The New Orleans Saints overcame a weak showing in the first half with their best effort in the second half, defeating the Los Angeles Chargers 30-27. A promising opening drive in overtime ended with a Saints field goal, but rookie Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert wasn’t able to match it after his receivers dropped several passes near midfield.
It sends the Saints into their Week 6 bye with an ugly 3-2 record. That’s disappointing on face value, but it could be so much worse. After letting a few winnable games slip away, they’re sitting on top of the NFC South — by a hair.
The game wasn’t without its bright moments. The Saints were led in receiving by Emmanuel Sanders, who recorded his first 100-yard game in black and gold (totaling 122 yards and 12 catches on 14 targets). On defense, the Saints hit Herbert a dozen times, with three sacks. But like other big-bodied quarterbacks Cam Newton and Josh Allen, the 6-foot-6, 236-pound Herbert was too often too difficult to bring down.
New Orleans has a lot to work on and polish during their bye week; Herbert completed just 20 passes in this game, but he averaged 13.2 yards per completion and scored 4 touchdown catches. But there’s enough positives to take away from this to keep expectations high.
