The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Brees, Saints hold on to top Panthers
NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees passed for 376 yards and two touchdowns, and the New Orleans Saints withstood Carolina’s late comeback bid to seal a 31-26 victory in their NFC wildcard game on Sunday.
The Panthers had a first down on the Saints 26-yard line with 58 seconds left, but heavy pressure by AllPro defensive end Cameron Jordan a couple plays later induced an intentional grounding penalty on Carolina quarterback Cam Newton, making it third-and-25 on the Saints 34 and a required 10-second runoff left 22 seconds on the clock.
After an incompletion in the end zone on third down, Vonn Bell sacked Newton on a safety blitz, ensuring the Saints (12-5) swept all three meetings with Carolina (11-6) this season, in addition to winning their first playoff game in four seasons.
Brees’ touchdowns went for 80-yards to Ted Ginn and 9 yards to tight end Josh Hill. Fullback Zach Line and running back Alvin Kamara each ran for short touchdowns, the latter set up by Michael Thomas’ 46-yard reception.
Thomas caught eight passes for 131 yards on a day when the Saints needed the passing game to compensate for a ground game that struggled to get going.
Helped by the presence of tight end Greg Olsen — who did not play in the teams’ previous two meetings — Newton marched Carolina into Saints territory more often than not. But the Panthers stalled four times from inside the New Orleans 25, settling for four field goal attempts on those drives, one of which kicker Graham Gano missed.
Olsen had eight catches for 107 yards and a touchdown. Newton finished 24 of 40 passing for 349 yards and two touchdowns, the other a 56-yard scoring strike to Christian McCaffrey that pulled the Panthers within a touchdown with 4:09 left.
But Newton was also sacked four times. A sack by David Onyemata came as Newton tried to spin away from Tyeler Davison and slammed his head into Onymata’s chest. Newton was checked for a concussion, but missed only one play.