Quick Takes: Saints survive near collapse, defeat Lions in wild affair

NEW ORLEANS – After winning in London, the Saints got the needed bye week. Sunday afternoon, they looked a refreshed, fresh team coming off of a bye.

That said, if I would have told you before the game that the Saints would commit three turnovers, Drew Brees would throw for just 186 yards and New Orleans would have eight straight second half possessions of three or fewer plays, would you have believed that they would have scored 52 points and won?

That is what happened Sunday in a game that took three hours and 48 minutes to play.

What we discovered is that the Saints are a better football team that they have been. They were able to overcome their own mistakes and ineptitude with brilliant defensive play.

If I would have told you that the Saints would allow 38 points and call the defense “brilliant,” would you buy it?

While the defense gave up some plays, they made many more, picking up an offense that basically stopped playing in the second half. Eleven deflected passes were just part of the winning formula for a defense which has shown great improvement over the course of five regular season games.

New Orleans also survived 13 penalties for 118 yards, especially in a sloppy second half which saw Detroit give the home fans quite the scare.

It is refreshing to see that this is now a team that can win in more than one way—with Brees throwing it all over the place.

The result is that New Orleans is now over .500 for the first time since 2013.

Cam Jordan, Kenny Vaccaro, Alex Okafor and Marshon Lattimore were superb on this day, something we have been waiting to see for a long time. The Saints have won three straight games. Joy has returned, but not before fans had to sweat possibly letting a 45-10 lead get away.

Here are my Quick Takes from New Orleans’ 52-38 win over Detroit:

**Both Terron Armstead and Willie Snead were active for the Saints. For the first time this season, Tommylee Lewis was inactive. Armstead was pulled with the Saints way up in the third quarter, only to return after the Lions made a game out of it.

**Alvin Kamara started and carried the ball on the first play of game. Mark Ingram then entered the game and caught a swing pass from Brees for nine yards and a first down. Talk about role reversal!

**Thomas Morstead then punted beautifully, 52 yards to the three-yard line as P.J. Williams did a tremendous job to keep it in the field of play.

**Okafor sacked Matt Stafford, forcing a fumble in the end zone and Kenny Vaccaro recovered for a touchdown to give the Saints a 7-0 lead with 11:02 to play in the first quarter. Give the Saints pass defenders credit as Stafford could not locate his primary options, who were covered.

**It was the first defensive touchdown by the Saints in 679 days, the last coming in 2015 against the Panthers. New Orleans scored just one defensive touchdown combined from 2013-16.

**Undaunted, Stafford answered with a seven play, 75-yard drive, culminating with a 45 yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate, a play in which three defensive backs missed tackles, to make it 7-7 with 7:02 to play in the opening quarter.

**Mark Ingram then broke a 51-yard run to the Detroit 24-yard line. That set up a 20-yard pass from Brees to Ted Ginn, Jr. on a shallow crossing route. Ginn used his speed to outrun a defender, kept his foot in bounds and drove successfully for the end zone, getting in just inside of the pylon to make it 14-7 with 4:56 to play in the opening quarter.

**Ingram rushed 25 times for 114 yards and two touchdowns and caught five passes for 36 yards.

**Trey Edmunds pinned the Saints back to their own eight-yard line with a holding penalty on a Detroit punt.

**New Orleans overcame it, driving nine plays, going 69 yards, taking 3:05 off the clock. A delay of game penalty and two less than stellar throws by Brees killed the drive but Wil Lutz booted a 41-yard field goal to make it 17-7 New Orleans with four seconds to play in the first quarter. Brees connected with Michael Hoomanawanui for 25 yards and 24 yards to Ginn on the drive.

**New Orleans totaled 160 yards in the first quarter, along with the defensive touchdown in an impressive performance.

**Craig Robertson then made a brilliant play, stripping Stafford with a sack, stealing the ball from him and returning it to the Detroit 31 for the second forced turnover by the New Orleans defense.

**That led to a one-yard touchdown run by Ingram to make it 24-7 with 10:46 to play in the half, capping a six play, 31-yard drive.

**Detroit responded with an eight play, 53-yard drive with Matt Prater kicking a 41-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 42-10 with 6:38 to play in the half. Tyler Davison stopped Zach Zenner for no gain on third-and-one to force the field goal attempt.

**New Orleans kept the heat on, driving 75 yards in 11 plays with Ingram scoring from a yard out to make it 31-10 with 1:48 to play in the half.

**On two consecutive made extra points, Senio Kelemete was flagged for an illegal formation. Lutz calmly drilled home the third attempt to make it 31-10. Sean Payton was all over referee Jeff Triplette over the calls and many more to come in the game.

**Lutz then kicked off terribly, out of bounds, giving the Lions the ball at the 40-yard line. Detroit drove to the New Orleans five and on fourth-and-goal, Jim Caldwell passed on a field goal attempt and went for it. Lattimore denied Stafford, tackling Darren Fells at the one-yard line.

**Brees suffered an interception as Michael Thomas appeared to go down, with the football in his possession but stole it from him for the interception. The call was upheld by review, which was highly questionable.

**It did not hurt. The Saints got a stop and Prater missed a 56-yard field goal, giving New Orleans good field position.

**New Orleans took advantage, going 54 yards in seven plays, taking 3:18 off the clock with Brees hitting Hoomanawanui on a two-yard touchdown pass to make it 38-10 with 9:17 to play in the third quarter.

**Then, Trey Hendrickson tipped a Stafford pass and Lattimore picked it off and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown to give New Orleans a 45-10 lead, further evidence of how the Saints really hit it big in the 2017 NFL draft.

**Detroit came back as Stafford connected with Marvin Jones, Jr. on a 22-yard touchdown pass as Jones made a brilliant one-handed catch to make it 45-17 with 5:56 to play in the third quarter.

**Ingram then fumbled one away on a pass completion and Detroit took advantage, driving 61 yards in 11 plays to score as Stafford hit Fells on a 22-yard touchdown pass to make it 45-24 with 1:21 to play in the third quarter.

**The Saints failed on special teams, allowing Jamal Agnew to return a punt 79 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 45-31 with 11:03 to play in the game. The backside was wide open, with a gaping hole that Agnew exposed.

**A’shawn Robinson then made a huge play, interception Brees and returning it two yards for a touchdown to make it 45-38 with 6:41 to play in the game.

**Morstead then punted 67 yards to the Detroit one-yard line, a huge punt when the Saints needed it.

**That set up the Saints best player on this day and all year long on defense as Jordan intercepted Stafford for a touchdown to make it 52-38 with 5:04 to play in the game.

The big negative was special teams play. The Saints allowed a punt return for a score, another long punt return, Lutz had two bad kickoffs and there were two holding penalties on punt returns. Of course, the three turnovers by the Saints were a huge negative, their first three of the season, but they overcame it by forcing five Detroit turnovers.

The weight is off the shoulders of Sean Payton. As mentioned, his Saints are over .500 for the first time since 2013.

Now, the opportunity to build on it is real heading to Green Bay to face the Packers, who will be without Aaron Rodgers, who broke his collarbone against Minnesota. Instead of facing one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, the Saints will be facing Brett Hundley or someone else.

To be successful, you have to be good and you have to be lucky. The Saints have been good over the last three weeks. Now, they are finally getting some luck but they must take advantage of it.