The New Orleans Saints travel to take on the Carolina Panthers in an NFC South battle at noon on Sunday. This is the place to keep up with the score and live updates from the NFL game Charlotte.
The Saints (2-6) are looking to end a six-game skid against the Panthers (1-7) and earn a season sweep over their division rival. New Orleans beat Carolina 47-10 in the Superdome to open the season.
Derek Carr is expected to make his return from injury against the Panthers after missing the last three games with an oblique injury.
You can follow below for the latest from the game.
Second half
UPDATED, 1:52 p.m.: Ja’Tavion Sanders hurting the Saints again, with Young finding the big tight end over the middle on third down to move Carolina into the red zone.
It’s first down from the New Orleans 12. Two plays later, Young scrambles to the left and gets the first down. He’s down at the 1.
Saints call a timeout to prevent a substitution penalty. Not sure I understand that when the penalty would have been a half-yard…
UPDATED, 1:49 p.m.: Panthers start the second half with the ball and pick up 46 yards on their second play. Sanders, the tight end, was just a checkdown on the play, but hurdled two Saints and rumbled down the sideline for a huge gain.
Broadcast says that’s Carolina’s first play of 40-plus years of the entire season. Wow.
First half
UPDATED, 1:32 p.m.: Saints go conservative with the ball, running the ball and not calling their timeouts.
Dennis Allen does call his final timeout with 2 seconds left and the ball at the Saints 49. Panthers call timeout first to set their defense.
We’ll see how far Carr can throw coming back from the oblique injury. Actually, no we won’t. Carr throws underneath to Mims, who picks up some yards down to about the Carolina 25, but the clock is gone. Not sure what the Saints were doing there, though I’m guessing Carr might not have been able to throw it deep with the injury. Could have tried Haener?
UPDATED, 1:27 p.m.: Oh, man, the Saints had their get-out-of-jail free card, but Taylor dropped a pick on a bad pass from Young.
Still, Nate Shepherd gets a sack on third down, and the Saints defense does hold given the bad field position.
Eddy Pineiro on to try a 48-yard field goal. He’s good, and the Panthers basically get a free three points after the bad punt coverage and the penalty.
The sliver of good news is that there’s still 38 seconds left. Saints have the ball leading 13-10.
UPDATED, 1:24 p.m.: Awful sequence for the Saints, a three-and-out from their own 12 that takes only 14 seconds off the clock and forces them to punt back to Carolina with plenty of time left in the first half.
Hayball gets off a better punt this time, but not a lot better. Blackshear bobbled the return for the Panthers and still had room to get to the Saints 43.
AND a personal foul against Willie Gay. So make it the Saints 28-yard line.
So with 1:17 left and all three timeouts, Carolina is already in field goal range. And remember, they get the ball first in the second half, too.
UPDATED, 1:17 p.m.: Big-time play from Alontae Taylor to drill Legette before he can get the first down on a short catch on third-and-2.
Decision time for the Panthers. Saints call timeout first to preserve some time. Legette is hurt, too, something with his hands. (By the way, Cedrick Wilson is back in the locker room with a shoulder injury.)
Panthers indeed are lining up to go for it. Young in the shotgun with Miles Sanders. Panthers are just going to take a delay of game. Man, they were not organized there at all.
UPDATED, 1:13 p.m.: Young just threw a duck up into the air under pressure from Bryan Bresee, and Ja’Tavion Sanders adjusted to the ball better than Ugo Amadi and turned it into a big play.
Panthers would love to score here and take up most of the rest of the clock. Then they’d get the ball again to start the second half.
They’ve got a third-and-1 from the Saints 42 at the 2-minute warning.
Cedrick Wilson being in the locker room means the Saints currently have three available receivers: Two UDFA rookies (Mason Tipton and Jermaine Jackson) and one free agent signed last week (MVS) https://t.co/ntVzTMDhl3
— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) November 3, 2024
7 gets us 7
📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/ZbjbwfRa6a
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 3, 2024
UPDATED, 1:07 p.m.: Man, now Wilson is hurt. He comes off the field holding his arm after that big completion.
Jordan Mims gets his first carry and picks up 3.
Update on Olave: He’s at the hospital in Charlotte and doing fine. Vital signs good, he’s alert, etc. They’re going to continue to do some tests, but that’s a very positive update.
Meanwhile, Taysom Hill in short yardage, y’all. He gets bottled up on third-and-1 on a direct snap and somehow keeps his legs moving and gets the first down inside the 10.
Just absolutely have to finish this drive. Hill back at quarterback with Carr split out wide. And Hill just bulldozed his way into the end zone. Man, that dude can work up a head of steam.
Saints could go for 2 to make it a full touchdown lead, but this early in the game, they’ll just go PAT. Grupe makes it 13-7 with 4:13 left before half.
UPDATED, 1:03 p.m.: Saints continuing to run the ball well, with Kamara picking up another first down and then some play action setting up a screen to Hill for a rumbling first down into Panthers territory.
Another play-action completion from Carr to Cedrick Wilson gets the Saints back in the red zone.
Klint Kubiak is going to have to get creative without his top two receivers in action. So far, so good on this drive.
UPDATED, 12:59 p.m.: Legette beat Shemar Jean-Charles on that touchdown, so the Saints’ injury-riddled secondary strikes there.
Now we see if the offense can answer the bell. Carr’s first-down pass is tipped and nearly intercepted. It falls incomplete, and there’s a flag for unnecessary roughness against Carolina. That’s their second of the day. It was a forearm shive to the head of Juwan Johnson downfield.
And now play is being stopped so Johnson can be checked for a concussion. When it rains, it pours.
The Saints are still significantly out-gaining the Panthers. But they’ve got to finish these drives.
UPDATED, 12:53 p.m.: Third down again, and the Panthers convert again, with Young hitting Coker in stride in the flat. Coker takes it all the way to the pylon, but he did step out of bounds at the 4.
So now the Saints will work to keep the Panthers out. Good play from Demario Davis on first down to keep Chuba Hubbard to a gain of a yard.
Second down, Young to Legette in the back of the end zone. Touchdown. Panthers cash in the good field position and lead 7-6 with 9:59 left before halftime.
UPDATED, 12:50 p.m.: Young incomplete on first down, and a short pass on second sets up third-and-5. Probably four-down territory for the Panthers here, depending on what happens.
Young hits Moore for 11 yards and the first down to make that a moot point. Carolina threatening for the first time today with the Saints leading 6-0.
I thought Matthew Hayball had been developing nicely in recent weeks, but uh, that wasn’t the case there. A 30-yard punt and Carolina takes over in great field position.
— Matthew Paras (@Matthew_Paras) November 3, 2024
UPDATED, 12:47 p.m.: Carr misses Tipton badly on third down, and the Saints will punt. Carr has been a bit out of rhythm so far, but Tipton might not have run the right depth on that route, either.
Anyway, Matthew Hayball will have to punt out of his own end zone. He gets it away, but it’s not a good punt and bounces backward. Incredible field position for Carolina at about the New Orleans 40.
UPDATED, 12:43 p.m.: End of the first quarter comes with the Saints facing third-and-8 after Kamara was ruled down at the line of scrimmage after a reception. Looked like he might have kept his balance, but apparently his knee hit.
UPDATED, 12:41 p.m.: Oh, boy. Roderic Teamer slid into Carolina punter Johnny Hekker late on that punt. If it’s just running into the kicker, it’s not a first down, and that’s what it is.
So that makes it fourth-and-3. The initial punt went into the end zone for a touchback, so Carolina is going to try again.
This time, Jackson fair catches at about the 8, so the penalty costs the Saints 8 yards.
UPDATED, 12:39 p.m.: Bryce Young finds Jalen Coker — an undrafted free agent who had a big day last week — for 18 yards on the Panthers’ first play of their next drive.
It’s third-and-6 two plays later, though, after a blitz forces Young to throw a ball away.
Draw play to Miles Sanders, and he’s stuffed by Carl Granderson. Panthers will have to punt again.
UPDATED, 12:33 p.m.: Good throw from Carr over the middle to Juwan Johnson to convert a third-and-11 and move the Saints into scoring position again.
The tight ends could become very important in this offense with Olave and Shaheed both out for what could be an extended period.
Two plays later it’ll be third-and-4 from the 15. The Saints are out-gaining Carolina 125-13. You’d sure like to have more than a 3-0 lead for that advantage.
But Carr is incomplete for Kamara on third down. Had to throw off his back foot under pressure from Jadeveon Clowney.
So it’ll be another Grupe try, this one from 33 yards. He’s good again, and it’s 6-0 Saints.
Chris Olave is shaking his teammates hands as he’s getting carted off the field
— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) November 3, 2024
UPDATED, 12:28 p.m.: Chris Olave is moving his arms and feet as he’s put on the backboard and on the cart. Not a great scene, and hopefully Olave will be OK.
Michael Thomas is also tweeting about that Carr throw. I won’t post it here because of some profanity, but go ahead and find it if you’re interested.
Most important thing is that Olave is OK.
As for the game, the Saints are now down both of their top two receivers. But they do have a first down after the penalty, and they just picked up another on a Kamara run and pass from Carr to Taysom Hill.
UPDATED, 12:24 p.m.: This could end up being a lengthy delay. There is significant concern for Chris Olave after that hit. Derek Carr changed the play at the line of scrimmage and then decisively threw to Olave. The throw was high, but I’m not sure how much that was going to matter with the way the defense was collapsing on Olave.
They’ve brought the cart out for him. Olave thought about wearing a guardian cap this week and ultimately decided against it, but I’m not sure if the problem here is his head or more of a neck/spine type injury.
Cart is coming out to get Olave off the field. Everyone rushed to him when he went down. Even Dennis Allen is with him.
