Saints keep marching on with 31-17 win over Lions – NFL Recap
New Orleans Saints increased their chances of becoming the Champions of National Football Conference South with their fourth straight victory beating Detroit Lions 31-17 at the Mercedes-Benz Super-Dome in New Orleans.
Saints now have a two game advantage over chasing Atlanta Falcons and with quarterback Drew Brees firing on all cylinders the franchise is all set for the upcoming playoffs.
Brees was a giant during game week 13 as he decimated Lions defence throughout the match. Brees covered 342 yards completing 26 out of 36 attempted passes with three passing touchdowns to help Saints to another victory.
"He doesn't amaze us. That's just Brees out there," Saints Wide Receiver Lance Moore said. "He does it every single day in practice. The rest of the world doesn't get to see it but once a week."
Brees also became the first player in National Football League history to have covered 4000+ yards in twelve NFL games. The quarterback however, was dismissive of the achievement putting attention on the team victory saying
"We were able to spread the ball around and come up with some big plays," Brees said. "I hope our hopes and aspirations are bigger than setting records."
Detroit Lions on the other hand struggled throughout the game giving away needless penalties throughout the game which hurt their chances in the match.
"We lost to the Saints, but we beat ourselves today. Our offense continued to get derailed by penalties," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. “We cannot afford to be selfish and put the team at risk of taking points off the board and
there was way too much of that today."
Quarterback Matthew Stafford covered 408 yards during the game completing 31 out of 44 attempted passes but could only deliver a single passing touchdown. Stafford was intercepted once by Tracy Porter and got sacked three times.
The good news for Lions however is that they are still in contention for the playoffs and if they up the ante in their remaining matches Lions have a good opportunity to make the postseason.
New Orleans Saints opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 39-yard field goal from John Kasay and at the end of the second quarter had a 24-7 lead over Detroit Lions. Mark Ingram scored the first touchdown with a 14-yard
run at 11:44 in the second quarter to give Saints a 10-0 lead.
Quarterback Drew Brees then sent a long 67-yard pass three minutes later toward Robert Meachem to increase New Orleans lead to 17-0.
Six minutes later Detroit Lions hit back with Kevin Smith making a 2-yard run into the end-zone to peg back Saints but Brees was not done sending a wonderful 20-yard pass to Lance Moore who leapt through two Lions defensemen to
score a brilliant touchdown.
With Saints leading at the start of the third Detroit Lions came onto the field charged up for a big second half performance. Lions kicker Jason Hanson sent a 31-yard field goal at 9:11 to make it 24-10. Stafford connected with
running back Maurice Morris from a nine-yard pass right at the death to bring Lions back into the game.
At 24-17 Detroit were just one score away from equalising and have a chance to win the game but Brees was not going to let that happen. Nine minutes into the fourth quarter Brees sent a six-yard pass to Darren Sproles to score
the winning points. Detroit had no answer as their offense continued to struggle for points and had to settle for another defeat.
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