The New Orleans Saints defeated the Carolina Panthers 20-17 on the road on Monday night, maintaining their perfect record to this point in the season.
The Saints kept the Panthers to 239 total offensive yards while applying constant pressure on this year’s top draft pick, Bryce Young. As a result, the rookie quarterback was held to just 153 throwing yards and one touchdown on 22 of his 33 attempts, and he was sacked four times.
Despite winning, Derek Carr and the Saints occasionally had trouble moving the ball, especially in the first half of a game where the defenses dominated.
Dennis Allen, the head coach of New Orleans, remarked afterward, “It was a good win for us. “Obviously, getting off to a 2-0 start in the season and winning the division, in my opinion, is huge. While it was undoubtedly not as clean as we would have liked, I did notice some progress in a few areas.
We simply need to be able to keep working hard and improving, but as we do that, being able to pick up victories along the road is a good problem to have.
A cautious affair
Both teams were forced to settle for field goals early on because neither was able to gain a considerable advantage over the other. At halftime, the score was 6-3.
Both signal callers will never forget the second quarter. After 30 seconds, Young was unable to gain any distance and nearly turned the ball over. Late in the quarter, Carr was intercepted by Vonn Bell, giving Carolina control in New Orleans territory.
However, the ensuing drive was unsuccessful for the Panthers in its attempt to score. On third-and-six, Young was the victim of a strip sack, which gave the ball back to the Saints.
In the waning seconds of the game, Carr was sacked twice on consecutive snaps, capping off a disastrous second half for both teams.
A spark was desperately needed in the game, and in the third quarter, Saints wide receiver Chris Olave delivered it.
The 23-year-old gave himself a tip and stretched before diving to collect the ball, giving the Saints a gain of 41 yards and a contender for catch of the season. Finally, New Orleans was successful when running back Tony Jones Jr. sprinted in from close range to score a touchdown.
While the Panthers continued to miss the end zone, Jones scored another rushing touchdown to increase the Saints’ lead in the fourth quarter.
Late in the fourth quarter, Young did manage to connect with Adam Thielen for a touchdown & a two-point conversion, but it was too little, too late as that ended up being Carolina’s final possession of the game. Following an onside kick recovery, the Saints continued to play to the end to secure the victory.
The season has just begun
Bryce Young’s team is currently 0-2 thus his NFL career has not gotten off to the best of starts. He struggled in Week 1’s matchup with the Atlanta Falcons and occasionally struggled against the Saints.
Despite this early setback, the rookie accepted responsibility for the performance and expressed his willingness to improve.
He remarked, “There are a lot of things I can work on, a lot of things I can grow better at. We must improve since we all want to see ourselves in the mirror and change.
We need to perform better as a team, and I must lead by example, she said.
With linebacker Shaq Thompson slated to lose some time with a “significant” knee injury, according to head coach Frank Reich, the Panthers will be aiming to put up a stronger performance against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
“There is so much cleanup to do”
Carr attempted to repeat his Week 1 performance against the Tennessee Titans when he threw for 305 yards, but he made a number of errors before halftime, missing his targets a number of times and frequently displaying an obviously angry expression.
The Saints came out on top, but the seasoned quarterback, who moved to New Orleans in the offseason, admits there is still potential for development.
We certainly had a few opportunities, but there is still much work to be done, Carr stated following the game. Although there is a lot of cleanup to do, winning makes it feel great to do it.
“We are 2-0 and I don’t think we played at the level which we are all hoping to play at yet, however, we are going to keep working hard, keep working, and make those corrections.”
When Carr and the team face the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, they’ll be trying to fix these problems.