NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Michael Thomas set an NFL record for receptions in a season as the Saints offense took a while to get untracked but then took off in a 38-28 win over Tennessee. The victory brought the Saints to 12-3 but they'll still need to scoreboard watch if they hope to get a bye in the NFC playoffs.
Thomas caught 12 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown, giving him 145 receptions for the year with one game to go. Thomas passes Marvin Harrison and has an entire game to go next week against Carolina.
"I'm glad he's on our team," said head coach Sean Payton. "He's very unselfish. I'm excited for him. More importantly we got the win and I think he'd say the same thing."
"It’s a blessing. I don’t take it for granted," said Thomas. "But we have more goals as a team. "We're so locked in and focused on winning as many games as we can."
In addition to Thomas' superlatives, Alvin Kamara seemed to get his mojo back. Kamara had 11 rushes for 80 yards and two touchdowns and caught six passes for 30 additional yards. It was Kamara's first time in the end zone since week 3 of the season.
“I would like to score but the wins were coming," he said afterward. "I'm not selfish. As long as the team is successful, I’m good."
The Saints started slowly, falling behind 14-0 early as the Titans scored on a couple of big plays - a 41-yard pass from Ryan Tannehill to Jonnu Smith to make it 7-0, and then a 49-yard rushing touchdown by AJ Brown.
The Saints also self-destructed during most of their first half drives as they suffered nine penalties and Brees was sacked twice.
Right before the half though, the Saints scored on a 61-yard pass from Drew Brees to Jared Cook to cut the margin to 14-10 before the Saints pretty much took over in the second half.
There was only one turnover in the game and that was beneficial to the Saints and costly to the Titans who were driving with the Saints up 31-28 with just over four minutes to go in the fourth quarter. A pass deep into Saints territory for Kalif Raymond was knocked loose by newcomer Janoris Jenkins and recovered by C.J. Gardner-Johnson. CJ brought it back to the Tennessee 25 and from there Thomas set the record and also got a touchdown reception to put the game out of reach.
"We started off slow, struggled in a lot of areas to start the game," said Payton. "I thought defensively after those two touchdown drives, we did things to get the momentum shifted."