The Saints rough start to the season continued on Thursday night in the desert as they fell to the Arizona Cardinals 42-34. The offense was able to strike early, but costly turnovers gave the Cardinals the momentum the rest of the way. Arizona was able to snap their two-game losing skid, meanwhile the Saints now fall to 2-5 on the season. Here are three takeaways from the Saints second-straight loss:
Turnovers Put Saints in a Hole:
The Saints offense was able to hold the lead for the majority of the first half with touchdown passes to Rashid Shaheed and Taysom Hill to give the Saints the 14-6 advantage in the second quarter. That was until Andy Dalton got into some trouble through the air.
Dalton threw his first interception while the Saints were at the Cardinals 10-yard line and was ready to build on what was already an early 7-3 lead. The veteran quarterback’s pass was picked off by Antonio Hamilton in the endzone and the Saints offense would stall.
After the Cardinals were able to tie up the game at 14 all, the Saints offense would get the ball with 2:28 left in the second quarter. New Orleans was looking to drive down the field and be able to take the lead into the half. That would not be the case as Dalton threw his second and third interception of the night that would end up changing the trajectory of the game.
Not only did Arizona force the turnover, but both times they resulted in pick sixes. The two interceptions for touchdowns would give the Cardinals the 28-14 lead going in the half.
Juwan Johnson Finds the Endzone Twice:
In what was an up-and-down game for the Saints offense there was a bright spot at the tight end position. The Saints were looking for ways to be able to try and fight back into the game. Juwan Johnson would end up being the target that New Orleans looked at in the red zone in the second half.
Johnson’s first touchdown came at the 11:14 mark in the fourth quarter where Dalton found Johnson for a 17-yard pass to cut into the Arizona lead, 35-24. New Orleans would find Johnson again in the end zone on their next offensive possession as he would haul in a one-yard score to once again cut into the Cardinals lead, 42-31.
The Saints offense would try to chip away at the Cardinals early lead that they build before going into the locker room, but New Orleans wasn’t able to cut the lead down to single digits until the final seconds of the fourth quarter in order to give themselves a fighting chance.
Saints Defense Dealt with Key Injuries:
The Saints defense coming into Thursday night’s matchup were short-handed as they were without Marshon Lattimore. We saw Alontae Taylor emerge as the cornerback that would be zoned in on DeAndre Hopkins for most of the night. Not only was New Orleans without Lattimore, but they were without Paulson Adebo in the secondary.
The injuries continued to pile on for the Saints during the game as Bradley Roby was ruled out of the game after the half due to an ankle injury. The Saints defense once again was unable to bring pressure on the opposing quarterback. The Cardinals offensive line was able to hold their own against the Saints rush defense as they only allowed two sacks on the night.
New Orleans’ defense would give up 326 total yards of offense to Arizona (189 passing yards and 137 rushing yards). It was going to be difficult for the Saints to come out with a win with two of their top cornerbacks out of the game.
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