Another blocked kick, more ‘catastrophic’ results for Saints

“The doctors will do what they feel is best”.

But they didn’t do their prime-time attire justice.

The Saints special teams are directly responsible for losses to the Giants, Broncos, and Panthers. Drew Brees completed 35 passes for 264 yards.

And the Black and Gold frittered away a winning performance by their defense.

What could have been a defining moment with back-to-back victories against Super Bowl 50 combatants Denver and Carolina has turned into a potentially devastating five-day span on the Saints’ schedule.

The Carolina Panthers escaped their home game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday night with a win, but few felt like celebrating after what happened with just under five minutes remaining in the contest. When New Orleans finally got the ball back, it had no timeouts, 14 seconds on the clock, and 86 yards to march to score. But if they were truly united, perhaps in the future they’ll band together to address other problems such as playing in short weeks, which no one in the labor force seems to enjoy. “Sometimes you say a lot and people become critical”.

If the New Orleans Saints hope to make a run at the playoffs they’ll first need to figure out how to kick the football through the uprights. “He loves the game”, said Rivera. The reason Brees held the ball longer than normal was because Carolina was able to drop seven defenders in coverage more often than not and blanket Saints receivers downfield.

No worries for the Panthers though, on the next play, Cam Newton threw a 40-yard touchdown strike to Ted Ginn Jr.

Carolina linebacker Shaq Thompson, who returned from a two-game absence, said it’s a good thing there were capable replacements to get the Panthers through the remainder of the game. I can make the argument the Saints would be 7-3 if their special teams were just not bad.

Despite close losses and losing records, both the Panthers and Saints have optimism going into the season’s stretch run, in pursuit of first-place Atlanta.

“Obviously head injuries are tough, especially when it comes to a guy that I’ve got the ultimate respect for”, said Lee, who missed a game previous year because of a concussion.

On Thursday night with Kuechly gone and the Panthers already without linebacker A.J. Klein, who was inactive with a concussion, Carolina turned to linebacker David Mayo.

The day after the image of him sobbing uncontrollably was the talk of the National Football League world Thursday night, Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly was all smiles Friday morning.