The New Orleans Saints saw their streak of wins in the season opener come to the close against the Arizona Cardinals as the team opened the Kellen Moore era. Knowing how recent seasons have transpired for New Orleans, it feels almost difficult to imagine the Saints winning six opening games in a row. However, that's exactly what's happened until Sunday.
The Saints haven't fell short in the first game since dropping to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This ends the NFL longest active winning streak in Week 1 matchups.
One thing you can't say is it wasn't interesting. The Saints entered the red zone with a chance to tie the game in regulation. Unfortunately, two shots to the end zone fell incomplete to close the game.
A double digit deficit was insurmountable for the Saints, and it felt that way
The Saints fell behind by 10 points at the beginning of the third quarter. The team has a quarterback in Spencer Rattler, going into only his seventh start. That isn't necessarily a recipe for playing from behind, but Rattler had an admirable attempt at slicing the deficit immediately. He responded with a solid drive getting the team into field goal position. Unfortunately, Blake Grupe pushed the kick slightly to the left.
There was still a lot of time left in the game, but Grupe missing that field goal felt like the pen that put the writing on the wall. The Saints saw there run game disappear from the game out of pure circumstance.
The trio of Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller and Devin Neal looked good early in the game, but it becomes hard to run the football when you are down double digits and playing behind the sticks.
Rattler wouldn't quit though. Late in the fourth quarter, the young quarterback began to pick up some steam. He led the Saints down the field into scoring territory towards the end of the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, struggles to get into the end zone persisted, and the Saints had to settle for a field goal.
The Saints had one more opportunity to even this game in regulation. Rattler once again looked poised as the Saints pushed into Cardinals territory. His second to last throw was in Juwan Johnson's hands but he couldn't hold on. In a last ditch effort, Rattler threw the ball out the end zone while targeting Chris Olave.