Saints Near AFC Title After Defeating Carolina On Monday Night Football, 12-9

It was all about defense at the Bank of America Stadium. Two attacking-minded teams clashed on Monday Night Football, with all the fans expecting to see an avalanche of touchdowns.

Unfortunately for them, totally the opposite happened. The Saints managed to win this NFC South contest holding the Panthers to only 9 points, which is the season-low for Cam Newton and his boys.

Meanwhile, the guests from Big Easy haven’t done anything special in the attacking aspect of the game, as they had the second-worst performance since the opening day.

Drew Brees was aware of that, which he stated after the game, while on the other side, he praised his offense.

“Listen, defense played exceptionally well tonight. Offensively, I feel like we squandered a ton of opportunities.” the biggest favorite for the MVP award told.

Brees, himself, played way beneath all his standards, and for the first time since Week 4, didn’t have a TD pass.

He finished the night with 203 yards, 23 of 35, with one interception in the late part of the second period.

Carolina started this match with more will, and they scored the first touchdown following a fantastic play of the whole offensive team. Newton at first handed the football to Christian McCaffrey who then made a 50-yard touchdown pass to Chris Manhertz.

CHRISTIAN MCCAFFREY, QUARTERBACK

🎥 @thecheckdown https://t.co/KkivfW5grX

— SB Nation (@SBNation) December 18, 2018

It was fourth-and-2, and Ron Rivera decided to go all the way, which in the end, gave an excellent result.

The Saints were sticking around because of Wil Lutz and his two field goals. They had an opportunity to close the second quarter with a lead, but as we already said, Brees was intercepted.

Neither of the teams had the edge, and they both struggled offensively, not being able to deliver one precise hit. It was clear in those moments, that whoever scores the first touchdown, is going to win the game.

And that was exactly what happened.

D.J. Moore was on his way to win at least 30 yards, when he lost the control of the ball, making a fumble, recovered by A.J. Klein on Saints’ 16-yard line. This moment was the initial spark for a drive which lasted more than 6 minutes, which ended with Alvin Kamara rushing for 16 yards before entering the end zone.

Alvin Kamara goes untouched for SIX!

📺: #NOvsCAR on ESPN https://t.co/UwW6tTJSx0

— NFL (@NFL) December 18, 2018

Saints decided to go for a two-point conversion, but Brees got intercepted once again. This time on the goal line, as rookie cornerback Donte Jackson ran for almost a 100 yards to bring two points to his team. It was a phenomenal play provided by the 23-year old.

Donte Jackson pick-two off Brees! https://t.co/imJCURRGdx

— Eric Rosenthal (@ericsports) December 18, 2018

Still, there was more drama to come in Charlotte. Tommylee Lewis had the opportunity to solve this game, but instead, he gave a chance to the home team to win. While diving towards the end zone, the football got out of his hands, and the officials called for a touchback, meaning that the Panthers are starting their attack from the 20-yard line.

Newton had 1:41 to do something, but instead, he was harmless in this drive. Carolina’s quarterback is still dealing with his shoulder injury, and it seems that it prevented him from playing at his usual level over the past four weeks.

“No matter how much you push, no matter how much you ice, how many anti-inflammatories you take … trust me, I did it. Acupuncture, massages, it’s not been a time a night went by I didn’t have some type of work done on my arm.” the 2015 MVP spoke at the post-game press conference.

His stats in this game were awful, 16 completed passes from 29 tries for only 131 yards and one interception. If it weren’t for McCaffrey’s TD toss, the Panthers would finish this game with less than 100 passing yards. It was the second straight match for Newton without a touchdown throw and the season-low in yards through the air.

The Panthers are now far away from the playoffs. With 6 wins and 8 losses, they are one and a half game behind the Minnesota Vikings who are 7-6-1, and hold the last wild-card spot. They will need to defeat Falcons next week to preserve some chances of entering the postseason.

Brees and the Saints will host Pittsburgh Steelers, in the game of the week. They are close of clinching the AFC title and the home ground advantage, which would considerably increase their chances of getting to the Super Bowl.