Drew Brees leaps over the line to score on a crucial 4th and goal conversion in the 3rd quarter.

Finally, the talks of the New Orleans Saints’ road woes can be dispatched. Well, for this week, at least. Coming in to tonight’s game, every media outlet that spoke of the matchup made sure to discuss that New Orleans had lost seven straight regular season road games. I have a few thoughts on that. First, let me say that I concur that their struggles away from the Superdome is a topic well worth mentioning. I have no issue with that. But, why is everyone ignoring the Saints’ victory in Philadelphia in the Wild Card playoff game in 2013? Because it’s convenient to look before that so you have a larger stat to throw out there? Their win on the road against the Eagles means a heck of a lot more than a regular season win on the road. It was the playoffs, in the cold, and in primetime, but that game has been ignored in lieu of the chance to say that the team has lost seven straight in the “regular” season. I don’t mean to ramble, but it’s something that has gotten on my nerves since I first heard it and I am more than happy that the “streak” is finally over. With that being said, let’s get to tonight’s magnificent performance!

Coming in to tonight’s game, every team that has scored first in the Thursday night football games has gone on to win the game. Sean Payton usually likes to take the ball when he wins the toss, so I doubt that particular stat was a big deciding factor in the decision to receive, but the thought of getting out to a fast start and setting the tone on the road was certainly in his mind. Drew Brees and the offense looked great right off the bat. It only took the Saints six plays to get in to the red-zone with contribution from Mark Ingram, Brandin Cooks, and Jimmy Graham, but on a 3rd and 6, things went wrong. Brees’ pass to Kenny Stills ricocheted off of the defenders arm and floated in the air for defensive tackle Dwan Edwards to have it fall in to his hands. Just like that, New Orleans had their first turnover of the night and Carolina had the early momentum.

The Panther began moving the ball pretty well on their first drive, getting down the the Saint 39 yard line, but two straight incompletions stalled the drive and forced a punt. Credit Rob Ryan’s defense for a crucial stop following the Brees interception. In the first seven games, six of Brees’ seven interceptions directly led to a touchdown for the opposing team. New Orleans started at their own 10 yard line and again started moving the ball with relative ease. In their first two drives, the Saints had five plays of 18 yards or more. On a 1st and 10 from Carolina’s 39 yard line, the turnover bug struck again when Charles Johnson pushed fullback Eric Lorig back in to Brees, causing him to lose the ball. Mario Addison was right there for the recovery and Carolina was in business with another great opportunity to get points off of a New Orleans turnover. 

Following their second takeaway, the Panthers started with great field position at their 47 yard line, but again the Saints defense stepped up huge, allowing just 15 yards and forcing another punt. Backed up at their own 7 yard line to start the drive, the Saints couldn’t find success moving the ball as they did earlier in the first quarter and had to punt the ball away. Thomas Morstead’s first punt in two weeks was a boomer of 52 yards, helping to flip the field position battle just a bit. Carolina began to move the ball thanks to a crucial 3rd and long scramble from Newton that extended the drive, but the New Orleans defense continued to build upon their opportunistic play as of late when Corey White picked off a tipped pass from Newton, giving the ball back to his offense and inching closer to leveling the turnover battle.

Unfortunately, New Orleans mirrored what Carolina did in the first quarter and failed to capitalize on the big play by their defense, going three and out and punting the ball away. The teams then traded punts on the next two ensuing drives. We’ll pick it back up following Morstead’s third straight punt, which was downed at the Panther 7 yard line. Three plays later, the Panthers faced a 3rd and 9 deep in their own territory, when Newton looked to be about ready to scramble out of the pocket yet again. As he avoided Cam Jordan, he failed to realize that Junior Gallete was coming from behind and was hit and caused to fumble the ball inside of the 5 yard line. A scrum for the ball commenced and Curtis Lofton finally popped out of the pile with the ball in his hands. For some reason that I’m still unsure of, apparently there were gripes among the Panthers and their fans that Carolina had recovered the ball, but from what I saw on TV, it appeared as if Lofton pretty clearly scooped up the ball on the ground and came up with it. Regardless, it was ruled the Saints’ ball at the Panther 4 yard line and the first score of the game looked imminent.

It only took two plays as Mark Ingram got back to back carries, with his second one being a fantastic effort to stay up and dive for the goal line, crossing the plain and putting the Saints on top 7-0 with 2:38 left in the first half. After a touchback, the first play of the Panther drive ended with a Cam Jordan sack for a big loss of nine yards. Coach Payton called his final timeout with the hopes of getting the ball back for another score. On 2nd and 19, Newton through an incomplete pass to Kelvin Benjamin, doing the Saints a huge favor and stopping the clock short of the two minute warning. Newton then completed a short pass of six yards to Benjamin on the following play, with the clock stopping at the two-minute warning and 4th down approaching.

