Saints hold off Lions for crucial road win, 35-29

  • October 4, 2020
  • By Ken Trahan
  • Category: Saints
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Saints WR Tre'Quan Smith vs Lions

The New Orleans Saints limped into Detroit without six starters. When they arrived, they had a false positive test of a player for COVID-19. Suddenly, the game set for Sunday at noon was in jeopardy.

The distractions that define 2020 continue in robust fashion.

During the game, the Saints lost Ryan Ramczyk and Deonte Harris. P.J. Williams also went down.

It is so hard to have so many key players out and win.

Then, there was a disastrous start, falling behind 14-0 less than five minutes into the game.

The prospect of three straight losses was real.

A team with lofty expectations finally found the level of play everyone has been waiting to see.

The Saints got a needed victory to get back to .500.

Of course, they had to sweat out some tense moments late after a 21-point lead was reduced to six points with under four minutes left.

The offense needed to make plays to maintain possession.

It was accomplished.

Here are my Quick Takes from the 35-29 victory at Detroit.

**Saints fullback Michael Burton initially tested positive for COVID-19 after the team arrived in Detroit but a subsequent test was negative. All of his teammates also tested negative, allowing the game to go on as scheduled.

**Prior to the game, the Saints re-signed former Brother Martin and LSU star Will Clapp to the active roster, along with promoting cornerback Ken Crawley and tight end Garrett Griffin from the practice squad. The moves were a result of the injuries to Andrus Peat, Marshon Lattimore, Janoris Jenkins and Jared Cook.

**The Saints won the toss and deferred, giving the Lions the ball first.

**Patrick Robinson and P.J. Williams opened at cornerback for the Saints.

**Detroit had third-and-long twice on the opening drive and converted easily on both occasions.

**First, Matthew Stafford ran 12 yards for a first down. The Saints were in man coverage and the middle of the field was wide open.

**Then, Stafford hit Danny Amendola for 50 yards to the New Orleans 14-yard line. Amendola ran a crossing route behind two linebackers. Nobody went with him. Alex Anzalone gave chase in fruitless fashion.

**Two plays later, Stafford hit DeAndre Swift on a 7-yard touchdown pass as Swift beat Demario Davis to make it 7-0 with 11:58 to play in the opening quarter. The drive covered 77 yards in eight plays, taking 3:02 off the clock.

**On the first play from scrimmage, Drew Brees attempted to throw to Emmanuel Sanders, who was open. His pass was batted in the air by Danny Shelton and it was intercepted by Darryl Roberts, giving Detroit the ball at the New Orleans 18-yard line.

**Three plays later, it was 14-0 as Stafford tossed a a 14-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Golladay, who beat C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

**New Orleans awakened, driving 75 yards in 13 plays, nine of which were runs, with Latavius Murray scoring on a 3-yard run to cut the deficit to 14-7 with 3:57 to play in the opening quarter. Brees connected on passes to Marquez Callaway for 16 yards and to Emmanuel Sanders for 18 yards.

**The Saints got a stop when Cam Jordan got his first sack of the season.

**New Orleans then had a nice drive going but on 2nd-and-one from the Detroit 40-yard line, it was time to get cute and try to throw the ball. Brees was sacked by Okwara, killing the drive. Julian Okwara whipped Josh Hill for the sack.

**New Orleans faced fourth-and-four and went for it. Brees hit Kamara on a perfect throw for 29 yards to the Detroit 14.

**Terron Armstead left the game hurt and on the next play, Tre’Quan Smith was injured. Smith was hurt by a cheap shot while running a route. Both were able to return.

**The Saints got it done, anyway as Brees hit Latavius Murray for 19 yards to the 1-yard line before Kamara scored on a 1-yard run to tie the game at 14-14. It was Kamara’s seventh touchdown of the young season.

**The Saints then came up with a big defensive play as Detroit was driving, at the New Orleans 11-yard line, but Patrick Robinson made a leaping interception in the end zone of Stafford to kill the drive.

**New Orleans then drove 80 yards in nine plays, taking 5:26 off the clock and Brees hit Smith on a 2-yard touchdown pass to give the Saints a 21-14 lead with 3:03 to play in the half.

