The New Orleans Saints, winless on the road for the 2008 NFL season, found the perfect cure for that lackluster record: Arrowhead Stadium.
Facing an injury-riddled Kansas City Chiefs defense that saw No. 1 draft picks Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson on the unable-to-perform list, Drew Brees threw for 266 yards and a touchdown to lead the league’s top offense to a 30-20 victory over the 1-9 Chiefs, who have dropped 18 of their last 19 games.
“It’s tough to lose that many games,” said Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe, who had two touchdown receptions in the game. “But we can’t get down. We have to keep watching film to get better and we have to cut down on our mistakes.”
The mistakes were the first item head coach Herm Edwards addressed in his postgame news conference.
“The first half, it was a good game,” said Edwards, as the 5-5 Saints held a slim 13-10 lead. “It was back and forth and we were able to keep up with them.
“We had two drives stall in the red zone and we came away with field goals instead of touchdowns. That wasn’t very good. Then, we had too many dropped balls (by wide open wide receivers) and some big fouls against the defense. You can’t do that against a team like New Orleans.
“I said earlier this week it would take 30 points to win this game.”
Running back Larry Johnson – who had been benched three games by the Chiefs for breaking team rules and missed one game when he was suspended by the NFL for an off-field incident – returned with little fanfare.
He was stuffed on three running plays inside the 5-yard line and also fumbled the ball twice – although the Chiefs recovered each fumble.
“Larry did pretty good,” Edwards said of the back who carried the ball 19 times for 67 yards. “He hasn’t been tackled in a month. For his first time back, he did pretty good.”
Rookie Tyler Thigpen looked great at times in the game, turning a fourth-and-two into a key first down on a 32-yard run and connecting with Bowe for the two touchdowns.
But he saw a streak of 161 passes without an interception come to an end when he was picked off by Usama Young late in the game.
“We have to get better, especially inside the red zone,” said Thigpen, who was 19 of 38 for 235 yards. “The bottom line is we didn’t score touchdowns twice when we were in the red zone. It’s a different game if we score touchdowns.
“But that’s something we can work on and fix.”
The second of those times in the red zone without a touchdown resulted in Connor Barth’s 21-yard field goal to cut the Chiefs’ deficit to 20-13.
The Saints answered with a touchdown drive capped by Pierre Thomas’ 1-yard TD run to make it 27-13.
The Chiefs cut it to 27-20 on Bowe’s second TD reception, a 5-yard pass from Thigpen with 13:54 left.
The Chiefs could get no closer as New Orleans tacked on a field goal with 3:28 left to put it out of reach.
CHIEFS NOTES: The Chiefs have recorded an interception in four consecutive games. Jarrad Page recorded his third interception of the season and the ninth of his career. The Chiefs have registered 10 takeaways – seven interceptions and three fumble recoveries – in the past four games. … The Chiefs tied a season high with 21 first downs, a mark they previously set against Tampa Bay on Nov. 2. Kansas City has amassed 330 yards or more of total offense in each of the last four games. … Bowe recorded his first career two-TD game. He has five touchdowns on the season and 10 in his career. Bowe has 1,661 career receiving yards, bypassing Andre Rison (1,634) for the third-highest total by a receiver in his first two seasons with the Chiefs.
FINAL SUMMARY
SAINTS 30, CHIEFS 20
New Orleans 3 10 14 3 — 30
Kansas City 7 3 3 7 — 20
First Quarter
KC—Bowe 6 pass from Thigpen (Barth kick), 5:31.
NO—FG Hartley 30, :29.
Second Quarter
NO—McAllister 1 run (Hartley kick), 11:23.
KC—FG Barth 20, 3:31.
NO—FG Hartley 23, :00.
Third Quarter
NO—Moore 47 pass from Brees (Hartley kick), 13:53.
KC—FG Barth 21, 7:41.
NO—P.Thomas 1 run (Hartley kick), 3:15.
Fourth Quarter
KC—Bowe 5 pass from Thigpen (Barth kick), 13:54.
NO—FG Hartley 35, 3:28.
A—74,159.
NO KC
First downs 22 21
Total Net Yards 369 330
Rushes-yards 28-103 24-124
Passing 266 206
Punt Returns 0-0 2-19
Kickoff Returns 5-120 5-103
Interceptions Ret. 1-3 1-2
Comp-Att-Int 25-36-1 19-38-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 0-0 4-29
Punts 2-48.5 4-33.3
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-0
Penalties-Yards 2-8 6-40
Time of Possession 29:36 30:24
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—New Orleans, P.Thomas 16-88, McAllister 8-18, Henderson 1-(minus 1), Brees 3-(minus 2). Kansas City, L.Johnson 19-67, Thigpen 3-45, Charles 2-12.
PASSING—New Orleans, Brees 25-36-1-266. Kansas City, Thigpen 19-38-1-235.
RECEIVING—New Orleans, Moore 8-102, Shockey 6-39, P.Thomas 4-56, Colston 3-30, Henderson 2-22, Stecker 1-12, Campbell 1-5. Kansas City, Bowe 7-53, Gonzalez 5-39, Bradley 3-54, Franklin 1-42, L.Johnson 1-20, Cottam 1-19, Darling 1-8.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.
