Page 19 - ARUBA TODAY
P. 19
SPORTS A19
Tuesday 9 January 2018
Brees, defensive stand, help Saints survive Panthers, 31-26
By BRETT MARTEL New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Freeny (55) celebrates noticed the Panthers play- yards from scrimmage this
AP Sports Writer ing with one safety deep season, were held to 68 to-
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — his sack with linebacker Michael Mauti (56) in the second half instead of their usual two, tal yards.
Saints All-Pro defensive end “you’re licking your chops RUSHING THE PASSSER
Cameron Jordan grinned of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in New with a quarterback like Newton was sacked four
playfully as he glanced up Drew Brees and the talent times, once each by Bell,
at a bottle of red wine in Orleans, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018. we have. We knew what Jordan, Jonathan Freeney,
the top shelf of his locker we had to do and it was and David Onyemata. The
and asked if anyone knew Associated Press on the receivers.” Ginn, a sack by Onyemata came
Carolina quarterback Cam former Panthers receiver, as Newton tried to spin
Newton’s address. a win today for a lot of guys ways to be effective,” Brees celebrated the sweep of away from Tyeler Davison
A bottle with the name his former team by holding and slammed his head
“Jordan” on the label — that I think so highly of. said, mentioning clutch first- up a broom in the locker into Onyemata’s chest.
even if it isn’t made by the room. Newton appeared to be
Saints star’s family — might “I just have to be better,” down catches by Brandon MISSED OPPORTUNITIES checked for a concussion,
be the last thing Newton Helped by the presence but missed only one play
wants right now. he added. “I’m not go- Coleman and Willie Snead of tight end Greg Olsen before returning to the
Drew Brees and his receiv- — who did not play in the game on Carolina’s next
ing corps came through ing to take the cowardly in addition to the big plays teams’ previous two meet- possession Newton sat on
when Carolina stifled New ings — Newton marched the field near the sideline
Orleans’ prolific backfield, way and point somebody by Ginn and Thomas. “The Carolina into Saints territory after the play, and while
and a relentless Jordan more often than not. But the a new NFL rule calls for
spearheaded a late de- else out.” The comeback ball was spread around Panthers stalled four times players to be taken to the
fensive stand to seal a 31- inside the New Orleans 25 locker room to be evalu-
26 an NFC wild-card round bid began to fizzle when quite a bit and guys were in the first three quarters. ated for concussions if they
victory on Sunday. They settled for four field appear to be struggling to
“You can’t be more happy Jordan induced an inten- making plays when they goal attempts on those stand, Newton said part of
about the way we played drives, one of which kicker his helmet got pushed into
in terms of how we finished tional grounding penalty had the chances.” Graham Gano surprisingly his eyelid. Panthers coach
the game,” Jordan said. missed from 25-yards. Jor- Ron Rivera offered a simi-
“We almost let them back on Newton, making it third- Thomas caught eight pass- dan called the Saints’ red- lar explanation and added
in the game, but here I am zone stops “huge.” “Had that Newton only sat down
standing as winner. Here and-25 on the Saints 34 es for 131 yards on a day half of those been touch- to give backup Derek An-
I am, as a Cam Jordan, downs, we’d be sitting in a derson more time to warm
sending Cam Newton a and a requiring 10-second when the Saints needed different spot,” Jordan said up. The NFL said it planned
bottle of Jordan wine.” KEY STATS to discuss the matter with
Brees passed for 376 yards runoff that left 20 seconds the passing game to com- Olsen had eight catches the Panthers medical staff
and two touchdowns, for 107 yards and a touch- before commenting fur-
but one more completion on the clock. pensate for a ground game down. Newton finished 24 ther.
would have considerably of 40 passing for 349 yards INJURIES
lowered the stress level on After an incompletion in that struggled to get go- and two touchdowns, in- Panthers: Cornerback Daryl
the Saints’ sideline. Coach cluding a 56-yard scoring Worley briefly was placed
Sean Payton kept the of- the end zone, Vonn Bell ing. Thomas said when he strike to Christian McCaf- in the concussion protocol
fense on the field on fourth- frey that pulled the Pan- but also cleared to return
and-short with two minutes sacked Newton on a safe- thers within a touchdown during the game.
remaining and Carolina with 4:09 left. Saints running Saints: Starting left guard
out of timeouts, hoping backs Mark Ingram and Andrus Peat was carted off
for one more first down Alvin Kamara, who com- the field with a broken left
that would have allowed bined for more than 3,000 fibula..q
New Orleans to run out the
clock. But Brees couldn’t ty blitz , ensuring the Saints
find an open receiver, was
flushed out of the pocket (12-5) swept all three meet-
and decided his best op-
tion was to throw it up for ings with Carolina (11-6)
grabs. It was intercepted
by safety Mike Adams, this season, in addition to
which turned out better
for New Orleans than an winning the first postseason
incompletion because it
meant the Panthers had to game they’ve played in
start from their own 31 in-
stead of mid-field. four seasons.
Still, Newton completed
three straight passes to “The coaches wanted to
move the Panthers to the
Saints 26-yard line with 58 get the ball out of the quar-
seconds left before New
Orleans’ resistance stiff- terback’s hands fast,” Bell
ened. “I’m frustrated,”
Newton said. “I hate that I said. “They dialed it up and
couldn’t do enough to get
I said, ‘Go make a play.’”
Brees’ touchdowns went
for 80-yards to Ted Ginn
and 9 yards to tight end
Josh Hill. Fullback Zach line
and running back Alvin
Kamara each ran for short
touchdowns, the latter set
up by Michael Thomas’ 46-
yard reception .
“What we’ve shown offen- 523-0300
sively is we have a lot of
