Baltimore Ravens Pick Up Steam In 34-27 Victory Over New Orleans Saints

Baltimore Ravens run away in the second half of a 34-27 win over the New Orleans Saints

Drew Brees and the Saints hoped to improve to a 5-6 record and re-establish themselves as a force in the NFC South Monday night, as they hosted the Baltimore Ravens at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

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The game was Baltimore’s almost from the beginning, though. The Ravens came to Louisiana sporting the complete package; while Drew Brees spent the game looking lethal on offense, the Ravens defense was too good to allow the Saints to ever really establish their presence in the game. The Saints spent the majority of the first half of the game struggling to keep up; after a quick lead in the second quarter, the Ravens regained control and ran away with the game in the final thirty minutes of play.

Unfortunately, the final score doesn’t give Brees the credit he truly deserved in this game. Baltimore quickly shut down any hopes the Saints had of making this a running game, but Brees was able to execute a number of effective quick-decision passes to keep New Orleans from getting completely blown out.

Brees’ passing was only able to do so much for the Saints, though, as their defense was unable to do much about the Ravens from start to finish — and when Brees threw an interception early in the second half, the Saints’ fate was more or less sealed.

Steven Smith, as always, was the man to watch throughout the game — not just for his sideline antics fight but for his ability to evade any coverage New Orleans tried to put on him — and Justin Forsett looked just as unstoppable. The two combined for three touchdowns as the Ravens ran away with the game in the third quarter. Even a last-minute touchdown by the Saints couldn’t catch them up, and the game ended with the Ravens taking home their seventh win of the season.

Both teams inched closer to taking control of their divisions with this game. The Bengals are just barely holding onto the AFC North with a 7-3-1 record; Baltimore’s 7-4 is just a game away from the two swapping places in the standings. In the NFC South, the Saints and the Falcons both sit on 4-7 records. The Saints actually have the better point differential coming out of this weekend — they could leave their sloppy start to the season behind, and run away with the division.

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