Saints 52, Lions 38

Some scores tend to be misleading, and this is certainly one of them. The Saints dominated the Lions on both sides of the ball, jumping out to a 45-10 lead to help them earn the victory to improve to 3-2 on the year.

The Saints were able to benefit from some turnovers. On Detroit's opening drive, Matthew Stafford was stip-sacked in the end zone because he held the ball for an eternity. The turnover gave the Saints a 7-0 lead. Stafford was strip-sacked once more in the opening half, as a poor protection scheme allowed a defender to just take the ball right out of his hand. The Lions also barely missed out on a score, as their backup tight end was stuffed inches shy of the goal line on a fourth-down attempt just prior to halftime.

Other than that, the Saints just beat the Lions with superior talent. Aside from a poor opening drive, New Orleans was able to get chunk plays throughout the opening half. The Lions had no answer for Drew Brees and his running backs, as they were guilty of some miserable tackling. They also generated zero pass rush. By the time the Saints were up 45-10, they were averaging 7.6 yards per play. That's almost a first down on every single snap!

There was some late-game nonsense to trim the margin to a couple of touchdowns, but make no mistake about it; this game was never close desptite the final score.

Brees finished with some misleading stats. The final numbers say he was 21-of-31 for 186 yards, two touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. However, he was 12-of-14 for 148 yards and a touchdown in the opening half. The Saints fell asleep following intermission, and when Brees had to begin throwing the ball again, he was out of rhythm with his receivers. Neither of his picks were his fault either; the first occurred when Darius Slay ripped the ball out of Michael Thomas' hands, while the second was the result of the ball being tipped.

With Brees not doing much in the second half, the Saints' receiving stats were suppressed. Ted Ginn led the way with four grabs for 66 yards and a touchdown. Mark Ingram (5-36) was next on the list, while Thomas was a major disappointment, logging just three receptions for 11 yards.

Speaking of Ingram, he looked terrific. Showing that he did indeed deserve the starting job over Adrian Peterson, Ingram tallied 114 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries on top of his receiving numbers. Alvin Kamara (10-75) also played extremely well.

As for the Lions, Stafford's five turnovers were absolutely crushing, as the offense needed to keep pace with the Saints because their defense couldn't stop Brees at all. Stafford, as mentioned, was strip-sacked twice, and he threw a trio of picks during a failed comeback attempt in the second half, one of which was a tipped pick-six when the margin was trimmed to 45-38. Stafford finished 25-of-52 for 312 yards and three touchdowns in addition to his five give-aways. Amazingly, he had 12 passes batted at the line of scrimmage.

Golden Tate continued to give the Saints grief, as he caught seven passes for 96 yards and a touchdown. His score, a 45-yarder, occurred because Ken Crawley and Rafael Bush had some pitiful tackling attempts. Unfortunately, he left the game with a shoulder injury. Marvin Jones (6-96) equaled Tate's yardage total and also scored a touchdown, but all of that came in garbage time.

The Lions tried to establish the run with Ameer Abdullah, but weren't very successful. Abdullah gained 54 yards on 14 carries, but nearly all of it came on a 34-yard burst.