Carolina's defense would hold strong on 3rd and 14 and forced a 41-yard field goal by Will Lutz, keeping the game at one score, 24-17.
The Panthers responded with a fairly quick eight play scoring drive to tie the game up that began with a 26-yard completion to Robby Anderson that saw an additional 15 yards tacked on thanks to a late hit out of bounds on defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. Carolina went to "The Hammer" Alex Armah on 3rd and short to move the sticks and then went right back to the passing attack hitting Curtis Samuel out in the flat for a five yard gain. A rare 11-yard catch by tight end Ian Thomas set up a five yard touchdown run by wide receiver Curtis Samuel who lined up the backfield.
New Orleans continued their theme of the day which is putting together a long drive and consistently converting 3rd downs, but the Panthers were finally able to get a stop late in the drive. The Saints trotted out Will Lutz for another field goal and he knocked it through from 41 yards to put the Saints back up three with roughly eight minutes to go.
Carolina methodically moved the ball up the field and chewed off some time, but Bridgewater was sacked on 3rd down and virtually took the Panthers out of field goal range. It put head coach Matt Rhue in a tough position because the defense had not played well all game and only had two timeouts left. So instead of chucking it deep on 4th and long, Rhule opted to go for a 65-yard field goal attempt and Joey Slye just missed it by about a yard. The accuracy was there, he just couldn't quite lift it up over the crossbar.
Following the miss, the Saints were able to run out the clock and win the game 27-24. Carolina dropped their 2nd game in a row and now fall to 3-4 on the year.
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