NEW ORLEANS — In a 26-24 defeat Sunday, the Saints bested the Super Bowl LVII champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. The win comes as Quarterback Derek Carr made his debut in Black and Gold.
Sports Director Doug Mouton and Sports Reporter Ricardo LeCompte, discussed The Saints preseason victory.
RICARDO LECOMPTE:
A great comeback in the end for the Saints, but let's talk about the beginning of the game where the ones who got to play in both the offense and defense dominated, let's start with Derek Carr in his first snaps in this Black and Gold offense.
DOUG MOUTON:
Yeah, you can not beat be more impressed with what Derek Carr was able to do in his first outing in Black and Gold.
To me, what the single best thing he did was, the way he stepped up and avoided pressure. Secondly, he spread the ball around; the connection we've seen with Juwan Johnson all training camp continued.
Juwan Johnson had two big catches on that opening drive. It was quick, it was precision and it was so well done.
You have to love Derek Carr's first outing, that is without question the number one takeaway from this game.
LeCOMPTE:
Six-eight, 70 yards and a touchdown.
The big thing on that drive, he spread it out into a bunch of different weapons: from Alvin Kamara to Michael Thomas even getting in the mix; Juwan Johnson also was key on that drive.
The guy who ended up with that touchdown, Keith Kirkwood, as Derek Carr said afterwards, "everyone got the cardio; he gets the reward for that touchdown.
Also, offense looked great, the defense looked great. And it was kind of funny that Khalen Saunders said that, "If they could play like this, this has to be potentially a Super Bowl-type defense."
MOUTON:
Well, the defense was outstanding, and I thought it started with the front they used. That's the starting forward defensive linemen and Pete Werner at linebacker, were all over the field. That was Nate Shepherd and Carl Granderson.
It was a terrific effort up front. And they can controlled Kansas City in that first quarter.
First quarter was completely dominant; 10 first downs for the Saints; one for the Chiefs. The kind of effort you want to see in preseason game number one.
LeCOMPTE:
They got a fourth-down stop on the first drive, and then on the second drive -- three and out.
Here was Dennis Allen talking about the game, afterwards.
COACH DENNIS ALLEN:
Obviously, with a few new pieces, it was good to see Derek (Carr) out there, it was good to see Mike (Thomas) get a catch across the middle. So there were some good things that happened there.
I thought our second series, offensively, was, again, we were able to take the ball on the field and get points.
And then really, honestly, I think it went downhill from there. I don't think we executed very well ... for a good chunk of the game.
Kind of the same thing on defense ... I thought initially we started out strong, and then as we got into the second half, I just thought we made too many mistakes.
I'm glad we got the win, this league is all about winning, so winning the preseason is important.
LeCOMPTE:
And, of course, we'll have a much more on preseason game number one, coming up on Fourth Down on Four, tonight.
MOUTON:
Yeah, we've got a lot of stuff. Ross Jackson joins us, we'll break down all of this, and 90% of what we're breaking down is all good.
LeCOMPTE:
Yes it is, Saints get their first win of the preseason, as they beat the Chiefs. Once again, 26-24.
Reporting from the Superdome, Eyewitness Sports.