In week one, the New Orleans Saints went on the road to take on the Detroit Lions and loss an overtime thriller, 31-30. It was a wild game that looked like it would be a blowout win for the Lions as they were up 21-0 with just under nine minutes left in the third quarter.

The Saints were able to fight back and force overtime and loss after a failed two point conversion. Here are my takeaways from the match-up.

The Saints Defense Is Legit

The Detroit Lions scored 31 points but the Saints defense did a good job of containing that high-powered offense. The Lions only had seven points going into halftime, then the Saints offense turned the ball over on back to back possessions giving the Lions extremely short fields where they were able to expand the lead to, 21-0.

The Lions only had two drives that were for more than 50 yards. The first touchdown drive that was 13 plays for 89 yards and the touchdown drive in overtime, which was 10 plays for 70 yards.

Jahmyr Gibbs had a big day with over 150 yards rushing but no one else on Detroit’s offense had a big day, yards wise. Amon-Ra St. Brown was able to rack up 10 catches but only for 67 yards. Other big time weapons like Sam LaPorta and Jameson Williams were both held under 50 receiving yards.

This is a good sign going forward for the team, as the offense should play better than they did in the first two and a half quarters against Detroit, which will lead to more complimentary football going forward.

NFL Refs Should Never have to Judge Intent

The Detroit Lions were up 7-0 when Chase Young was able to get a huge hit on Jared Goff and cause what looked like a fumble, scoop and score.

All turnovers and scoring plays are reviewed but this should have been an open and shut review, at least that’s what we thought. The referees overturned the call and the explanation was that Jared Goff had begun the throwing motion and the “intent” was to pass it forward.

The intent of every play is to go forward but sometimes the offense gets knocked backwards by the defense. The intent should never be apart of the ruling of a play.

What happened, did the ball go backwards or not? Even if you say its not a fumble, then its a backwards pass. Either way, its a live ball, that was picked up by the Saints and ran into the endzone.

This play did not cost the Saints the game but it definitely impacted how the first half played out.

Tyler Shough Got that Dawg In him

Tyler Shough couldn’t have played worse to start this game. He was leading the Saints offense absolutely no where. In their first eight possessions, there were five punts and three turnovers by Shough. The Saints were not able to move the ball for at least 40 yards in any of their first eight possessions.

New Orleans was down, 21-0, with just under nine minutes left in the third quarter after back to back turnovers by the offense, led to touchdowns for Detroit. This is where most teams would have folded, gave up, and lived to fight for next week. The Saints were able to get back into the game by scoring on five of their last six possessions. The one possession where they did not score, ended in a missed field goal from 62-yards away to end regulation.

Shough made some huge plays to keep the Saints alive during this comeback. This play was a 4th and 12. If New Orleans was unable to convert this fourth down, the game would of been over.

The second year quarterback, recognized the corner blitz, stepped up and delivered a dime in this pressure packed situation. That wasn’t the only big time 4th down play he made with the game hanging in the balance.

This is a tough throw to make at any point in the game, especially in overtime. Shough was able to make this pinpoint pass to Olave to keep the Saints hopes alive.

Shough ended the game going 35/56 for 410 yards with three touchdowns and three turnovers. This week against the Baltimore Ravens, he has to get the turnovers down and start faster which he should do, now that the preseason rust is off.

What did you learn about the Saints in this game?