Injuries, and wins, keep adding up for Saints

Published 12:15 am Tuesday, October 22, 2019

METAIRIE — The injuries continue to mount— and so do the wins.

The New Orleans won their first four games without starting quarterback Drew Brees.

Then they entered the game at Chicago on Sunday without Brees, leading rusher Alvin Kamara and starting tight end Jared Cook. Nickelback P.J. Williams also was absent as he began serving a two-game suspension.

Then defensive back J.T. Gray was injured moments after blocking a punt that produced a safety and an early 2-0 lead. Patrick Robinson, another defensive back and special teams stalwart, was injured. Late in the game, starting cornerback Eli Apple suffered an ankle injury.

But when it was all said and done, the Saints had yet another victory – a 36-25 triumph in Soldier Field, their fifth in a row to improve to 6-1 and remain atop the NFC South heading into a game against Arizona next Sunday in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

“I’ll say this team knows how to survive, and that’s what it’s all about, having those survival skills,” said Teddy Bridgewater, Brees’ understudy who was efficient for a fifth straight start. “We do a great job just being able to step right in if we have to and try to fill voids. It was an overall team effort.”

Bridgewater completed 23 of 38 for 281 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Michael Thomas caught nine passes for 131 yards and the touchdowns went to Josh Hill (seven yards) and Tayson Hill (four yards).

“The best teams are the deepest,” Bridgewater said. “Teams that can sustain and handle injuries. We had some guys that can really step up in all three phases, guys stepping up and just ready to go.”

Latavius Murray stepped in for Kamara and rushed for 119 yards on 27 carries. He had touchdown runs of three and four yards.

“They’ve got a pretty good run game,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “I know they had Kamara out, but (Murray) is a pretty good runner. They have a good scheme with coach (Sean) Payton. You’ve got to give credit, that’s a pretty good team that we just played right there, even without a Hall of Fame quarterback and a special player in Kamara, they still have a good offense.”

New Orleans outrushed Chicago (3-3) 151-17 and outgained it 424-252.

“We won that battle up front,” Payton said. “That was significant. You win that, you’re going to win most of the games.”

The Bears had just seven carries, partly because they had minimal success with their initial runs, partly because they played catch-up virtually the whole game and partly because they rarely had the ball as the Saints held it for 37 minutes and 26 seconds, so the Bears had it for a mere 22:34.

New Orleans missed two scoring opportunities when Wil Lutz missed a pair of field goals.

“We left a lot of points off the board,” Payton said.

But it didn’t matter because of the way the defense dominated the game. 

The Bears became the fourth consecutive Saints opponent to fall short of 260 yards. And a significant portion of the yards they did gain came after the Saints had the game well in hand. 

They took a 36-10 lead with 4:33 left.

“I thought defensively we were outstanding again,” Payton said. “We didn’t allow a rushing first down. We feel like there’s more out there. I think they’re playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

Rookie fourth-round draft choice C.J. Gardner-Johnson replaced Williams and tied for the team lead with seven solo tackles, had a team-high three tackles for loss and added two passes defensed.

“You don’t stop playing football when that one person goes out,” Gardner-Johnson said. “So you have to keep playing, keep striving, keep practicing. You have to think about it, if a teacher doesn’t come to class, you have a substitute. Class don’t stop. The bus has to keep rolling, they are still on this bus with us, and we are going to keep this thing moving.”