Kamara’s record 6 TDs fuel Saints past Vikings to 4th straight NFC South title

  • December 25, 2020
  • By Ken Trahan
  • Category: Saints
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Alvin Kamara

Everyone knew the score.

The Minnesota Vikings have been the nemesis of the New Orleans Saints, inflicting tremendous pain to the hometown team in two of the last three playoff seasons.

New Orleans was a seven-point favorite going into their Christmas day meeting.

Both teams entered the game with a massive number of injuries and key players out, particularly on defense for Minnesota while on both sides of the ball for New Orleans.

The Saints opted to wear their white-out uniform again, the same look when the Vikings vanquished them in the 2019 playoffs in upset fashion.

With an injury-depleted wide receiver corps, the Saints were determined to run the football. They were more determined to put the ball in the hands of Alvin Kamara. That was a very good idea.

Wearing a green shoe on his left foot and a red shoe on his right foot, Kamara celebrated Christmas in full color and with a dazzling performance for a lifetime.

Tying an NFL record with six rushing touchdowns, Kamara also set a career high in rushing yards with 22 carries for 155 yards. Kamara added three catches for 17 yards.

New Orleans scored the most points (52) against the Vikings since Minnesota allowed 56 points to the St. Louis Cardinals in a loss on Nov. 6, 1963.

The Vikings also allowed the most rushing yards against them (264) in a game in 15 years.

The Saints won despite Drew Brees suffering his first multi-interception game in 47 contests as he was picked off twice, though only one was his fault.

Brees did have a pretty good afternoon and evening, completing 19-of-26 passes (73%) for 311 yards. He looked better than a week ago against Kansas City.

The Saints have now won the NFC South four straight years and it is the seventh division title for Sean Payton in his 14 seasons as the head coach of the franchise.

The one damper on the festivities was a season ending injury to linebacker Kwon Alexander, who reportedly tore his Achilles tendon.

Here are my quick takes from the 52-33 victory:

**Inactives for the Saints included key players Malcolm Brown, Nick Easton, Kaden Elliss, Trey Hendrickson, Andrus Peat and Marcus Williams. Of course, Michael Thomas and Tre’Quan Smith are both on injured reserve and New Orleans was again without Deonte Harris.

**James Hurst got the start at left guard in place of Peat. He would play well, as did the entire offensive line.

**Ty Montgomery, who has barely been on the field this year, was in on the first snap at wide receiver.

**New Orleans got the ball first and promptly drove 75 yards in five plays with Kamara scoring on a 40-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0 with 12:11 to play in the opening quarter. It was Kamara’s longest touchdown run of the season.

**New Orleans ran it four times for 66 yards on the drive, dominating the line-of-scrimmage.

**On the touchdown run, James Hurst and Terron Armstead had outstanding blocks.

**Minnesota answered immediately, driving 75 yards in eight plays with Dalvin Cook scoring on a 15-yard run to make it 7-7 with 8:46 to play in the quarter.

**Cook had three carries for 32 yards on the drive while Kirk Cousins completed 4-of-5 passes for 43 yards on the drive as Minnesota had success on virtually every play. Six of the eight plays gained at least seven yards on the drive.

**Josh Hill left the game injured and went to the locker room.

**The Saints recaptured the lead, driving 66 yards in seven plays, taking 3:32 off the clock with Kamara scoring on a 1-yard run to make it 14-7 with 5:10 to play in the first half. Kamara had 27 yards of offense on the drive and Brees hit Jared Cook for 19 yards to help set up the score.

**New Orleans got a stop and forced a Colquitt punt. Marquez Callaway was in as the return man and he made an awful decision to fair catch the punt at the 4-yard line.

**New Orleans amassed 216 yards, including 133 rushing in the first quarter.

**The Saints overcame the poor fair catch decision, driving 84 yards in 10 plays, taking 4:36 off the clock with Wil Lutz kicking a 30-yard field goal to make it 17-7 with 14:12 to play in the first half. Brees had Kamara open for what would have been a touchdown but the pass was slightly underthrown and knocked away by linebacker Eric Wilson, a missed opportunity.

**Minnesota bounced right back, driving 75 yards in eight plays with Mike Boone scoring on a 4-yard run to cut the deficit to 17-14 with 10:14 to play in the half. Cousins completed passes of 19, 13 and 25 yards on the drive, the latter to former Destrehan and LSU star Justin Jefferson.

**New Orleans then drove to the Minnesota 21-yard line but Brees made a bad throw, intended for a covered Cook and it was picked off by Harrison Hand at the 12-yard line.

**The Saints got a stop and a short field and drove 46 yards in seven plays, scoring on a 5-yard run by Kamara, his third touchdown of the game, to make it 24-14 with 38 seconds left in the half. Brees narrowly avoided a second interception on a ball that was badly underthrown, though he had pressure in his face.

**New Orleans has now scored in the final two minutes of the first half in 13 of 15 games.

**The Saints had 326 yards of offense in the first half to 186 for the Vikings. That included 174 yards rushing by New Orleans. The Saints had the ball for 18:48 in the half to just 11:12 for Minnesota and the Saints had 37 offensive snaps to 27 for the Vikings.

