Saints defense holds on to upset Seahawks

The New Orleans Saints gave their all against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, and they walked away with a 25-20 victory at home.

After trading punts on the game’s first two drives, an early fumble by running back Mark Ingram led to the first score after safety Earl Thomas would take it 34 yards to take an early 7-0 lead. That’d be all for Ingram, as he wouldn’t be seen again and Tim Hightower and Daniel Lasco would handle the load.

The Saints offense would pilot a 15-play, 83-yard drive that resulted in a Wil Lutz field goal to open the scoring for Sean Payton’s squad. The Saints were close, but couldn’t finish. The Seahawks offense would answer with some trickery, and Christine Michael would put Seattle up 14-3 after punching it in from 2 yards out.

The next Saints offensive drive would see the team march down the field on a 10-play, 40-yard drive and settle for another Lutz field goal to cut the lead to 14-6. Russell Wilson would be picked off by Nathan Stupar on the following Seahawks drive, and the Saints were able to punch it in from a Drew Brees 1-yard rushing touchdown. They’d trail 14-13 at the half.

Opening the second half, the teams would trade field goals to put the score 17-16. The Saints would take the lead after an impressive drive that had Tim Hightower bust open for a 28-yard gain led by left tackle Terron Armstead. It was capped off by a Brees to Brandin Cooks touchdown, but the ensuing 2-point try would be no good. Still, the Saints would go up 22-17.

Seattle’s next drive would see them march down the field 77 yards in 13 plays, but they could not punch it in and had to settle for a field goal to put it 22-20 with 6:38 to go. The Saints countered with a drive of their own that put them up 25-20 with just 1:57 to go.

Wilson and company would quickly slice the Saints defense apart on the final drive, and it literally came down to the game’s final play. However, Jermaine Kearse would be out of bounds. The Saints held on to improve to 3-4.