Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
NFL divisional playoffs set
Saints pop Panthers, Jaguars down Bills to advance.
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Saints made the most of their return to the NFL playoffs Sunday as quarterback Drew Brees celebrated with a turn-back-the-clock performance. Brees’s prolific-once-more passing carried the Saints to a 31-26 triumph over the Carolina Panthers in an NFC first-round game.
The fourth-seeded Saints beat the Panthers for the third time this season, knocking Carolina quarterback Cam Newton from the game temporarily on a fourth-quarter hit and then holding on late, and moved a step closer to a possible Super Bowl return for Brees. They will play next at Minnesota against the second-seeded Vikings in a conference semifinal.
The Panthers essentially dared Brees to beat them, taking a defensive approach that focused on stopping the New Orleans running game. And that’s precisely what Brees did, throwing for 376 yards and two touchdowns.
“If a team’s going to do that, then obviously I feel like with the matchups we have outside, there should be opportunities,” Brees said. “You still have to have a level of patience and take advantage of them when they do come around. I think what we’ve shown offensively is we have a lot of ways to be effective, a lot of weapons to spread the ball around.”
The balance of the Saints’ offense that was on display
during the regular season gave way to Brees being the centerpiece in a pass-first approach Sunday. The Saints had only 41 rushing yards. But they sprinted to a lead while their defense limited the fifth-seeded Panthers to field goals instead of touchdowns until the fourth quarter.
Newton had a superb performance in which he threw for 349 yards and 2 touchdowns and ran for 37 yards. The Panthers simply could not get into the end zone to finish drives until Newton threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to tight end Greg Olsen with just less than 13 minutes remaining. That pulled the Panthers to within 24-19.
Newton was hit in the helmet by Saints defensive tackle David Onyemata on a sack on Carolina’s next drive. Newton got up and tried to reach the Panthers’ sideline but fell to his knees on the way there. He was taken from the game and replaced by backup Derek Anderson.
The Saints upped their lead to 31-19 on a touchdown run by tailback Alvin Kamara. Newton returned to the game and threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to running back Christian McCaffrey. Brees threw a fourth-down interception on a gamble by the Saints, but the Panthers’ lastgasp drive stalled after reaching New Orleans territory, in part because of an intentional grounding penalty on Newton. The Carolina quarterback was sacked on fourth down with five seconds left to seal the outcome.
“I don’t know,” Rivera said, expressing his displeasure with the intentional grounding call. “It would be nice to have the explanation.”
The Panthers’ once-promising season came to an abrupt end, and now they face an offseason of uncertainty in which owner Jerry Richardson has said he will sell the franchise while he is investigated by the NFL for alleged workplace misconduct. Richardson spent time in the Panthers’ locker room following the game.
It was a day that belonged to the Saints, who never trailed. They did suffer a loss to the offensive line that safeguards Brees when guard Andrus Peat was taken from the field on a cart, reportedly after suffering a fractured fibula.
“That’s an experienced team that’s been in the playoffs — seasoned, ready,” Saints Coach Sean Payton said of the Panthers. “Clearly we knew coming in that they were going to be a tough out. It wasn’t going to be like the first game we played them or the second game. We knew it was going to be a challenge … We knew coming in this would be completely different.” The Saints are back in the playoffs after three consecutive 7-9 seasons. They were hosting their first postseason game at the Superdome since the 2011 season. The atmosphere around town was predictably festive, and the crowd that was gathered inside the dome was ridiculously loud and enthusiastic.
Brees and Payton teamed to lead the Saints to a Super Bowl triumph in the 2009 season. But they have not been back to the NFC title game since then. The Saints are one step away from that now, with Brees set to turn 39 in a week and eligible for unrestricted free agency in the offseason.