The New Orleans Saints lost to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Sept. 14, by a final score of 26-21. The Saints have now lost their first two games, which has not happened since 2017, when the Saints made the NFL playoffs.
The 49ers got off to a strong start, leading 9-0 for most of the second quarter. Tight end Luke Farrell caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Mac Jones, who was replacing starter Brock Purdy, in the first quarter. Newly-acquired kicker Eddy Pineiro missed the extra point, but Pineiro made a 44-yard field goal in the second quarter.
After the field goal, the Saints started to play better, outscoring the 49ers 21-17. Tight end Juwan Johnson caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Spencer Rattler with less than two minutes left in the first half.
In the middle of the third quarter, Rattler threw a touchdown pass to receiver Rashid Shaheed. In the fourth quarter, Rattler threw his third touchdown of the game to second-year pass catcher Devaughn Vele.
Rattler had a completion percentage of almost 74% — much better than his completion percentage of just under 59% last week. Rattler’s three passing touchdowns and zero interceptions against the 49ers were incredible.
Rattler has not thrown an interception this season. While Rattler was not the clear-cut choice for the starting quarterback position going into this season, these past two games have shown that first-year Saints’ head coach Kellen Moore made a good decision.
Running back Alvin Kamara played great, rushing for 99 yards on 21 carries and caught all six of his targets for 21 yards. Kamara averaged 4.7 yards per carry, outperforming opposing running back Christian McCaffrey, who averaged 4.2 yards per carry. Wide receiver Chris Olave led the Saints with 54 receiving yards. Olave should continue to be a major contributor as long as he remains healthy.
Defensive end Carl Granderson had two sacks and is tied for first in the NFL with 3.5 sacks this season. Defensive end Chris Rumph II also had one sack and forced a fumble. Linebacker Demario Davis had 11 total tackles, five of them solo tackles.
The Saints played a competitive game against a talented team and showed some promise. The Saints will go on the road to play the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 3:05 p.m. CST.