Saints Squander Lead to Bengals, Fall 30-26

The Bengals and Saints game didn't disappoint on Sunday, but New Orleans fell short in the Superdome and drops to 2-4.

NEW ORLEANS -- The Saints are 2-4 after losing to the Bengals on Sunday 30-26. New Orleans was able to dominate on the ground and had some pretty impressive drives offensively, but had to settle on a lot of field goals on the day instead of touchdowns. Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase helped Cincinnati in the end of it all.

Game Recap

The Bengals opened up with the football to start the game after the Saints won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half kickoff. New Orleans forced a three-and-out to start the game after Demario Davis ended it on a 3rd-and-1 play with a 10-yard sack. The Saints offense had their own three-and-out, as Andy Dalton missed hooking up with Rashid Shaheed deep after he burned Eli Apple.

New Orleans got a huge turnover on the ensuing punt, as Andrew Dowell stripped the ball out and Adam Trautman recovered to give the offense new life. They took advantage, marching 32 yards in 3 plays, capping it off with Andy Dalton connecting with Tre'Quan Smith for an 18-yard touchdown to take a 7-0 lead with 10:33 left in the opening frame.

The Bengals picked up a first down on their next offensive series, but weren't able to get anything after that on their 5-play drive. New Orleans had good pressure on Joe Burrow to throw an early throw to Ja'Marr Chase, and he couldn't connect with him on the 3rd Down play and were forced to punt.

After a quick first down by the Saints on their next drive after an Alvin Kamara 12-yard run, the Saints couldn't get much else going on their fresh set of downs and punted back to the Bengals with 6:40 left in the quarter. They took advantage of things this time, going 75 yards in 12 plays and benefitting from a roughing the passer call on Demario Davis. On 3rd-and-Goal from the 9-yard-line, Burrow found Joe Mixon for the scoop and score over the middle to tie things up at 7-7 with 45 seconds left in the quarter.

New Orleans countered on their next offensive possession, marching 75 yards in 5 plays, with a big 14-yard run by Mark Ingram to open the second quarter. Just two plays later, they found pay dirt from rookie Rashid Shaheed, who took the jet sweep for 44 yards to get into the end zone in his season debut. 

The Saints defense forced another three-and-out on the Bengals ensuing possession. In just two plays, the offense rattled off runs of 24 and 31 yards with Alvin Kamara and Taysom Hill to get in the red zone. They would stall out there, losing Adam Trautman following the big run with Hill, and Wil Lutz converted from 35 yards out to give the Saints a 17-7 lead with 10:28 until the half.

Cincinnati put together a 10-play, 75-yard drive to answer the Saints to make it 17-14 with 5:44 to play in the second quarter. Tyler Boyd was a big factor on the drive, as he had a 21-yard catch on the drive, with Joe Burrow taking it in on 3rd-and-8 from the 19-yard-line after the pocket collapsed after a would-be sack. He strolled into the end zone with ease.

The Saints were able to put together a drive that resulted in points before the end of the half, going 63 yards in 14 plays to add on a 30-yard field goal from Wil Lutz to make it 20-14 before the half ended. The red zone snaps were less than ideal, but New Orleans moved the ball well to get points on the drive.

Second Half

The opening possession for the Saints saw things get off to a rough start, as they had three straight penalties to force a 3rd-and-25 situation. However, a costly roughing the passer penalty on Trey Hendrickson extended the Saints drive and helped lead them to a 37-yard field goal by Wil Lutz to make it 23-14 with 7:12 to play in the third quarter. The long drive featured a bit of everything, but the big play was a 14-yard connection from Dalton to Keith Kirkwood.

The Bengals answered relatively quickly, marching 74 yards in 7 plays in just under four minutes to get into the end zone after Burrow connected with Ja'Marr Chase for a 15-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 23-21 with 3:30 left in the quarter. Chase had an earlier play where he got 26 yards after breaking a Bradley Roby tackle.

New Orleans was able to answer with some points on their next drive after getting a 31-yard field goal from Wil Lutz to make it 26-21 with 11:07 left in the game. The Saints marched 66 yards in 14 plays, getting big plays by Juwan Johnson, Tre'Quan Smith, and Marquez Callaway on the drive. Red zone opportunities continued to be a little bit of a struggle for the Saints.

Cincinnati was on the move for their next offensive possession, and it looked like they had a good chance of getting things into the end zone after getting into the 25-yard-line. New Orleans stepped up big on back-to-back defensive plays, getting sacks from Demario Davis and Kaden Elliss to force a long field goal attempt. However, Evan McPherson was true from 52 and made it 26-24 with 3:42 left in the game.

The Saints ran a three-and-out at the worst possible time, as Dalton's 3rd-and-5 pass was incomplete after Trey Hendrickson disrupted it. Blake Gillikin proceeded to shank the punt for 29 yards, and the Bengals got into the end zone after just one play after Burrow hooked up with Chase for a 60-yard touchdown to take the lead with under 2 minutes to go. The 2-point attempt was no good, but the damage was done that saw the Bengals take a 30-26 lead with 1:57 to play.

Working with under two minutes to go and three timeouts, the Saints moved across midfield pretty easily. However, they took a costly sack and didn't get an anticipated pass interference call going to Marquez Callaway near the end zone on 4th-and-17. That was all she wrote for the game, and the Saints sunk to 2-4 after giving up their fourth quarter lead.

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