**Kamara had 12 rushed for 96 yards and three touchdowns and he added two catches for 10 yards in the half. Kamara moved into second all-time in franchise history with 56 touchdowns on his third score of the first half, surpassing Deuce McAllister and Mark Ingram, each of whom had 55 touchdowns. Marques Colston leads all-time with 72 touchdowns.

**Kamara went over 100 yards rushing early in the third quarter, marking the third 100-yard rushing game in his career.

**Then, the Saints helped Minnesota again. Brees attempted a short pass in the right flat to Emmanuel Sanders. The ball went off the outstretched hands of Sanders and into the hands of Hardy Nickerson for an interception at the New Orleans 18-yard line.

**It was not the best throw but it should not have been intercepted. Sanders got his hands on it.

**It took Minnesota just three plays to go 18 yards with Cousins hitting a wide open Irv Smith of Brother Martin High School on a 2-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 24-20 with 10:18 to play in the third quarter. Dan Bailey missed the extra point.

**Smith came across the formation from right to left, snuck inside the guard/tackle box and was uncovered on the score.

**Brees went over 80,000 yards passing in his career while Cook had the 500th catch of his career.

**Ryan Ramczyk left the game injured in the third quarter. Ethan Greenidge replaced Ramczyk for one play but Ramczyk, who is tough, returned a play later.

**The Saints had to respond and did, driving 74 yards in 10 plays, with Kamara getting his fourth rushing touchdown on a 6-yard run to make it 31-20 with 4:38 to play in the third quarter.

**The four touchdowns in a single game tied a franchise record held by Reggie Bush and Joe Horn.

**Alexander went down late in the third quarter. He was replaced by Alex Anzalone, who must now pick up the slack and return to his starting spot which he lost when Alexander was acquired. Rookie Zack Baun will likely get more snaps as well.

**Minnesota went 75 yards in nine plays, taking 4:16 off the clock with Cousins hitting a wide-open Smith on a 4-yard touchdown pass. It was another blown assignment in coverage. That cut the New Orleans lead to 31-27 with 22 seconds to play in the third quarter.

**Kamara then got a franchise record fifth touchdown, all rushing, as he scampered seven yards for a score to give the Saints a 38-27 lead with 12:01 to play. The drive covered 67 yards in seven plays and took 3:21 off the clock. On the score, Terron Armstead had a pancake block.

**The big play of the drive was a 44-yard completion from Brees to Cook on a play where Brees had pressure and got his in the rib area as he delivered it.

**Kamara became the first running back in the NFL to rush for five touchdowns in a game since Clinton Portis did it for the Denver Broncos on Dec. 7, 2003 in a 45-27 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

**Cam Jordan then got a sack to help the Saints force a punt and New Orleans then put the game away, driving 58 yards in 10 plays, taking 6:20 off the clock with Taysom Hill capping the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 45-27 with four minutes left to play.

**The Vikings then drove 75 yards in nine plays, taking 1:50 off the clock with Cousins hitting Adam Thielen on a 1-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 45-33 with 2:10 to play in the game. Minnesota went for two, for some reason, and the pass failed.

**Taysom Hill then recovered the onside kick.

**Rather than sit on the lead, Sean Payton elected to allow Brees to complete a 41-yard pass to Adam Trautman to the Minnesota 3-yard line.

**Then, Kamara then tied an NFL record with his sixth rushing touchdown, this one from three yards out, to make it 52-33 with 1:50 to play in the game.

**The six touchdowns equaled the record set by Ernie Nevers for the Chicago Cardinals on Nov. 28, 1929 against the Chicago Bears in a 40-6 win. Incidentally, Nevers also made all four extra points in that contest.

**The Saints finished with 583 yards and controlled the football for 36:47 to just 23:13 for the Vikings.

New Orleans now has 29 rushing touchdowns on the season, the most ever in franchise history. Kamara now has 16 rushing touchdowns, a single season record in franchise history.

Jordan has now played in 104 victories in his terrific career, the most by a New Orleans defensive player in franchise history, surpassing the 103 wins Rickey Jackson played in. Brees has played in 141 victories, the most in franchise history.

The first goal has been accomplished with the division title secured.

The regular season concludes next Sunday in Charlotte against the NFC South division rival Panthers.

The Saints survived a 27-24 thriller over Carolina on Oct. 25 in New Orleans.

To clinch at least the No. 2 seed, if not to have a shot at the No. 1 seed, the Saints must win.

Injuries continue to mount as Josh Hill did not return after getting hurt early and the Alexander injury did not look good at all.

The Vikings are a tough matchup for the Saints and yes, they had a ton of injuries on defense.

Still, a banged-up Saints team did its job and did it very well.

Kamara’s shoes and his performance were a great Christmas present for Saints fans everywhere.

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Ken Trahan

CEO/Owner

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Born and raised in the New Orleans area, CCSE CEO Ken Trahan has been a sports media fixture in the community for nearly four decades. Ken started NewOrleans.com/Sports with Bill Hammack and Don Jones in 2008. In 2011, the site became SportsNOLA.com. On August 1, 2017, Ken helped launch CrescentCitySports.com. Having accumulated national awards/recognition (National Sports Media Association, National Football…

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