Khiry Robinson sealed the win for the Saints with his 18 yard touchdown run in overtime.
It certainly wasn’t pretty, but the New Orleans Saints found a way to pull off a come from behind victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In a rare occurrence, the Saints won the game, despite losing the turnover battle. Drew Brees’ three picks were matched by Patrick Robinson’s interception, the first and only for the New Orleans Defense. The win gets the Saints to 2-3, tied for 2nd in the NFC South and just a game behind the 3-2 Carolina Panthers.
Despite showing great resolve, the Saints were able to pull of the comeback win in large part due to a penalty riddled game from the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay was penalized 15 times for 113 yards, with many of them giving New Orleans a free first down. The most notable penalty of the day was an illegal hands to the face on Buccaneer cornerback Johnathan Banks, which came on the opposite side of the field on third down in overtime that was going to force the Saints to punt.
Along with the penalties, the story of the game was large momentum swings and scoring runs. After scoring the first 13 points of the game, New Orleans allowed Tampa Bay to score 24 unanswered points, which was part of a 31-7 run for the Buccaneers. The Saints then responded with 17 straight points of their own, including a safety that closed the deficit to three, a field goal that sent the game to overtime, and the game winning touchdown run from Khiry Robinson on the first possession in overtime.
After the Saints settled for two short field goals in the first quarter after stalling inside the red zone, I mentioned that things like that may not prevent you from beating a team like Tampa Bay, but it could certainly help lose ball games against good football teams. I was nearly wrong, as it was barely enough for the Saints to pull out this victory. On their first possession of the 2nd quarter, it appeared as if New Orleans was poised to settle for another field goal inside the Buccaneers 20 yard line. Pierre Thomas was determined not to let that happen, as he took a 3rd and 12 screen pass to the house for a 15 yard touchdown catch, giving the Saints a 13-0 lead.
Two drives later, Drew Brees tried throwing a pass to Travaris Cadet as he was falling to the ground, allowing Johnathan Banks to step in front and make the interception, giving Tampa Bay great field position after they had just scored their first points on a 55 yard field goal. The Buccaneers took over at the Saints 40 yard line and quickly went 40 plays in 4 plays, with Mike Glennon hitting Louis Murphy for a 20 yard touchdown. The score came with :27 seconds left in the half, making it 13-10 at the break.
Starting the 3rd quarter with the ball, Tampa Bay wasted no time to take their first lead of the day, going 80 yards in just 7 plays and three minutes to make the score 17-13. Things got really ugly for the Saints, as Brees made his second bone headed play of the day, trying to get rid of a ball as he was getting hit, resulting in a ball that floated in the air for Danny Lansanah to intercept and then run back 33 yards for the touchdown. The score shocked the Superdome as the Buccaneers took a 24-13 lead.
Then facing a two score deficit, Brees and his offense deserves a lot of credit for not panicking or giving up. Sean Payton’s unit went 63 yards on 12 plays, scoring on another 3rd down in the red zone with a 5 yard touchdown pass from Brees to Travaris Cadet, cutting the deficit to four at 24-20.
Refusing to make the comeback easy, Tampa Bay answered right back with a long touchdown drive to re-extend their lead to 31-20, when Glennon found Robert Herron on a 9 yard strike to put the Buccaneers back up by two scores early in the 4th quarter.
Once again facing a double digit deficit, Brees and his offense stayed resilient with what was likely their most crucial drive of the game. Pierre Thomas capped off a 10 play, 78 yard drive with an impressive 27 yard touchdown run to get the Saints back within a score. Coach Payton decided to go for two in an attempt to get the deficit to three points, but Ben Watson was stopped at the 1 yard line after making the reception on the two point play.
Tampa Bay took over with their five point lead and 9:28 left on the clock, but ended up going backwards after starting at their own 20 yard line. A firs down holding call moved them back to their own 10 yard line, which was followed by a fumbled shotgun snap by Mike Glennon, resulting in a loss of eight to their own 2 yard line. The Buccaneers were then called for delay of game, struggling to communicate with the Superdome crowd playing a key role with their noise. The defense fed off of the energy and two plays later Junior Galette crushed Glennon in the end zone for a safety.
