Mike Triplett, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Saints turn 'easy tank' opportunity into 'defining moment'

NEW ORLEANS -- The New Orleans Saints should've blown the doors off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. They were at home, they were up 13-0, and they had a struggling opponent on their heels.

But in a twisted sort of way, allowing Tampa Bay to rattle off 24 unanswered points might just turn out to be the best thing that could've happened.

The Saints (2-3) rallied from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win 37-31 in overtime -- and who knows, maybe salvaged their season in the process.

"This was a game that by winning, I think could be a defining moment when we look back on the season, when it's all said and done," said Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who helped rally the Saints after putting them in a bind with two ugly interceptions.

"Last week, our character came into question, and the leadership of this team came into question," Saints linebacker Curtis Lofton said of the Saints' 38-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 4. "So you tell me a team that's down 11 points in the fourth quarter and you come back to win in overtime, that says it all. It talks about the character and the leadership of this locker room.

"You know, things aren't always gonna be pretty. But I'll squeak out a win like that every week."

Things definitely were not always pretty. In fact, the Saints tried to turn this into their ugliest loss of the season -- which would have been quite an accomplishment this year.

Brees' first interception set up a Tampa Bay touchdown, and his second one was returned 33 yards for another score. During that same stretch, the Saints' defense started reeling as well, leaving some of those gaping holes in coverage and run defense that we saw in the first four weeks.

But with 13:28 remaining and the Buccaneers leading 31-20, the Saints essentially decided to take their season back.

The offense leaned heavily on running backs Pierre Thomas and Khiry Robinson to score nine more points in regulation and six more on the opening drive in overtime.

And the defense went into its own version of "beast mode," led by outside linebacker Junior Galette sacking Mike Glennon for a safety with 6:44 remaining -- thanks to an assist from a frenzied Superdome crowd that also stepped up its game while the Bucs were backing up with delay of game and false start penalties.

The Saints' pass rush still needs to get home more often, but the best thing about the defense's performance throughout the day was its aggressive, attacking approach that led to a handful of big plays. Galette, safety Kenny Vaccaro -- even embattled cornerback Patrick Robinson made some big-time plays.

"It's a huge step, I feel like," said Galette, who almost made a game-changing play in the third quarter but couldn't hang on to an interception after linebacker Parys Haralson put a hit on Glennon.

"We shot ourselves in the foot a few times," Galette said. "But we just finished, that was the biggest part. When you get in a game like that, you just have to finish, and that's what we did."

Even kicker Shayne Graham bounced back from a missed field goal and missed extra point over the past two weeks to nail a clutch 44-yarder to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.

"To me, that's the type of game that we needed to have. That was a team win," Saints offensive tackle Zach Strief said. "We both made mistakes, and we both came up big for each other.

"Look, we're 1-3, and we're down 11 points. That's an easy tank. It's easy to, 'Here we go again.' And we didn't. And I think this team will start learning to trust itself. You can use a game like that. So there's a ton of things that we'd say, 'Man, we'd like to do that better.' And yet, we found a way to win. And we won together."

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