The Saints got their first win of the season with a 24-17 upset of the Ravens. New Orleans trailed 14-6 at the half but scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to secure the win. Head coach Kellen Moore says the black and gold are resilient.
“All the stuff that you do all offseason; it’s for these moments right here. It’s for these moments when things aren’t going great for you, and our guys aren’t looking at each other frustrated; they’re looking at each other like, ‘Okay, we’re going to find a solution, we’re going to find a way.’ And that’s what the whole offseason is about building,” Moore said.
Quarterback Tyler Shough completed nearly 80% of his passes for 252 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 23 yards and the go-ahead touchdown to cap off the comeback with under two minutes remaining. Shough says he doesn’t feel any pressure in the moment.
“To me, it’s literally just another play. It’s fun, because you’re doing it with all your best friends; you’re doing it together. We’re in this, riding and dying with each other. And that’s when you can have some elite play, elite successes as you’re out there grinding. And I think you look back afterwards and it’s like, ‘Man, that was a big moment,"” Shough said.
After a long field-goal drive to start the third quarter, the Saints’ defense forced back-to-back three-and-outs to set up the comeback. Safety Julian Blackmon made the game-sealing interception on Baltimore’s final drive.
“We only gave up three points in the second half. I think that we did a very good job. Obviously, we had a slower start, giving up two touchdowns in the first half; but we came back and we rallied. We weren’t too worried it. We knew that we just had to make the right adjustments, and we did,” Blackmon explained.
Saints left tackle Kelvin Banks was carted off the field with an ankle injury near the end of the third quarter.