On the ensuing free kick, Brandin Cooks returned the ball to the Saints 40 yard line, setting up fantastic field position to either tie the game or take the lead. The Saints were unable to find the end zone, but Shayne Graham came through with a 44 yard field goal to tie the game at 31. Each team then got a chance to break the tie in regulation, but neither was able to make something happen. Coincidentally, Brees threw his third interception on a deep 3rd and 10 play, which ended up acting as a punt.
Heading in to overtime, the Saints won the toss and were looking to make up for their missed opportunity in Week 1 in the same exact situation. On a 3rd and 10 from their own 41 yard line, it appeared as if the Buccaneers had forced a punt situation when Brees’ pass fell incomplete, intended for Brandin Cooks. Instead, an illegal hands to the face penalty from Johnathan Banks on the other side of the field gave New Orleans an automatic first down and they didn’t look back. Five plays later, Brees completed a crucial 11 yard strike to Ben Watson to convert a 3rd and 9. The Saints then went to the ground, giving Khiry Robinson the ball on the final four plays of the drive. On a 2nd and 8 from the 18 yard line, Robinson bursted through two defenders and high stepped his way in to the end zone for the game winner.
It was quite the thrilling contest, featuring a wide set of emotions for all involved. I could tell you that I was never worried that the team would give up, but I’d be lying. During that 24 point stretch for the Buccaneers, it truly looked as if neither side of the ball was playing with any heart or sense of urgency. Whether or not it was the boos, which I don’t condone, that woke the team up from the lull they have been playing with, they fought back with great resolve and possibly saved their season.
Observations
– Drew Brees’ accuracy has been really off. His 61.4% completion percentage was by far his worst of the season, routinely missing open receivers. He flat out missed at least three open slant routes, under-threw three deep passes to Robert Meachem, and threw multiple silly passes when going down to the ground. Thankfully, he was accurate when it mattered the most on his 3rd down pass to Ben Watson on the final drive. Through five games, he’s yet to throw for three touchdowns in a game this season.
– All three of the Saints running backs looked great. Khiry Robinson ran with a very mix of toughness, burst, and quickness, breaking tackles on nearly every carry. Pierre Thomas was as clutch as one could hope for, converting multiple third down receptions and the tough 27 yard touchdown run. For the second straight game, Travaris Cadet played the old Reggie Bush/Darren Sproles role, showing that he has the capability of being the next running back for that spot.
– Marques Colston’s struggles continued today. He made one fantastic outstretched catch, but dropped two very catchable balls. One of them came in overtime, looking very much like deja vu of overtime in Week 1. At first, it appeared as if he again had made the catch for a first down, then had the ball stripped for a defensive recovery, but the pass was thankfully called incomplete.
– Jimmy Graham’s shoulder injury could be cause for concern. When he first went out of the game in the 2nd quarter, it was reported that he was getting x-rays, but was probable to return. Then to start the second half, reports came out that he was out for the game. That series of events suggests that the doctors saw something in the x-ray, but we can only hope that he was held up just for precautionary reasons and he’ll be fine coming out of the bye week.
– Josh Hill is becoming a nice target for Drew Brees. He made another big catch today for 37 yards, seemingly making at least one big play a game. He caught each of his other two targets, totally 3 receptions for 53 yards.
– Robert Meachem’s continued presence on the field has me confused. It’s well known that his run blocking is a strength that the coaches value, but on two of the deep balls thrown his way, he simply leaned back with his hands open awaiting the ball to fall in to his stomach, instead of attempting to jump up and at least trying to keep the defender from catching the ball. Tampa Bay picked Brees off once on those occasions and should have had the other one. I understand that Meachem has never been a receiver who goes up for the ball, but at this point he’s completely reliant on a perfectly thrown ball from Brees. Meanwhile, Joe Morgan and Nick Toon are taking up spots on the 53 man roster and are not seeing the field.
