More heartbreak at home for New Orleans fans. During the real season this game was very disappointing, Mare missing field goals and the Panthers making last second ones. The 2007 redux version is no better. If I knew it was gonna go as poorly as the real season, I wouldn't have put us all through this misery yet again.
Trying to regroup after the bye, the Saints are on the wrong end of yet another tight, low scoring loss. Even worse, a divisional opponent. This offense is just not the powerhouse that everyone was expecting. Fortunately, our defense has been playing great and keeping us in these games.
I kept Deuce on the roster because at the time I did this, the vote tally was in favor of keeping him. Sorry to the majority of you who wanted otherwise, but he did have the Saints only TD on the day. Drew Brees, as in the beginning of the real season, is disappointing to say the least. A paltry 102 yards? He also now has 5 interceptions in the last two games. I still can't believe how similar these seasons are turning out to be. Steve Smith did his best Joey Galloway impression and had a ridiculous 12 catches for 146 yards while David Carr completed 22/32, though he also through 2 interceptions. The Saints defense forced three turnovers but the offense couldn't do much with their opportunities. Colston led all receivers with 44 yards. McKenzie was all over the field with 10 tackles and Will Smith notched a sack. Unlike the real game, Mare actually went 2/2 and played well.
This now drops the Saints to a dismal 1-4 and in the NFC South basement. Ironically enough, Atlanta is looking very good, thanks to their law-abiding, poster child quarterback Michael Vick. The good news is that technically we are still better off than we were in the real season. Next up is Seattle and hopefully, like the real 2007 season, this is where we start to turn it around. Aaron Stecker sprained his ankle and will be out for 2 weeks.
Scoring Summary
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT | Final | |
| Panthers | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | - | 14 |
| Saints | 0 | 10 | 3 | 0 | - | 13 |
Game Stats
|
Stat |
Saints | Panthers |
| Score | 13 | 14 |
| Total Offense | 188 | 372 |
| Rushing Yards | 88 | 139 |
| Passing Yards | 100 | 233 |
| First Downs | 12 | 22 |
| PR Yards | 35 | 13 |
| KR Yards | 44 | 55 |
| Possession | 23:22 | 36:38 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 3 |
| 3rd Down Conv. | 5/12 | 7/15 |
| Red Zone Offense | 66% | 100% |
| Penalty Yards | 84 |
74 |
Division Standings
| Team | W | L | T | Pct. | PF | PA |
| Atlanta |
4 | 1 | 0 | .800 | 147 | 108 |
| Tampa Bay |
2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 75 | 110 |
| Carolina | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 85 | 106 |
| New Orleans | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 59 | 66 |
Passing
| Player | Yards | Comp. | Att. | Pct. | TD | Int. |
| Drew Brees | 102 | 11 | 23 | 47.8% | 0 | 2 |
Rushing
| Player | Yards | Attempts | Avg. | TD | Fumble |
| Deuce McAllister | 77 | 22 | 3.5 | 1 | 0 |
| Reggie Bush | 9 | 2 | 4.5 | 0 | 0 |
Receiving
| Player | Rec. | Yards | Long | TD |
| Reggie Bush | 2 | 26 | 24 | 0 |
| Marques Colston | 3 | 44 | 32 | 0 |
| Eric Johnson |
4 | 25 | 9 | 0 |
| David Patten |
1 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Devery Henderson |
1 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
Defense
| Player | Tackles | Sacks | Int. |
| Mike McKenzie |
10 | 0 | 0 |
| Will Smith |
6 | 1 | 0 |
| Hollis Thomas |
5 | 0 | 0 |
| Scott Fujita |
5 | 0 | 0 |
| Charles Grant |
3 | 0 | 0 |
| Roman Harper |
3 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh Bullocks |
3 | 0 | 0 |
Kicking
| Player | Att. | Comp. | Long |
| Olindo Mare | 2 | 2 | 35 |