New Orleans Saints capitulate in fourth quarter as Kansas City Chiefs win 27-24
The New Orleans Saints have now lost all three of their games in the 2012/13 season after the Kansas City Chiefs won 27-24 in overtime at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Things are looking pretty bad for New Orleans with their defence particularly struggling to master the new schemes by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
Once again it was poor defending from the Saints which sent them to another defeat as Kansas City rallied in the fourth quarter on the back of a brilliant performance by kicker Ryan Succop.
This was the second defeat of the Saints at the Superdome where they were unbeaten just a season ago.
Saints interim head coach Aaron Kromer in his post match interview said about the defeat:
"We're obviously disappointed, but not disheartened. We don't know how we're supposed to act right now."
Quarterback Drew Brees said that the team need to focus on getting their first win of the season and cannot even think about the Super Bowl which this year takes place in New Orleans.
He said:
"We are far from talking about the Super Bowl right now. What need to focus on is getting one win."
This was a massive blow for the Saints and a defeat in a game they were expected to win easily will dent their fragile confidence even further.
The Saints performed well at first with their offence delivering brilliantly as quarterback Drew Brees found his groove early on and passed for 240 yards throwing three touchdowns to put New Orleans up 24-6 in the third quarter.
However, their defence once again became their undoing as the Chiefs started their rally.
Kansas running back, Jamaal Charles was massive for the Chiefs as he rushed for 233 yards from 33 carries and scored a wonderful 91-yard touchdown near the end of the third quarter to bring down the Saints lead to 24-13 and start the comeback.
Ryan Succop scored two field goals early in the fourth quarter to peg back the Saints to 24-19 while Justin Houston sacked Drew Brees in the end zone for a two point safety with 5:33 to go.
The crowd looked horrified as the Saints capitulated with Succop scoring a 43-yard field goal with just seconds to go to tie the score.
Going into overtime the Chiefs once again turned to Succop who scored a 31-yard field goal to win the game for Kansas and give them their first win of the new season.
Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel praised the character of his team and said:
"This team needed a win, and a win like that really helped out in particular. There were a lot of doubts about what we could do and they showed a lot of character."
Things are looking bleak in New Orleans after the latest defeat and by next week they might be down to 0-4 when they travel to face the Green Bay Packers.
Tags: