Houston Texans Hurting After Saints Defeat

Drew Brees and Wil Lutz supplied the accuracy and poise New Orleans needed to overcome another officiating gaffe and its defense’s late collapse.

Lutz made a 58-yard field goal as time expired, and the Saints beat the Houston Texans 30-28 on Monday night in a game that had three scoring plays in the final minute.

“That one’s got to be a top-one moment for me,” Lutz said, adding that as much as he tries to treat each kick the same, “I got to be honest.
That one felt a little different.”

New Orleans had lost its previous five season openers.
And after last season ended with a bitter loss in the NFC title game, the Saints had expressed urgency to start the 2019 campaign well.

“I knew how big this win would be,” Lutz said.

The moment the ball left Lutz’s foot, punter Thomas Morstead, who holds on field goals, turned toward his kicker, triumphantly flexing both arms at his side.
Moments later, the crowd noise in the Superdome reached an ear-splitting crescendo as the ball split the uprights and Saints players jubilantly streamed onto the field.

Deshaun Watson threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to ex-Saints receiver Kenny Stills with 37 seconds left, capping a two-play, 75-yard drive that put the Texans in front after they began their final possession down by six with 50 seconds left.

But that left just enough time for Brees, who capped a 370-yard, two-touchdown performance by completing a 15-yard pass to Ted Ginn Jr., an 11-yarder to Michael Thomas and another pass to Ginn for 9 yards in quick succession.
That allowed New Orleans to save its final timeout until just 2 seconds remained and set up Lutz’s career-long kick.

“When you have Drew as your quarterback, all I cared about was getting ready for the kick, because I knew with 37 seconds left there was going to be a chance,” Lutz said.

New Orleans Saints

Had the Saints lost, it would have marked the second straight game in the Superdome in which a league-acknowledged officiating mistake worked against New Orleans.
In last season’s NFC championship game, missed pass interference and helmet-to-helmet contact fouls against the Los Angeles Rams went uncalled in the final minutes.
This time, a botched ruling left the Saints with 15 fewer seconds to run their hurry-up offense at the end of the first half.
New Orleans had to settle for a 56-yard field goal try that Lutz narrowly missed.

The Saints came back from an 11-point, third-quarter hole to win anyway, but Brees wasn’t letting the officials or the league off the hook.

“That can’t happen.
That’s a game-changer,” Brees said. “If we had 15 more seconds, are you kidding me?”

The 40-year-old Brees completed 32 of 43 passes, mirroring his NFL-record 74.4 completion percentage last season.
One of his TD passes went to reserve QB and utility player Taysom Hill, who also subs in as a tight end or slot receiver.
The other went to second-year pro-Tre’ Quan Smith.

“Playing on the road against a great quarterback like Drew Brees, you’ve got to be able to put the game away,” Watson said.
“We had the opportunities.”

CLOCK QUESTIONS

The officiating mistake occurred when replay review officials stopped the game with 26 seconds left in the first half to determine if Thomas’ catch was long enough for a first down after he was initially marked just short.
After the review resulted in a first down, officials called for a 10-second runoff to begin from when the game was stopped, not when Thomas came down with the ball 15 seconds earlier.

Brees animatedly disputed the decision, which left the Saints just 16 seconds to work with from their own 47.

After the game, NFL vice president of officiating Al Riveron said: “We should have reset it to 41 (seconds), not 26, and then ultimately to 31 (seconds) after the 10-second runoff.”

Fans in the Superdome, who won’t soon forget last year’s officiating gaffes, booed during the runoff and after Lutz’s long miss.

STAT LINES

Thomas caught 10 passes for 123 yards, and Ginn’s seven-catch, the 101-yard night was highlighted by his 41-yard reception deep downfield at the 2-minute warning.

Alvin Kamara had 169 yards from scrimmage, including an 11-yard run set up the first score of the final minute on Lutz’s 47-yard kick.

Watson completed 20 of 30 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns two of them to DeAndre Hopkins.
Watson also ran for a 21-yard score on a fourth-down play.

The Texans finished with 180 yards rushing 68 yards more than the Saints allowed in any game last season with Carlos Hyde rushing for 83 yards and Duke Johnson 57.

Linebacker Whitney Mercilus intercepted Brees deep in Texans territory and also had Houston’s only sack.

The Saints, by contrast, had six sacks of Watson, two by reserve end Trey Hendrickson.

PASS PROTECTION

Saints right tackle Ryan Ramczyk and the offensive line kept 2018 AFC sack leader J.J. Watt from getting to Brees.

“We didn’t do a good job of stopping the run and we didn’t do a good job of stopping the pass,” Watt said, adding that he felt his unit let Watson and the Texans offense down.

INJURIES

Saints safety Marcus Williams, who had a momentum-swinging interception in the third quarter, stayed down on a knee after Johnson’s 32-yard run in the fourth quarter.
He left the field on his own after a trainer briefly spoke with him.

UP NEXT

Texans: Hosts Jacksonville on Sunday.

Saints: Visit the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.

source: usa.inquirer.net

Sean Payton: Obvious missed call cost Saints a Super Bowl berth

NEW ORLEANS — Sean Payton was glassy-eyed, calm and shrugged his shoulders at times, seemingly resigned to New Orleans’ bitter fate — as unfair as he thought it was.

And the Saints coach said NFL executives he spoke with by phone after a 26-23 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams agreed with him that officials on the field missed two obvious penalties on one late, game-turning play that might have prevented the Saints from advancing to the Super Bowl.


Officials could have called pass interference and helmet-to-helmet contact on Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman as he flattened Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis on an incomplete pass inside the Rams 10-yard line with 1:45 left in a tie game. The play occurred in close range of two officials along the sideline who never pulled out their flags.

NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron “couldn’t believe” no penalty call was called on the play, Payton said.



“It’s tough to get over it,” Payton said. “My problem with it is, I just don’t know, if we were playing pickup football in the backyard … it was as obvious a call — and how two guys can look at that and arrive at their decision? It happened though.”

As anger-infused, full-throated boos rained down relentlessly from the Superdome stands, replays on the stadium’s expansive video screens clearly showed Robey-Coleman’s high hit occurring before Drew Brees’ pass toward the right sideline arrived at the spot where Lewis might have tried to make a play on the ball if he weren’t being knocked to the turn.



“I bounced up looking for a flag and didn’t see one, so I was kind of shocked about that,” Lewis said. “I saw what everybody else saw.

“You all feel like it was obvious? There it is. Everybody knows it was obvious,” Lewis added. “I don’t know what else to say about it.”

Even Robey-Coleman seemed surprised.

“Came to the sideline, looked at the football gods and was like, ‘Thank you,’” Robey-Coleman said. “I got away with one tonight.”

Rams coach Sean McVay, now headed to his first Super Bowl at age 32, was less inclined to scrutinize the call publicly.

“Certainly I’m not going to complain about the way it was officiated, but I thought it was a competitive play,” McVay said. “I thought they let the guys compete within the framework of the rules and that’s part of what NFL football is about.”

Had a flag been thrown, the Saints would have run the clock down to the final seconds before setting up a short field goal try clinch the franchise’s second NFC title, Payton said. Instead, the Saints had to try the kick with more than 1:40 left — enough time for the Rams to drive for a tying field goal. The game then went to overtime, when an interception by Rams safety John Johnson III set up Greg Zuerline’s 57-yard game-winning field goal.

“We’ll probably never get over it,” Payton added.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who at age 40 is running out of chances to get to a Super Bowl, said it was “tough to swallow” the non-call.

“Plenty of times throughout the season, there’s calls that go against you, go for you,” Brees said. “But obviously in a situation like that where it seemed like everybody in the world saw it, it’s tough.”

Both Payton and Brees suggested that the way the call tarnished the result of a conference title game could stimulate discussion about widening replays to look at reviewing certain penalties committed at certain points of the game, as has happened in the NBA.

“There’s just too much at stake,” Payton said. “And listen, it’s a hard job for those guys. It’s happening fast. But I don’t know if there was ever a more obvious pass interference.

“We all want to get it right, right? We’ve got plenty of technology to speed things up,” Payton added. “Look, I’m on the competition committee. So, hopefully that provides a voice. I hope no other team has to lose a game the way we lost that one today, though. We were in position. … We’d be on our knee for three plays and — it’s disappointing.”

Brees said he expects the NFL’s replay rules to “constantly evolve as they try to make this game batter and try to make sure that it is as fair as possible.”

“There’s a lot happening out there and it happens very, very fast,” Brees said. “Obviously, if they were replaying pass interference or if somebody got hit early before the ball got there, then I’m sure that would have been reviewed today — and it would been found that that was P.I. 


“It’s easy to sit here and criticize. I’m sure that because of this, as a result of this, I’m sure there will be a lot of talk about potentially reviewing penalties,” Brees added. “Just like all the reviews that go up in the booth inside of two minutes. Maybe that’s something that will happen in regards to certain penalties as well that are game-changing penalties, which obviously that was today.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

City mourns Saints player as questions over death remain

NEW ORLEANS — People across Louisiana sought Monday to process the news that one of the Saints’ much-loved players, former defensive end Will Smith, was shot in the back Saturday (Sunday Manila time) in what police called a deadly act of road rage.

Smith, 34, arrived in New Orleans in 2004 as a No. 1 draft pick and played with such passion and power that he quickly became a defensive captain. Off the field, he won hearts in his adopted city, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and rejuvenated when the Saints won the Superbowl in 2009.

“I am telling you that this man loved the city of New Orleans,” said Terrell Haynes, who got to know Smith and his wife Racquel through their work with Kingsley House, an organization helping underprivileged families and kids. “That’s the part that is really disheartening, that this man loved this city.”

Police said Cardell Hayes, a former semi-pro football player, rear-ended Smith’s Mercedes G63 with his Humvee H2, pushing Smith’s big, blocky SUV into a Chevrolet Impala carrying Smith’s acquaintances, before Hayes opened fire.

A defense attorney for Hayes, John Fuller, said there’s more to the story: He said Hayes himself had been rear-ended moments earlier by a hit-and-run driver, and called 911 to describe the car he was following before he ran into the back of Smith’s Mercedes. It remains unclear whether the car he was pursuing was the Mercedes, the Impala or some other unrelated car.

The two men — both big and imposing — then angrily confronted each other on Felicity Street shortly before midnight. Moments later, witnesses heard gunfire. Smith was killed by bullets to the back and torso. His wife was wounded in the leg.

Police arrived soon thereafter, handcuffing Hayes. As paramedics wheeled Racquel Smith away on a stretcher, her husband’s arm could be seen above his steering wheel, his body slumped partially outside his car.

Hayes, 28, was being held on $1 million bond after police arrested him on a charge of second-degree murder. He was in court Monday (Tuesday Manila time) as arrangements were made for a new lawyer to eventually replace Fuller, who will soon begin work as a temporary judge. Prosecutors now have 60 days to decide how to proceed.

Police plan to add a charge accusing Hayes of shooting Racquel Smith, spokesman Tyler Gamble said.

Fuller insisted outside court Monday that Hayes will be vindicated once the full story emerges. Someone “besides my client” was behaving in a threatening manner, he said, though he wouldn’t say who. “My client has been pilloried, convicted and tried” by news media and social media, he added.

In court, he got an order to preserve ballistic evidence. He wouldn’t say whether he believes two guns were fired.

Questions remain about what exactly happened that night. Police haven’t released the accounts of Racquel Smith, the passengers in the other cars, nor any other witnesses.

Gamble said the investigation prevents him from saying whether Hayes called 911 to report a hit-and-run accident.

The news was hard on many who had closely followed Smith’s career.

The Queens, New York native came to New Orleans from Ohio State where he was on the 2002 national championship team, and quickly became a team leader, Saints’ play-by-play announcer Jim Henderson said.

“He played with great leverage and such great passion and such incredible power that he was there for you day after day after day, game after game,” Henderson said.

Smith created his share of football highlights, particularly in the 2009 run to the Super Bowl, when he had 13 regular-season sacks — fifth best in the NFL that year. His postseason play included an interception of a Kurt Warner pass in a Saints playoff victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

“He might do a little fist-bump or he might take a look at his bicep after a sack. But he wasn’t one to gloat on individual statistics. He was a team leader,” Henderson said.

Smith was preparing for his second season when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2005. That season was dismal for the Saints. The Superdome, initially a refuge for thousands of people whose homes were submerged, was badly damaged. Forced to play the entire season on the road, they went 3-13, and some speculated the team might never return.

Local radio broadcaster and talk show host Eric Asher said Smith became a locker room leader after the storm, convincing others that the 2006 season under new coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees was about more than getting more wins on the field.

“He had been in New Orleans before the storm. He’d dealt with the aftermath of the storm. He understood that football was really secondary here — this was about uplifting the entire region,” Asher said. “He was always a guy who was a leader on and off the field for this team.”

Those ties endured after Smith retired from football. He continued to live in suburban Kenner with his wife and three children, coaching his son Wynter’s football team while studying for a Masters’ in Business Administration at the University of Miami.

The Smiths also hosted a yearly Christmas party and dinner, giving presents to families in need. One of those families was Ruby Smith’s, an 81-year-old woman raising her three grandchildren.

“I found that they were just wonderful people. And I was just really struck and almost in disbelief that that had happened to them,” Smith said.

Smith’s career was not without controversy. He was at the center of the NFL’s bounty probe in 2012, his last regular season. The league concluded that he and fellow defensive captain Jonathan Vilma helped run a locker-room pool paying cash bonuses for heavy and even injurious hits.

Smith successfully appealed a four-game suspension, though Payton was suspended the entire 2012 season.

In 2011, Smith served a two-game suspension for using a weight-loss diuretic banned by the league for masking steroid use. And before that season began, Smith was indicted on misdemeanor charges of domestic abuse battery and public intoxication after officers saw him grab his wife’s hair in an argument.

Those charges were dismissed at his wife’s request after Smith went through counseling and performed community service. Smith also wrote a letter of apology to the Lafayette Police Department, a prosecutor said.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been made public.

source: sports.inquirer.net

New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner ruled competent

NEW ORLEANS  - A judge ruled on Thursday that the 87-year-old billionaire who owns the New Orleans Saints may continue to control the National Football League team he has owned for 30 years after denying a petition by his daughter and two grandchildren to have him declared mentally incompetent.

Tom Benson, who also owns the National Basketball Association's New Orleans Pelicans, prevailed in the case following an eight-day trial that pitted family members against him in a New Orleans courtroom.

In a six-page ruling, Orleans Civil District Judge Kern Reese noted that in addition to considering psychiatric evaluations of Benson by three physicians and hearing testimony from witnesses for both sides, he had personally interviewed Benson in April to assess his condition.

During that meeting, "Tom Benson had clarity of thought and volition, despite some memory lapses ...," Reese wrote, adding that he had "listened carefully" to Benson's responses "and concluded the capacity to make reasoned decisions was present."

Benson's daughter Renee Benson Benham and two grandchildren, Rita and Ryan LeBlanc, filed the lawsuit in January claiming that Tom Benson is "infirm" and "unable to consistently make reasoned decisions" regarding his assets.

The suit charged that Tom Benson's third wife, Gayle, has blocked family members' access to him and is manipulating his decisions.

The family's action followed Tom Benson's move in December to ban their participation in running either of his teams, and to name Gayle Benson as his successor in owning them.

Thursday's ruling does not end the family battle as related litigation continues in a probate court in San Antonio, where the family members are fighting Benson's attempt to remove their ownership shares in the sports teams and other businesses from trusts created over a period of years for their benefit.

Benson's lawyers have also brought a related suit in federal court in New Orleans.

Tom Benson had been grooming his granddaughter Rita LeBlanc, 38, to succeed him as owner and chairman of both teams, but their relationship turned rocky last year as a rift between her and Gayle Benson, whom Tom Benson married 11 years ago, grew more serious and as he developed health issues.

"I cannot wait for training camp to start in late July," Tom Benson said in a statement after the ruling.

Randy Smith, who represents Benson's daughter and grandchildren, said they were "disappointed" with the ruling, and did not say if they would file an appeal.  — Reuters