SAINTS TOP PANTHERS BEHIND CAMERON JORDAN'S BIG GAME
Jordan tallies four sacks including late safety
By Ashley Barnett
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan is certainly a player who has the ability to take over a game and the Panthers were certainly aware of that coming into their week two match up against New Orleans.
“He's a force and he can dominate a game from wherever they line him up.” Panthers head coach Matt Rhule said after the loss. “We thought we had a plan to slow him down and obviously it didn't work.”
Jordan sacked Panthers QB Colby Porter Jr. four times in the game, including a safety in the fourth quarter that sealed the win for the Saints.
Rookie kicker Dalton Witherspoon connected on a 47 yard field goal in the first quarter for the Panthers.
Christian McCaffrey, who would leave the game later with an injury, scored on a one yard run early in the second quarter to make Carolina's lead 10-0. McCaffrey's score was set up by a Porter Jr. run where he was stopped just short of the goalline.
QB COLBY PORTER JR IS BROUGHT DOWN JUST SHORT OF THE ENDZONE, MCCAFFREY SCORED ON THE NEXT PLAY
Alvin Kamara put New Orleans on top with a pair of touchdown runs after that. The first came on a dazzling 66 yard display of speed and power and the second was a dive from a yard out.
Caroline answered shortly after when Porter Jr connected with McCaffrey on an angle route and the dynamic runningback made a few potential tacklers miss before scoring from 67 yards out.
MCCAFFREY MAKES SAINTS TACKLERS LOOK SILLY ON THIS 67 YARD CATCH AND RUN TD
New Orleans made it 21-17 midway through the third quarter when Jake Fromm connected with Micheal Thomas for a four yard score.
MCCAFFREY WENT DOWN WITH AN INJURY IN THE THIRD QUARTER
Without McCaffrey the Panthers offense struggled in the second half but their defense was able to keep the Saints from scoring as well.
Late in the fourth quarter following a Saints punt that pinned Carolina inside their ten yard line the Saints stopped a pair of Jonathan Taylor runs and forced them into a third and long from the eight. Porter Jr was barely done with his five step drop when Jordan was on top of him and dragged him down in the endzone for a safety.
JORDAN DRAGS DOWN PORTER JR FOR A SAFETY IN THE FOURTH QUARTER
Carolina would get the ball back once more but ran out of time trying to get into field goal range for Witherspoon.
“Not a great play call there.” Rhule said after the loss. “Didn't put our guys in the best position to succeed in that situation and Colby did the right thing just eating that one. Had he tried to throw it away when Jordan hit him who knows what could have gone wrong.”
Porter Jr threw for 208 yards and a touchdown on 15 of 19 passing. He also ran for 92 yards on eight carries. McCaffrey managed just 35 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown. He caught six passes for 107 yards and a score. His injury will be evaluated over the next couple days.
Tight end Ricky Seals-Jones added 60 yards on three receptions. Brian Burns recorded three sacks for the Panthers. McCoy and Kuechly added one each.
Jake Fromm threw for 254 yards with a touchdown and an interception on 26 of 37 passing. Kamara picked up 108 yards and two scores on 14 runs. Hill led the ream with 65 yards on four receptions.