– The Saints used Brandin Cooks in many different ways today. They threw to him on short and intermediate routes, they ran multiple designed screens, they gave him the ball on end arounds, and they ran one quick shovel pass to him as he came in motion in front of Brees in the shotgun. The only thing we’ve yet to see them do with him is target him on a down field pass this year. I’m sure that’s coming, but it was exciting to see them try and take advantage of his dynamic abilities.
– Tim Lelito filled in nicely when Johnathan Goodwin went down. He played a key role in the running game, most notably driving one defender all the way out of bounds on an outside run.
– Corey White is flat out bad as an outside cornerback. This is an issue that needs to be fixed, because not only was he beat for multiple completed passes down field, but he was called for multiple penalties in coverage. It’s costing the defense first down after first down.With the bye week coming, Rob Ryan surely has to either start preparing Brian Dixon or Stanley Jean-Baptiste for that position or the team needs to explore outside options.
– For most of the game, the pass rush was still non-existent. Cam Jordan got no where near the quarterback, while Junior Galette recorded the team’s only sack on the safety. The team blitzed numerous times, but on many occasions failed to get to Glennon. The young quarterback took advantage of his time in the pocket, finding open receivers when given time.
– The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for this team. Between their poor play and injuries, a week off could help them get on track for a post-bye run. They were already playing their first game without Jairus Byrd, so the bye week gives them more time to adjust to his absence. Also, Jimmy Graham, Johnathan Goodwin, and Ramon Humber all left the game with injuries. Hopefully the extra week will give all three the opportunity to recover for when they travel to Detroit in two weeks.
Stats
Saints
Drew Brees – 35-57 / 371 yards / 2 TDs / 3 INTs / 61.4% completions / 70.1 QB rating
Khiry Robinson – 21 carries / 89 yards / 1 TD / 4.2 yards per carry / 1 reception / 8 yards
Pierre Thomas – 4 carries / 35 yards / 1 TD / 8 receptions / 77 yards / 1 TD
Travaris Cadet – 3 receptions / 19 yards / 1 TD
Brandin Cooks – 9 receptions / 56 yards / 2 carries / 15 yards
Marques Colston – 3 receptions / 63 yards
Josh Hill – 3 receptions / 53 yards
Ben Watson – 5 receptions / 43 yards
Jimmy Graham – 2 receptions / 36 yards
Kenny Vaccaro – 6 tackles / 1 pass breakup
David Hawthorne – 6 tackles
Cam Jordan – 4 tackles / 1 tackle for loss
Junior Galette – 2 tackles / 1 sack / 1 tackle for loss / 1 pass breakup
Patrick Robinson – 1 tackle / 1 INT / 2 pass breakups
Buccaneers
Mike Glennon – 19-32 / 249 yards / 2 TDs / 1 INT / 59.4% completions / 91.8 passer rating
Doug Martin – 14 carries / 45 yards / 3.2 yards per carry / 3 receptions / 29 yards
Bobby Rainey – 6 carries / 21 yards / 1 TD / 3 receptions / 21 yards
Vincent Jackson – 8 receptions / 144 yards
Louis Murphy – 3 receptions / 35 yards / 1 TD
Robert Herron – 1 reception / 9 yards / 1 TD
Lavonte David – 14 tackles / 2 tackles for loss / 1 pass breakup
Danny Lansanah – 10 tackles / 2 pass breakups / 1 INT / 1 TD
Johnathan Banks – 5 tackles / 1 INT / 1 pass breakup
Alterraun Verner – 5 tackles / 1 INT / 3 pass breakups
Team
1st downs: NO – 34, TB – 20
3rd down efficiency: NO – 6/13, TB 3/9
Total yards: NO – 511, TB – 314
Pass yards: NO – 371, TB – 248
Rush yards: NO – 140, TB – 66
Penalties: NO – 6/50, TB – 15/113
Turnovers: NO – 3, TB – 1
Possession: NO – 38:32, TB – 27:04
Next Week
The Saints will head in to their bye week at 2-3 and one game behind Carolina for first place in the NFC South. Coming out of their bye, they’ll travel to Detroit to face the Lions who are now 3-2 following a home loss to the Buffalo Bills today.
Who dat?!
Follow David Billiot Jr on Twitter @DCBilliotJr6
