Tony Jones Jr rushes for two touchdowns while Bryce Young is sacked four times as the New Orleans Saints beat the Carolina Panthers 20-17 to continue their winning start to the season; Derek Carr throws for 228 yards and an interception on the night for the Saints.
Tuesday 19 September 2023 06:37, UK
Tony Jones Jr ran for two touchdowns, rookie Blake Grupe kicked two field goals and the New Orleans Saints beat the Carolina Panthers 20-17 to improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2013 on Monday night.
Jones replaced the injured Jamaal Williams late in the first half and ran for 34 yards on 12 carries.
The Saints' defense did the rest, holding Panthers rookie Bryce Young to 153 passing yards and sacking the top overall pick in the draft four times on his home debut while limiting Carolina to 239 yards of offense.
The Saints nearly made it two full games without allowing a touchdown before giving up a three-yard scoring toss from Young to Adam Thielen with 1:16 left in the game. Young's two-point conversion pass to Thielen got the Panthers within three, but the Saints recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
Derek Carr, who threw for 305 yards in the Saints' Week One win over Tennessee, struggled early. He had a badly underthrown interception into triple coverage and missed several other open receivers as the Saints limped into the locker room at halftime with a 6-3 lead.
An improved second half saw him find Chris Olave, who made a diving one-handed grab along the left sideline late in the third quarter for a 42-yard gain. That set up Jones' two-yard touchdown run to give the Saints a 13-6 lead.
Olave had another short grab leading to Jones' second touchdown with about three minutes to play as Carr finished with 228 yards passing.
New Orleans Saints
Carolina Panthers
The Saints pulled even with unbeaten Atlanta and Tampa Bay atop the NFC South, while the Panthers fell into an early hole.
Young spent a good portion of the night under pressure as the offensive line struggled, while Miles Sanders was limited to 43 rushing yards.
In the third quarter, the Panthers brought in Young's backup, Andy Dalton, presumably to run a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-inches. But before Dalton could take his first snap of the season, guard Cade Mays jumped offside. Eddy Pineiro bailed out the offense with a 54-yard field goal, one of his three on the night.
The Panthers had a chance to tie the game just before halftime while facing third-and-six at the Saints 18, but Carl Granderson sacked Young and forced a fumble that Paulson Adebo recovered.
Saints head coach Dennis Allen: "It was awesome. He (Jones Jr) was great. We ran the ball effectively. I think we blocked it up front and he made the right cuts. You know, two touchdowns on the game. It was big for him and big for us."
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young: "They play hard and very physical. They know exactly where they are supposed to be, and the play well together. Obviously we didn't do enough offensively. Their defense definitely got the best of us."
Saints quarterback Derek Carr: "There's so much that we have to clean up, but it feels good to get to do it when we're 2-0."
Panthers head coach Frank Reich: "It's not that far away. I know it looks bad, but it's not that far away. You make a few plays and you're at 28 points."
The Saints (2-0) are on the road against the Green Bay Packers (1-1) on Sunday following their slim defeat to the Atlanta Falcons in Week Two, while the Panthers are in Seattle to take on the Seahawks (1-1) after they beat the Detroit Lions in overtime.
Week Three begins on Thursday night when the New York Giants take on the San Francisco 49ers live on Sky Sports NFL from 1.15am in the early hours of Friday.
