Lions safety Quin leaves vs. Saints with concussion

Backed into a corner by an overmatched defense, the Saints offense failed to wake up in time to complete a furious comeback in a 35-27 loss to the Detroit Lions, the fifth defeat in New Orleans’ past six games and a disappointing effort in a prime-time game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, a time slot the Saints used to dominate. Our guys are looking forward to get better. With 1:55 left in the game the score went to 35-27.

Detroit (5-9) raced to a 28-3 lead, but Drew Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes – one shortly after a Lions fumble – to help New Orleans (5-9) pull to 28-20 with about 10 minutes left. Tight end Eric Ebron caught four passes for 79 yards, while running backs Bell, Abdullah, Burton and Theo Riddick combined for eight catches for 79 yards.

The Saints went to a hurry-up offense in the second half and did eventually get into the end zone with 5:03 remaining in the third quarter when Brees connected with Cooks for a 27-yard score.

“You get behind like that in the first half, and your margin for error in the second half is pretty small”, coach Sean Payton said.

On the bright side of things, Brees extended his NFL-record streak of 4,000 passing seasons to ten last night.

“Three plays later, after officials erroneously stopped play when the Lions signaled for a timeout they didn”™t have, the Saints were called for ineligible man downfield negating a Brees completion to Marques Colston in the end zone as the first half expired. He got off to a bit of a rough start – he was sacked in the first series – but stayed with it. “We just knew we were going to have to score some points …”

The sequence was unusual, to say the least, but it didn’t appear to have much of an impact on the game when the Lions maintained their 21-3 lead at the half and then built it to 28-3 in the third quarter.

After the Lions recovered the onside kick, Bell provided the dagger with a 36-yard run right up the gut of the Saints defense. Brandin Cooks made a career-high 10 catches for 124 yards and a touchdown.

The Saints quickly fell behind with a hobbled Drew Brees. With his mobility limited, Brees couldn’t make enough plays to keep the Saints in the game with his defense giving early Christmas gifts to the Lions all game. “You’re going to have losing seasons; everybody does”.

NOTES: Johnson, nursing an ankle injury, had one catch for 19 yards, his second straight game with just one reception….

Injuries: Safety Glover Quin left the game in the second quarter to enter concussion protocol after he took a knee to the head.

“I felt it was only right that Raiders fans, my fans, fans that have watched me play for a long time, I would let them all know that this Thursday night would be the last time in the Coliseum I would be able to run out there in front of our fans at home”, Woodson said at a news conference. Second year pro Willie Snead, who made his regular season debut this year, made a career-high 10 catches for 76 yards.