The wait for the New Orleans Saints’ first win in 300 calendar days and the first win of Kellen Moore’s head-coaching career is over.
New Orleans snatched five turnovers, all in pivotal moments, to help come back early, hold off the New York Giants late and punctuate a 26-14 victory and end an eight-game losing streak that dated back to the Saints’ 14-11 defeat of the Giants last Dec. 8.
Moore and company avoided joining the franchise’s six previous teams to open a season 0-5, with the most recent instance coming in 1996.
Veteran linebacker Demario Davis forced a fumble late in the second quarter that rookie safety Jonas Sanker recovered to set up the third of Blake Grupe‘s four field goals for a 16-14 halftime lead.
New Orleans hadn’t led since a four-minute, 7-3 lead in the second quarter against the Arizona Cardinals in the season opener Sept. 7.
And the Saints only added to that advantage after the break with takeaways continuing to provide the spark.
Veteran defensive end Cameron Jordan sacked rookie quarterback Jackson Dart on a third down on New York’s opening possession of the second half and forced and recovered the fumble to set up another Grupe kick.
Third-year defensive tackle Bryan Bresee finally ended a long Giants drive with a forced fumble in the red zone that third-year safety Jordan Howden scooped and returned 86 yards to stretch the margin to 26-14 after the extra point in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter.
And second-year cornerback Ga’Quincy “Kool-Aid” McKinstry hauled in the first two interceptions of his career to seal the win.
Fifth-year linebacker Pete Werner and Davis lead all players with 11 and 10 tackles, respectively, and fourth-year defensive back Alontae Taylor and Sanker added eight and seven, including one for loss by Sanker.
New Orleans quarterback Spencer Rattler finished 21-for-31 for a season-high 225 yards and an 87-yard touchdown strike to fourth-year receiver Rashid Shaheed in the second quarter. The second-year passer threw no interceptions and rushed six times for 21 yards.
Shaheed’s four catches for a season-high 114 yards and the long score highlighted the receiving corps, along with Chris Olave‘s seven receptions for 59 yards, his season-high so far early in his fourth year.
And star running back Alvin Kamara carried eight times for 27 yards and caught four passes for another 28 yards.
New Orleans finished 7-for-15 on third downs and 1-for-1 on fourths, but stalled on all three red-zone trips.
Grupe finished with 14 points with a couple made extra-points and 4-for-6 field-goal kicking with makes from 28, 53, 29 and 28 yards and misses from 28 and 52 yards.