Saints less than perfect but deserving of third straight win

NEW ORLEANS — The Saints entered their game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday with multiple opportunities to demonstrate that they are a better team than they have been in the recent past.

A victory would improve their record to 3-2, giving them a winning record for the first time since the end of the 2013 season.

A victory would end a streak of three losses to the Lions in the last three seasons, the final two of which came in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

And speaking of the Superdome, a decisive victory would show that a home-field advantage might be returning to a building where New Orleans hasn’t had a winning record since going 8-0 there in 2013.

Check, check and check. But with an asterisk.

The Saints roared to a 45-10 third-quarter lead, then had to scramble for a 52-38 victory. Except for some anxious moments when the Lions (3-3) got within seven midway through the fourth quarter the Dome was rocking like it was 2013 when the Saints finished 11-5 and last went to the playoffs.

There’s still a lot of work to be done before a return to the post-season can happen, but two of the next three games are in the Superdome. The lone road game in that stretch comes next Sunday against Green Bay, which lost star quarterback Aaron Rodgers for an extended period with a broken collarbone he suffered Sunday.

New Orleans has won three in a row and no team in the NFC South has fewer losses than the Saints.

“We did a lot of dumb things,” Saints coach Sean Payton said, “but fortunately our defense did a lot of good things.”

Though the final score might suggest a shootout between Drew Brees and Matthew Stafford, in actuality the Saints emerging defense’s success against Stafford was a bigger factor than anything either quarterback did.

New Orleans forced five turnovers and scored three defensive touchdowns for the first time in franchise history, grabbing three interceptions for the second time in three games.

“Did I enjoy every minute of it?” defensive end Cameron Jordan asked. “For sure.”

On the game’s first possession, Thomas Morstead’s 52-yard punt backed up the Lions to their 2. Three plays later, Alex Okafor sacked Stafford and knocked the ball loose. Kenny Vaccaro fell on it in the South end zone for a 7-0 lead.

Brees threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn Jr. and Mark Ingram II ran 1 and 2 yards for touchdowns as New Orleans built a 31-10 halftime lead.

A 2-yard touchdown pass from Brees to Michael Hoomanawanui and Marcus Lattimore’s 27-yard interception return for a touchdown gave the Saints their five-touchdown lead.

“You felt like a lifetime of football had already been played,” Brees said, “and yet it was still only mid-third quarter.”

Stafford went to work, throwing 22-yard touchdown passes to Marvin Jones Jr. and Darren Fells to make it 45-24 after three quarters.

Jamal Agnew’s 74-yard punt return for a touchdown and A’Shawn Robinson’s 2-yard return after intercepting Brees made it 45-38 with 6:41 left.

After New Orleans’ fifth consecutive possession that didn’t yield a first down, Morstead again backed up the Lions with a 57-yard punt to the 1. Two plays later Stafford again dropped into the South end zone and Jordan tipped a pass and snared the ball for the clinching score.

In the last two meetings, Stafford had completed 78 percent of his passes for 595 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions.

On Sunday, a week after he was battered by six second-half sacks in a loss against Carolina, he was sacked five times and completed less than 50 percent of his passes (25-of-52) for 312 yards. The Saints deflected a dozen of Stafford’s passes and had 16 passes defensed.

“Guys were getting their hands up in the lane and tipping the ball in the air, obviously more than we have probably ever seen,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. “Some of them were at the line of scrimmage, and those are the ones that really cost us.”

Stafford’s three touchdown passes were offset by as many interceptions. In addition to Jordan and Lattimore’s touchdowns, Vaccaro had a more mundane takeaway that merely thwarted the Lions comeback attempt on their second-to-last possession.

“We don’t want to be a yo-yo team,” Vaccaro said. “Since I’ve been here (2013) we’d win one, lose one, win two, lose three in a row. I think it’s big for us to win three in a row.”

New Orleans was the third NFL team since 1933 to not commit a turnover in its first four games, but gave the ball away three times. Brees completed 21-of-31 for a mere 186 yards. Like Stafford, he had as many interceptions as touchdowns (two each).

In their first game since trading Adrian Peterson to Arizona, the Saints were able to streamline their running game with just two running backs carrying the ball — Mark Ingram II (25 carries, 114 yards and two touchdowns) and Alvin Kamara (75 yards on 10 carries) — as they rushed for a season-high 193 yards and a 5.2 yards-per-carry average.

The run game was strengthened by the season debut of starting left tackle Terron Armstead, who had been sidelined by June shoulder surgery. The Lions run defense was weakened by the absence of tackle Haloti Nagata, who suffered a season-ending biceps injury last week.

In the end, Brees called it “probably one of the crazier games I have been a part of.”

“There are still so many ways we can get better,” he said. “We have some momentum, but we have to get better.”