**The Saints then forced another 3-and-out and Deonte Harris returned a punt 22 yards to the Detroit 49-yard line.

**It took the Saints just four plays to go 49 yards with Brees hitting Smith on a 20-yard touchdown pass to give New Orleans a 28-14 lead by halftime.

**It was the 555th career touchdown pass for Brees in his illustrious career as the all-time leader in NFL history in touchdown passes.

**The Saints had 275 yards in the first half, including 168 yards passing and 107 rushing.

**After the tipped ball interception on his first attempt of the game, Brees was brilliant. He finished the half 11-of-14 for 179 yards with two touchdowns and the interception.

**As the most penalized team in the NFL, the Saints had just one penalty in the first half.

**Ryan Ramczyk went down on the first drive in the third quarter. He walked off and was replaced by Ethan Greenidge, who has replaced Armstead briefly earlier in the game. Ramczyk suffered a concussion.

**New Orleans took the second half kickoff and drove it 75 yards on 10 plays, taking 6:08 off the clock with Murray scoring on a 6-yard run to give New Orleans a 35-14 lead with 8:52 to play in the third quarter.

**Robinson left with an injured finger midway through the third quarter. He was replaced by Crawley.

**Then, P.J. Williams went down. You could not make this up with these injuries.

**Detroit finally answered, driving 75 yards in 11 plays. The big play of the drive was a questionable 32-yard pass interference call on Alex Anzalone. On the play, Anzalone ran step for step with the tight end, he had inside position, and pass interference was still called.

**Stafford then hit a wide-open T.J. Hockenson on a 1-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-21 with 4:19 to play in the third quarter. On the play, Stafford play-faked and Hockenson broke wide open, with Malcolm Jenkins giving chase way late. It is the same play-fake action near the goal line that the Raiders and Packers utilized very successfully against New Orleans.

**The Saints finally were stopped but Thomas Morstead punted beautifully to the Detroit 2-yard line and Bennie Fowler was on the spot to down it.

**Kamara was back to field a punt in the fourth quarter, begging the question what was wrong with Harris?

**Morstead then had an unusually poor punt, covering just 28 yards, giving Detroit the ball at the New Orleans 43-yard line with 8:01 to play in the game.

**Marcus Williams got what would have been a game clinching interception but Anzalone was flagged for illegal contact, giving Detroit new life.

**The Lions took advantage, driving 43 yards in 12 plays and scoring on a 6-yard run by Adrian Peterson.

**Then, Matt Patricia decided to go for two, an unorthodox call. It worked. Stafford hit Hockenson over Malcolm Jenkinss to cut the deficit to 35-29 with 3:40 to play in the game.

**New Orleans sorely needed a first down or two. They got them, thanks to their two best players.

**First, Brees hit Smith with a big 19-yard pass on a third-and-five. Then, Kamara rushed five yards for a score to put the game away.

That was so important as the Saints chopped up secondary would have had a hard time keeping Detroit out of the end zone.

Brees showed the ability to drive the ball down the field. Imagine that! Perhaps the false narrative that he cannot throw anymore will dissipate. Perhaps it will not. Does it really matter?

Brees rebounded well from the early interception, which was not his fault. He finished 19-of-25 for 246 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

Smith and Sanders stepped up in a big way.

They are gaining confidence and their timing with Brees is noticeably better. That, perhaps, is the best thing about the absence of Michael Thomas.

Smith had four catches for 54 yards and two touchdowns while Sanders had six catches for 93 yards.

Jordan got his first sack of the season.

Robinson got an important interception.

Kamara continued to play at a Pro Bowl level.

Murray ran it hard as the Saints racked up 164 yards on the ground.

New Orleans kept its poise after falling behind early.

Now, it is back to the drawing board.

Who will be healthy enough to play against the Chargers a week from Monday?

Will Thomas return?

Are we ever going to see Marcus Davenport?

How about the starting corners, along with P.J. Williams?

How long will Andrus Peat be out?

Will Ramczyk recover from concussion protocol in time to play?

After just four games, the Saints are a MASH unit.

Tampa Bay rallied to beat the Chargers 38-31 to the Bucs lead the division while the Panthers won again and are tied with New Orleans.

No one said it would be easy. We just did not envision it being this hard so early in the season.

Still, this was a very good win, all things considered.

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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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