Lutz's monster field goal sends Saints to lastgasp win over Texans
Drew Brees and Wil Lutz supplied the accuracy and poise New Orleans needed to overcome another officiating gaffe and their defense’s late collapse. Lutz made a 58-yard field goal as time expired, and the Saints beat the Houston Texans 30-28 on Monday night in a game that had three scoring plays in the final minute.
“That one’s got to be a top-one moment for me,” Lutz said, adding that as much as he tries to treat each kick the same. “I got to be honest. That one felt a little different.”
New Orleans had lost their previous five season openers. And after last season ended with a bitter loss in the NFC title game, the Saints had expressed urgency to start the 2019 campaign well. “I knew how big this win would be,” Lutz said.
The moment the ball left Lutz’s foot, punter Thomas Morstead, who holds on field goals, turned toward his kicker, triumphantly flexing both arms at his side. Moments later, the crowd noise in the Superdome reached an earsplitting crescendo as the ball split the uprights and Saints players jubilantly streamed on to the field.
Deshaun Watson threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to ex-Saints receiver Kenny Stills with 37 seconds left, capping a two-play, 75-yard drive that put the Texans in front after they began their final possession down by six with 50 seconds left. But that left just enough time for Brees, who capped a 370-yard, two-touchdown performance by completing a 15-yard pass to Ted Ginn Jr, an 11-yarder to Michael Thomas and another pass to Ginn for nine yards in quick succession. That allowed New Orleans to save their final timeout until just two seconds remained and set up Lutz’s career-long kick.
“When you have Drew as your quarterback, all I cared about was getting ready for the kick, because I knew with 37 seconds left there was going to be a chance,” Lutz said.
Had the Saints lost, it would have marked the second straight game in the Superdome in which a league-acknowledged officiating mistake worked against New Orleans. In last season’s NFC championship game, missed pass interference and helmetto-helmet contact fouls against the Los Angeles Rams went uncalled in the final minutes. This time, a botched ruling left the Saints with 15 fewer
seconds to run their hurry-up offense at the end of the first half. New Orleans had to settle for a 56-yard field goal try that Lutz narrowly missed.
The Saints came back from an 11point, third-quarter hole to win anyway, but Brees wasn’t letting the officials or the league off the hook. “That can’t happen. That’s a game changer,” Brees said. “If we had 15 more seconds, are you kidding me?”
The 40-year-old Brees completed 32 of 43 passes, mirroring his NFL-record 74.4 completion percentage last season. One of his TD passes went to reserve QB and utility player Taysom Hill, who also subs in as a tight end or slot receiver. The other went to second-year pro Tre’Quan Smith.
“Playing on the road against a great quarterback like Drew Brees, you’ve got to be able to put the game away,” Watson said. “We had the opportunities.”
In Oakland, the night started with Raiders fans derisively chanting at former disgruntled receiver Antonio Brown and ended with coach Jon Gruden celebrating a victory in the Black Hole.
The saga that consumed the football world for days didn’t hamper the Raiders a bit. Derek Carr threw a touchdown pass on the opening drive of the season, rookie Josh Jacobs ran for two scores and the Raiders responded to a tumultuous week surrounding Brown by beating the Denver Broncos 24-16.
“As much as people talked about it, I mean my god. I feel like somebody was smashing my temple on the side of the head,” Gruden said. “Get over it, man. It’s over. We were good this pre-season without him. We were fine without him. We wish him the best. We gave it a shot. Now New England gets their turn. Good luck to them. I can’t deal with it any more.”
The Raiders (1-0) took out any frustration over the drama surrounding Brown with a convincing win over the AFC West rival Broncos (0-1). The offensive line cleared holes for Jacobs and protected Carr, and the defense harassed Joe Flacco into three sacks and kept Denver out of the end zone until 2:15 remained in the game. The win spoiled the Denver debuts for Flacco and coach Vic Fangio and ended the NFL’s longest opening weekend winning streak at seven games.