— Ross Jackson (@RossJacksonNOLA) November 3, 2024
UPDATED, 12:21 p.m.: Oh my goodness. Chris Olave just took a punishing hit on a crossing pattern. Carr threw too high for him, and two Panthers came in and crunched Olave, who already has a couple of concussions this year.
That did not look good. Immediate flags came in from all directions, but none of that matters compared to Olave’s health — both for his own sake and the team’s.
UPDATED, 12:17 p.m.: Taylor nearly had a pick, jumping underneath the receiver on a crossing route, but he settles for the PBU.
It does lead to a Saints stop, with Willie Gay shutting down a short pass to Miles Sanders for a loss on third-and-5.
Panthers punt it away. Jermaine Jackson make a fair catch at the 13, and the Saints have it back, leading 3-0.
UPDATED, 12:14 p.m.: The Saints offense looked good against a bad defense. Now we see about the Saints defense against a bad offense.
Shemar Jean-Charles is starting at outside corner along with Alontae Taylor. I’d expect we’ll see lots of Ugo Amadi in the slot.
Bryce Young rolls out and completes to David Moore for a 9-yard gain on the first play, and Xavier Legette picks up the first down on an end-around.
UPDATED, 12:09 p.m.: The drive stalls at the 11 — right when the Saints stopped running the ball. Carr throws incomplete under pressure on second-and-4 and then incomplete into traffic on third-and-4.
Blake Grupe’s 29-yard field goal is good, and the Saints have a 3-0 lead. So some positive news, but it could have been better.
UPDATED, 12:06 p.m.: Taysom Hill picks up a few on a run — think we’ll see a lot of him today — and then Carr hits Olave on the sideline for an easy first down into Carolina territory.
Another 10+ yard run from Kamara on first down. Again, like Week 1, it’s hard to say how much of this is just the Panthers being awful, but the Saints offense has some juice.
They’re already at the Carolina 30. Now they’re inside the 20 after two more good Kamara runs. No resistance so far for the Panthers.
UPDATED, 12:04 p.m.: The Panthers have won the coin toss and deferred, so we’ll see Derek Carr and the Saints offense first.
Not great field position after Jermaine Jackson returned the kickoff from the end zone instead of taking a touchback — that decision cost the Saints about 7 yards — but Alvin Kamara has a burst for 19 yards on the first play from scrimmage. A great sign for the Saints offense.
Pregame
UPDATED, 11:54 a.m.: About ready to go in Charlotte. Lots of eyes will be on Derek Carr and how the offense responds now that it’s close to full strength (still missing: Rashid Shaheed, who’s being replaced by Marquez Valdes-Scantling making his New Orleans debut; and center Erik McCoy).
But I’m more interested in the other side of the ball. This Carolina offense has been downright pathetic for most of the season, particularly under Bryce Young, who’s starting today. Can the Saints defense — which is without basically every corner on the opening-day roster save Alontae Taylor and has struggled to stop the run — do the bare minimum against an objectively terrible offense?
UPDATED, 11:19 a.m.: If you’re looking for some pregame reading, I strongly recommend Jeff Duncan’s excellent weekend column, in which he shows how a small problem (players parking in the wrong lot) can be the sign of a much deeper rot in the Saints organization. Tons of great detail, and it’s hard to argue with the conclusion.
We’ll see if the Saints are better about the details today, or if they even need to be. Carolina has lost five in a row, all by at least 10 points, and they lost 47-10 to the Saints in the season opener at the Superdome.
UPDATED, 10:49 a.m.: Welcome to the latest NOLA.com live blog for the New Orleans Saints’ game against the Carolina Panthers. If you’re still following along, you’re a diehard fan, because the Saints have lost six straight, and any hopes they have for this season — so strong after two weeks — are dangling by a thread.
I’m Times-Picayune deputy sports editor Zach Ewing, here to take you through the game today. It’s hard to call a game midway through the season a must-win, but this one is pretty clearly just that for the Saints. If they win here against the league’s worst team, they are 3-6 and don’t hit the road again for more than a month, giving them an opportunity to get back into the playoff picture.
If they lose … well, let’s just say Dennis Allen’s job could be in immediate danger.
The good news? The Saints get back quarterback Derek Carr, who has missed the past three games with an oblique injury. He’s officially active, with Jake Haener listed as his backup. Spencer Rattler, who started all three games in Carr’s absence, is the emergency third QB.
The bad news? The names that are on the inactive report, namely cornerbacks Marshon Lattimore, Kool-Aid McKinstry and Rico Payton. Add that to the season-ending injury suffered by Paulson Adebo a couple of weeks ago, and the Saints have Alontae Taylor and … not much else left at cornerback. Shemar Jean-Charles and Tre Hernon are both active today and will need to play big roles.
Running back is the other question spot. Alvin Kamara will play, but his primary backups, Jamaal Williams and Kendre Miller, are both out. That leaves Jordan Mims (and certainly some Taysom Hill) as the other ball-carriers.
Back with more before the noon CT kickoff.
