The New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions met for an NFC division showdown in the Big Easy. This game looked pretty easy early on for the Saints as they held a 31-10 lead at half time but what we saw mostly in the 2nd half was some wild plays both ways.

First of all, you have got to give credit where credit is due to running back Mark Ingram who, after the trade of Adrian Peterson, really took hold of the lead running back role. Ingram led the way with 25 total carries for 114 yards and added two touchdowns.

Early on in this game it was all about the defense for the Saints. On the Lions first offensive possession it took three plays for the Saints to pressure Matthew Stafford and force a fumble in the end zone where Kenny Vaccaro recovered for a defensive touchdown.

From that point on it was a couple offensive touchdowns exchanged back and forth but once the first quarter ended it was more Saints defense. Linebacker Craig Robertson hit, sacked, and stripped Matthew Stafford and also came away with the fumble recovery. That play set the offense up at the Detroit 31 yard line.

Heading into the half the Saints offense was on an absolute tear, after their first possession where they were forced to punt they scored every single time they had it. As mentioned earlier Mark Ingram had two touchdowns and Ted Ginn Jr. even got into the scoring with a receiving touchdown.

The Saints were feeling good coming into the second half with the 31-10 lead. After a couple of series' where Michael Hoomanawanui scored and Marshon Lattimore added a pick six to make it 45-10 you felt like the rout was on, but not so fast....

There was some question whether or not Stafford should still be playing in this game with such a deficit for the Lions and dealing with some noticeable injuries. Nevertheless, he continued on. He engineered back to back touchdown drives, the second one aided by a Mark Ingram fumble. That made it a 45-24 game, still feeling good as a Saints fan.

After each team exchanged punts, New Orleans stalled once again and was forced to punt it away, this time the coverage would break down. Jamal Agnew took advantage of the coverage breakdown and took it 74 yards to the house and just like that it was a two score game, 45-31.

The Saints offense continued to sputter featuring another punt and then Drew Brees was intercepted by A'Shawn Robinson and taken into the end zone for another defensive score. It was now a one score game, 45-38 and now as a saints fan you're starting to get a little nervous.

However, it wouldn't get closer than that because it was time for the Saints defense to step up and make a couple plays.

On the ensuing possession it was the old vet, Cameron Jordan tipping the ball to himself on a Stafford pass in the end zone for yet another defensive touchdown! 52-38 at that point.

There would be another tipped pass and interception, this time by Kenny Vaccaro and that's all she wrote for this game.

It was an absolutely crazy game. A game that the Saints felt they had in hand in the third quarter but give the Lions credit, they hung around and made some plays. In the end though it was too much Saints swarming defense. They accumulated five sacks, seven tackles for loss, recovered three fumbles, intercepted three passes, and scored three defensive touchdowns.

The Saints win and improve to 3-2. It's the first time they've been above .500 since week 17 of 2013 or 1385 days believe it or not.

The Saints will travel to Green Bay next week to take on the 4-2 Packers next week, who lost All-Pro quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a broken collarbone in the first quarter in a loss to Minnesota. Third year quarterback Brett Hundley will take over as the signal caller for the foreseeable future. This will be a much different game than the Saints would have originally thought.

 

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