A beautiful 58 yard blast from punter Brad Nortman, combined with a 10 yard illegal hands to the face penalty on Brian Dixon, pushed New Orleans all the way back to their own 15 yard line with 1:49 to play and zero timeouts. Two quick incompletions had Carolina thinking that they may actually get the ball back with a chance to score before halftime, but a huge 3rd down conversion from Brees to Kenny Stills got the Saints up to the 32 yard line and stopped the clock with 1:40 to play in the first half. New Orleans then picked up 42 yards on the next four plays, setting up a 1st and 10 at the Carolina 26 yard line with :33 on the clock, giving reason to think that a touchdown was actually very possible. Disaster nearly struck on the next play, though, as Brees was sacked and he fumbled once again, but was able to fall on the ball this time. He got his offense to the line and spiked it, stopping the clock with :14 on the clock with a 3rd and 17 coming. Having no timeouts, there were only two options: get to the sideline or get to the end zone. Brees chose the latter, taking an end-zone shot to Robert Meachem. Cornerback Antoine Cason got turned around and panicked, interfering with Meachem as he attempted to catch the ball, drawing the flag and putting the ball at the 1 yard line with :06 left to play. Some teams would not take the risk of coming away with nothing in that situation and would kick the field goal, but not a team with Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham. Graham split out to the right and found himself in one-on-one coverage, making Brees’ quick pass look as easy as schoolyard pitch and catch for the touchdown, extending the Saints lead to 14-0 with just three seconds left in the half.

Carolina received to start the third quarter and needed to cut in to the two touchdown deficit, considering their offense is not very potent and is not ideal for coming from behind facing a big hole. The Panthers did exactly what they had to do and it all started with a huge play from DeAngelo Williams to start the second half. Williams took a short screen pass on the right side of the field, cut back to the middle of the field and picked up 30 yards to immediately jump start his offense and the crowd. The Panthers got down to the 10 yard line and took a few shots to the end-zone for rookie Kelvin Benjamin. On the 2nd down throw to the receiver, he dropped what should have been a touchdown, setting up a 3rd and goal. Not wanting to settle for a field goal, Newton did what he does best and scrambled around the edge, diving for the pylon and putting Carolina on the board. The touchdown run cut the New Orleans lead to 14-7.

At this point, I mentioned on Twitter that despite there still being a ton of time left in the game, that next drive was crucial for a team that has been so focused on trying to finish games this year, especially on the road. Ten plays and 77 yards got the Saints down to the Panther 3 yard line for a 1st and goal, but they were unable to punch it in on the first three plays of the set of downs. Sean Payton quickly made the decision to go for it on 4th and goal from the 1 and Brees took the snap, leaped over the line, and stuck the ball across the goal line to break the plain and convert the touchdown, re-extending the Saints lead to 21-7. The teams then traded punts on the next two drives to close out the 3rd quarter, with Carolina running out of chances to make a comeback.

After their last punt, the Panthers took over at their own 32 yard line and started the drive off with a bang. A 47 yard strike from Newton to Jerricho Cotchery on 1st down, got the ball down to the Saints 21, setting up a great opportunity to cut the lead back down to one possession. On 3rd and 1, it appeared as if they had done just that, when Brandon Williams took a 12 yard pass in to the end-zone. As all scoring plays do, the play went under review and was ruled that he was down by contact at the 6 yard line. On 1st down, Newton was tackled back at the 14 yard line by Parys Haralson for a loss of eight yards. The next two plays were both incomplete passes to Benjamin, forcing Carolina to settle for a 31 yard Graham Gano field goal to make it 21-10 with 12:57 left to play.

At that point, I mentioned that although points were not absolutely essential, Brees and the offense really needed to put together a five or six minute drive to work the clock and at the very least, stick the Panthers with bad field position down by two scores. That premise wasn’t good enough for Payton’s offense, as they marched right down the field with a seven and a half minute drive, going 80 yards in 13 plays and putting the game away on Mark Ingram’s second touchdown run of the night, extending their lead to 28-10 with 5:30 to go.

Carolina took over at their own 28 yard line and after gaining nine yards on first down, Newton was sacked on consecutive plays by Junior Galette and Akiem Hicks, pushing the Panthers back to a 4th and 17 with around four minutes left to go. At that point, Carolina Head Coach Ron Rivera waived the white flag and simply punted the ball away.

Brees and his offense picked up two first downs and ran out the rest of the clock, defeating the Panthers 28-10 for their first road victory of the season and taking control of the NFC South. The win improved the Saints so 4-4, while the Panthers loss dropped them to 3-5-1. New Orleans will now head back home for a nice 10 day rest before playing their next three and four of their next five games in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The extended rest will be crucial in allowing players such as Khiry Robinson, Pierre Thomas, Jonathan Goodwin, and David Hawthorne, get healthy and back on the field. Jimmy Graham and Mark Ingram will both also love the extra rest as they heal from their shoulder injuries that they fought through throughout the game.

Observations

– Despite having one interception and a lost fumble, Drew Brees looked more like the Superdome quarterback than the road quarterback we’ve seen the last two seasons. His precision was on point and his timing with his receivers could not have been better. What makes his performance even more impressive was the fact that he was under a good bit of pressure throughout the night. He was sacked four times, but was alluding rushers on more plays than that.

