Beating the Baltimore Ravens was easily the biggest win of Kellen Moore's head coaching tenure, and in turn Tyler Shough's young career as well. While we've seen standout moments from Shough as an individual that has made fans believers, this is the moment we've been waiting on from the New Orleans Saints as a team, and Moore was at the forefront of it all.
Chase Young told reporters after last week's game that the Saints were done with moral victories, and this is what living up to your word looks like. The Saints' loss to the Detroit Lions looked eerily similar to this game, except the team was able to close the game out.
There's no more feeling good about being in the game with a high caliber team. Young's words carried a tone of expectation of victory, and now we see why he had such confidence. The Saints were the clear underdog in the matchup, and came out with a victory.
Saints played a complete game and knocked off a high level opponent.
Also instead of a slow first 35 minutes for the offense, they took just two drives to get rolling offensively. The result was still a scoreless first quarter, but the way they responded made up for it. In the second half specifically, the team was firing on all cylinders, scoring on all but one possession.
It also helps that the Saints defense stayed stout, allowing just 14 points in the first half. That's reminiscent of what they did against the Lions. We laid out the challenge the Detroit receiving threats posed to the Saints defense, then they kept them primarily in check.
Only 7 points allowed in the first half and a couple of turnovers handed the Lions 14 points, but the defense kept contain. It's the reason the Saints were able to mount a comeback, and the reason there was never a huge deficit to come back from against the Ravens. They have certainly handled business through two weeks.
One time when the defense did let the Ravens drive, they blocked a field goal. On the flip side, Daniel Carlson made every one of his field goal, and Barion Brown's kick return before the half allowed the Saints to steal 3 points with under 30 seconds to play.
That's every side of the ball carrying their weight, and the team has finally beat a high quality team. It feels like forever since they've done that, but it is for sure the first time the Kellen Moore-led Saints have done it. For the team to grow into the team they want to be, these wins are necessary.
The Saints felt different coming into this year, and walking out of a statement win for Moore, it feels like they're delivering on the preseason buzz.
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