Luke Kuechly diagnosed with a concussion

The ball flopped straight down, between Addison’s knees, and he sat on the ball to recover it.

New Orleans plays at home against Los Angeles and Detroit next, and now are 2 games behind (6-4) Atlanta in the NFC South. CB Delvin Breaux, who returned on November 6 from a fractured fibula, said he was inactive Thursday night because the team did not want to over work him early on in his recovery by having him play three games in 12 days, but that he expected to play in New Orleans’ next game November 27. Kuechly was injured on the play. Carolina would give up another score, but hold on for its third win in four games.

The concussion problems likely explained Kuechly’s down year by his lofty standards in 2015. “You know him, he wants to play”, Ron said. “Other than that I thought we were efficient”.

The Panthers, who surrendered a 17-point lead and lost to Kansas City last week, entered the fourth quarter with a 23-3 lead before injuries set in.

Kuechly’s helmet facemask appeared to hit the helmet of Saints running back Tim Hightower while tackling him in the fourth quarter.

However, I do wonder why Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen didn’t dial up the heat on Carolina quarterback Cam Newton on a pivotal third-and-10 from the Panthers’ 15 inside the final 2 1/2 minutes. He returned to the game with about 5:30 left in the second quarter after missing one offensive series. It felt like for most of the first half we played the game on our side of the field so any mistakes are magnified, so obviously that’s something we’ve got to clean up.

“We have the next man ready”, Thompson said. I need to put the ball in a corner and let guys do their job. Carolina makes two west coast trips with Oakland and Seattle. “It’s remarkable in a sense”, said Panthers safety Kurt Coleman.

“I’m praying that everything was just precautionary and everything that comes back is all right”, Coleman said. “Not only our team but their team”. On Thursday night, he threw for 285 in a loss.

“Their front’s playing well”, said Saints coach Sean Payton, whose team has lost four of its past five games at Carolina. Kuechly left the field on a cart while tears streamed down his face. “We get to go into a mini-bye week and get healthy”. By now we all know how serious that is.

Ultimately it didn’t. The Panthers offense, which has struggled in its own right in recent weeks, ran off just enough off the clock to quash the Saints’ comeback bid. “It cost us last week against Denver, and it cost us again tonight”. “Luke makes our game so easy for us up front”.

Maybe Ginn is just too fast for officials.

Wentz (23 of 45 for 218 yards) was good early, especially on Philadelphia’s first scoring driving that was capped by a 4-yard TD pass to Zach Ertz in the opening moments of the second quarter. The back judge initially ruled the pass incomplete, but replay overturned the call and made it a touchdown.