– Mark Ingram’ leverage for a sizable contract, whether it be with the Saints or someone else, continues to grow over the past two weeks. Not only did he put up another solid performance with a 30 carry output, but he played the entire second half battling a shoulder injury that forced him to wear a brace. His performances the past two weeks have been gutty and extremely impressive and will play a large role in a nice pay day coming this offseason.

– Jimmy Graham’s toughness has been unfairly questioned over the past two season, whether it be due to injuries or being schematically taken out of games due to great defense by opponents. He showed tonight how tough he is, visibly battling through pain in his shoulder, but continuing to play with an incredible amount of fire and stepping up for his team throughout the game.

– The pass rush is officially on a roll again. The defense sacked the opposing quarterback four times for the second week in a row and their pressure directly led to two more turnovers. On Newton’s interception, he appeared to have rushed his throw, causing it to be a little off target, which led to the tipped pass. His fumble came on a strip-sack from Junior Galette, which set the Saints up to take the lead and never look back.

– Speaking of Galette, two more sacks for the outside linebacker brought his season total to 6.0, while Cam Jordan notched his first back to back sack games of the season, bring his total to 4.0.

– Keenan Lewis continues to be the quietest shut down cornerback in the NFL. Last week, Jordy Nelson came in to the Superdome as the NFL’s top receiver and Lewis held him to 3/25. This week, Lewis faced the 6’5″, 250 pound rookie receiver who came in to the game averaging 71.4 yard per game and atop the league with nine receptions of 20 yards or more. He held Benjamin to just 2/18, despite Newton targeting him 10 times. I suppose it’s lack of interception that keeps him flying under the radar, but the man is a fantastic player.

– Corey White put up another very good performance tonight. Given his struggles, it’s too early to say that he’s finally turning the corner, but it’s certainly nice to see him be able to string a couple good games together.

– The one main area that the Saints defense struggled tonight was keeping Newton in the pocket on third downs. Newton scramble for four third down conversions, extending multiple drives. Thankfully, the defense held the Panthers to just 2/10 on third downs aside from those. With Colin Kaepernick coming to town next week, that will be a big point of emphasis in preparation.

Stats

Saints

Drew Brees – 24-34 / 297 yards / 2 TDs (1 rushing) / 1 INT / 1 fumble lost / 94.9 passer rating / 70.5% completions

Mark Ingram – 30 carries / 100 yards / 2 TDs / 3.3 yards per carry

Jimmy Graham – 7 receptions / 83 yards / 1 TD

Kenny Stills – 5 receptions / 72 yards

Brandin Cooks – 3 receptions / 38 yards

Marques Colston – 3 receptions / 36 yards

Travaris Cadet – 3 receptions / 39 yards

Rafael Bush – 8 tackles

Curtis Lofton – 7 tackles / 1 fumble recovery

Junior Galette – 4 tackles / 1 tackle for loss / 2 sacks / 1 forced fumble

Cam Jordan – 4 tackles / 1 tackle for loss / 1 sack

Akiem Hicks – 4 tackles / 1 tackle for loss / 1 sack

Corey White – 3 tackles / 2 passes defended / 1 INT

Keenan Lewis – 3 tackles / 3 passes defended

Panthers

Cam Newton – 10-28 / 151 yards / 1 INT / 1 fumble lost / 39.4 passer rating / 38.5% completions / 7 carries / 43 yards / 1 rushing TD

Jonathan Stewart – 8 carries / 46 yards

DeAngelo Williams – 8 carries / 20 yards / 1 reception / 30 yards

Jerricho Cotchery – 2 receptions / 59 yards

Greg Olsen – 3 receptions / 20 yards

Kelvin Benjamin – 2 receptions / 18 yards

Luke Kuechly – 8 tackles

Tre Boston – 7 tackles

Roman Harper – 5 tackles

Dwan Edwards – 2 tackles / 2 tackles for loss / 1 sack / 1 INT

Colin Jones, Wes Horton, and Charles Johnson – 1 sack each

Team Stats

Total yards: Saints-375, Panthers-231

Pass yards: Saints-270, Panthers-122

Rush yards: Saints-105, Panthers-109

1st downs: Saints-27, Panthers-15

3rd down efficiency: Saints-7/13 (53.8%), Panthers-6/14 (42.8%)

Turnovers: Saints-2, Panthers-2

Possession: Saints-34:53, Panthers-24:42

Penalties: Saints-4/35, Panthers-6/67

Week 10

The Saints return home for three straight home games, starting with the San Francisco 49ers. As of now, the game is at 12:00 PM central time, but we are entering the part of the schedule that allows NBC to flex games to Sunday Night Football, so with last year’s contest between these two being an excellent game, who knows. The 49ers are currently 4-3 and will be hosting the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. Keep an eye out for my Saints and Sinners piece coming withing the next few days. Sit back and enjoy your weekend following this Saints win and Happy Halloween!

Who Dat?!

Follow David Billiot Jr on Twitter @DCBilliotJr