{"id":641027,"date":"2025-12-30T18:31:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T18:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/641027\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T18:31:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T18:31:19","slug":"recapping-the-saints-comeback-victory-over-tennessee-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/641027\/","title":{"rendered":"Recapping the Saints\u2019 comeback victory over Tennessee"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canalstreetchronicles.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New Orleans Saints<\/a> sought their fourth consecutive victory when they paid a visit to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musiccitymiracles.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tennessee Titans<\/a> in Week 17. Here\u2019s a recap of Sunday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The game opened with a pair of punts before a 50-yard field goal from Joey Slye gave Tennessee a 3-0 lead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Saints responded with a field goal attempt of their own, set up by a 36-yard connection from Tyler Shough to Kevin Austin Jr. But Charlie Smyth\u2019s 43-yard attempt went wide left.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">It was then Cam Ward\u2019s turn for a deep pass, as he found Chimere Dike for 38 yards on the ensuing Titans drive. Slye soon converted again to double the lead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The visitors then went three and out, and Tennessee drove back near midfield before the quarter\u2019s end.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Titans kept the ball moving before Ward hit Chigoziem Okonkwo for a 43-yard touchdown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">New Orleans, trailing 13-0, responded with somewhat of a marathon 44-yard drive. The 12-play possession took over 7 minutes with a number of short gains, before Smyth ended it by nailing a 56-yard field goal to get the Saints on the board.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Penalties had already marred the Titans\u2019 ensuing drive before it got even worse for the hosts, as Chase Young was able to force the ball out from Ward and run it all the way in for a Saints touchdown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Nevertheless, Tennessee found a response before halftime, helped massively by a pass interference call against Justin Reid, costing the Saints 50 yards. Ward found Elic Ayomanor for a 7-yard touchdown before the half to restore a 20-10 lead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Audric Estime and Chris Olave started the second half on the right foot for the black and gold as the drive reached midfield. Shough then found Juwan Johnson on a 30-yard pass as the Saints entered the red zone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Two plays later, it was Olave in the end zone for New Orleans after a 19-yard grab.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Despite finding 59 yards on just the first two plays of their next drive, with a run from Tony Pollard and a throw to Mason Kinsey, the Saints were still able to force Tennessee into another field goal from Slye, putting the score at 23-17.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">An 18-yard pass to Dante Pettis helped matters as Shough looked to cut into the lead once more, but the Saints were kept to just 3 points again with a 57-yarder from Smyth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Titans proceeded to keep the theme of long field goals running, as Slye converted from 58 yards to put the hosts up 26-20.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">A huge throw to Johnson through traffic gave the Saints drive instant momentum, but a catch-and-run from Pettis on the next play saw him fumble at the 3-yard line on his way to the end zone, resulting in a touchback and giving possession back to Tennessee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Titans quickly punted, and then the Saints were sure to make no mistake. Shough found Olave for 60 yards before throwing a 10-yard touchdown to Austin Jr to give the black and gold a first lead of the game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Tennessee went three and out again, and a 23-yard pass from Shough to Johnson preceded a 32-yard touchdown run from Estime to extend the visitors\u2019 lead to 34-26.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Titans failed to do any damage from there, and the Saints were able to close out the game for their fourth straight victory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The final game of the season now awaits the black and gold, as they travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons in Week 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Orleans Saints sought their fourth consecutive victory when they paid a visit to the Tennessee Titans&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[7,896,55,85741,401,2572,2571,6,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-641027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-orleans","10":"tag-new-orleans-saints","11":"tag-new-orleans-saints-scores-and-results","12":"tag-new-orleans-saints-news","13":"tag-neworleans","14":"tag-neworleanssaints","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-saints"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115809949222031802","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}