In New Orleans, Saints tickets are a hard sale

Channel 9 was there overnight as hundreds of Panthers fans welcomed the NFC South division champions back to Charlotte.

When a play that would win the game had to be made, they made it. Despite dropped passes and missed throws, Cam Newton drove the Panthers to two fourth-quarter touchdowns.

New Orleans found the going tough against Carolina’s vaunted run defense, as the Saints only managed 70 yards on the ground. He narrowly pulled it off, finding tight end Greg Olsen for a first down as he rolled left on a fourth-and-4. Olsen snagged the ball just before it hit the turf.

“I had to use the bathroom, and I asked the team doctors can we do the protocol in the back”, Newton said. “We have a very resilient group of guys who take the good with the bad, and that gave us a chance to win the game”. I feel that reaching out to and helping others in any way, shape or form is part of our mission as National Football League players.

Newton was rocked with two hard hits by the Saints defense and even was given an independent evaluation for a possible concussion in the Carolina locker room after a goal-line hit by linebacker Michael Mauti.

“I deserved to get hit like that, taking my foot off the gas”.

For the Saints, who suffered their fourth consecutive defeat, Drew Brees passed for 282 yards and three touchdowns. They also play on the road against the 5-7 New York Giants on December 20 and close the season at home January 3 against Tampa Bay, which is 6-6 and in the playoff hunt after winning three of its last four games. On both completions, the Panthers victimized cornerback Brandon Browner, the NFL’s most penalized player. He was sublime again on Sunday, completing 21 of 27 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns while rushing nine times for 51 yards and a score.

Browner was severely beaten several times throughout the game, on one drive getting bailed out by a Ginn drop and a Newton overthrow as both plays would have gone for touchdowns.

NOTES: Breaux left the game in the first half with what Payton said was a hamstring injury…. Just so you understand that. I didn’t see that, and I didn’t know what the whole protocol was going on until well after that game.

Speaking of players that only need one hand to function, Giants pass rusher Jason Pierre Paul – who lost a finger in a fireworks accident in the offseason – had his best game of the season. “That’s on us for not finishing them off”. During that stretch he is 59 of 69 for 810 yards and no interceptions, and the Minnesota Vikings-8-3 heading into the game-had no answer for him in Week 13. Cooks is really the Saints’ only deep threat. But it says a lot for the Panthers to win despite not playing their best ball.

Offensive coordinator Mike Shula, who has been coaching Newton for the past five seasons, said the quarterback has been handling pressure situations much better this season than perhaps earlier in his career. Breaux intercepted a Cam Newton pass intended for Ted Ginn Jr. and returned it 22 yards to the Carolina 20, but the Saints failed to score when Kai Forbath missed a 38-yard field goal.

“We have to take it upon ourselves to know what we’re doing”, Byrd said. “We are already short one corner (Keenan Lewis is on IR), but that’s how it is”. That gave Anthony eight points in the game, including his touchdown on a strip of Stewart and 31-yard return. Saints linebacker Stephone Anthony returned a fumble 31 yards for a score and also became the first National Football League player to return a blocked extra-point kick for two points. Jackson, the Saints’ second-round pick (No. 51 overall) in 1981, is the franchise all-time leader in sacks (115) and fumble recoveries (26). That’s why after the game, Brees stood at the lectern and talked about how he’s focused only on having this team get as good as he thinks it can be. “This one stings a little bit”.