Alvin Kamara forced missed tackles at an absurd rate and led the New Orleans Saints to a 33-27 win over the Seattle Seahawks on the road.
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Final Score
New Orleans Saints 33, Seattle Seahawks 27
New Orleans Saints
The Saints got the job done on the scoreboard, but it was a rough first start by Teddy Bridgewater. He struggled with his accuracy at times and was fortunate to not get intercepted a couple of times, including one that would have almost certainly been returned for six by K.J Wright had he hauled it in.
This was the Alvin Kamara show, especially in the second half as the Saints took control of the game. Seattle simply could not tackle him with the first man, as Kamara notched forced missed tackle after forced missed tackle, both on the ground and as a receiver.
With the Seahawks forced to play from behind, Cameron Jordan got plenty of chances to display his pass-rushing skills. Jordan recorded more than a handful of pressures. He was especially dominant against Seattle right tackle Germain Ifedi, who didn't seem to have much of an answer for the edge rusher.
Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore was on the wrong side of two big gains in the first half. The first was a 29-yard pass to David Moore in the first quarter. The other was the 54-yard deep pass to DK Metcalf at the end of the first half. However, Lattimore was in good position on both occasions.
Rookie Takeaways
Erik McCoy was fantastic in pass protection, again. You couldn't really ask for a better three-week start as a pass-blocker from a rookie.
Seattle Seahawks
The inability to tackle Alvin Kamara kept the Seahawks defense on the field and the Saints on the scoreboard in the second half. The defense missed multiple tackles on multiple plays and struggled to control the Saints' screen game.
K.J. Wright had a particularly rough day, as he missed multiple tackles in space. While his third-down pass breakup early in the fourth quarter gave the ball back to the Seattle offense, had he been able to corral the gift from Bridgewater and take it back for a touchdown, the Seahawks would have suddenly been down just one score and the remaining game script would have read very differently.
Chris Carson had a performance to forget in the first half. He stalled the offense early after slipping on a handful of carries. Then, he put the Seahawks in a deficit that they were unable to overcome. Midway through the second quarter, Saints cornerback Eli Apple punched the ball away from Carson. Safety Vonn Bell then scooped the fumble and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown to give the Saints a 13-7 lead, which they would only increase throughout the game.
Russell Wilson packed the stat sheet as he played from behind for most of the game. He had some quality throws, but he also had his share of bad misses. He underthrew a handful of passes to open receivers, especially in the first half. His best throw of the night came when he hit DK Metcalf in stride through a tight window for a 54-yard reception at the end of the first half. Unfortunately for the Seahawks, the effort didn't leave enough time on the clock for them to capitalize on the big gain.
Rookie Takeaways
Metcalf had two big receptions in the contest but didn't do much outside of that. He finished the game with two receptions for 67 yards.
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