There was a splash of flash provided by the New Orleans Saints in their first preseason game under first-year coach Kellen Moore.
But also, there was a sting of familiarity in that during their first work against an opposing team, the Saints were far more charitable to the Los Angeles Chargers than to themselves in a 27-13 loss on Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
New Orleans lost a fumble, committed a critical defensive penalty and threw an interception in the first three quarters, leading to 17 points for the opportunistic Chargers in their second preseason game. And a run defense that the Saints desperately want to shore up allowed 148 yards and two touchdowns on 4.4 yards per carry.
New Orleans' three quarterbacks ebbed and flowed, and the competition will resume Tuesday. The Saints don't practice Monday.
Starter Spencer Rattler completed seven of 11 passes for 53 yards, ran three times for 22 yards, was sacked three times and lost a fumble. Rookie Tyler Shough completed 15 of 22 for 165 yards, was sacked twice and threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, but responded with a 54-yard touchdown pass to Mason Tipton. And Jake Haener completed five of eight for 41 yards and an interception.
The turnovers led to a combined 17 points.
"Great lessons for our guys, I think this will be an awesome first step and we'll keep building," Moore said.
"I think for all three, there's going to be some good moments, there's going to be some moments we want to have back. We get to learn from those, get better this week.
"I thought Spence did some good stuff coming out of there, using his feet in some situations where he avoided zone areas, he was able to make some plays out of it.
"Tyler played a little bit more, between the second and third quarter. Great two-minute drive right before the half. I thought he did some really good things there. He felt under control, I thought he managed the situations really, really well. And you throw a pick, you've got to respond. The way he responded was really, really good. For him to come back and handle that from an emotional standpoint really well, I thought that was awesome.
"Jake, just the way it played out, Jake only had those last two drives. Big lesson for us is just we've got to protect the football."
But, likely, it wasn't a total shock that a revamped team under a new coaching staff was uneven in its preseason debut.
The Saints came up short on fourth-and-goal from the 1 and barely missed scoring off one defensive stand, two plays that possibly would have swung the outcome.
The offense couldn't take advantage after taking over at the Chargers' 17-yard line following a muffed punt that was recovered by tight end Treyton Welch with 7:56 left in the first quarter; on fourth-and-goal from the 1, Kendre Miller was tackled for a 3-yard loss.
Later, with the Chargers pinned at their 8 with 2:28 left, on second down Saints defensive tackle Khristian Boyd sacked Tayler Heinicke for a loss that initially was ruled a safety, but after review, was deemed to have occurred at the 1.
On the first play of the second quarter, Rattler was sacked for a 7-yard loss and fumbled. The Chargers recovered at the Saints' 33 and seven yards later, Cameron Dicker's 44-yard field goal opened the scoring for Los Angeles.
A stalled drive and punt gave the Chargers possession at their 15, and they used 14 plays to take a 9-0 lead on a 5-yard run by quarterback Trey Lance. A critical defensive penalty (cornerback Rico Payton's face mask on third-and-15 from the Chargers' 27) kept the defense on the field, and Lance escaped the pocket for runs of 14 and 17 yards before scoring on third-and-goal.
New Orleans' offense livened in the final 98 seconds of the half, with Shough at quarterback and the drive beginning at their 35.
Shough completed five of eight passes for 42 yards on the drive and Blake Grupe kicked a 31-yard field goal to pull the Saints to within 9-3 with five seconds left in the half.
The big strike came in the third quarter, after Chargers cornerback Eric Rogers returned Shough's interception 43 yards to give Los Angeles a 17-3 lead.
On New Orleans' next possession, which began at its 18-yard line, Shough completed three passes for 26 yards and with a 2-yard run mixed in, the Saints were first-and-10 from their 46 when Pettis attacked the cornerback with a double move, popped wide open down the left sideline and Shough dropped in a perfect pass for the score.
"He ran a really good route," Shough said. "They were kind of sitting all day. After the pick we realized they were kind of playing back so he ran a really good route, double move, took the top off. We had really (and) he went out and got it.
"We were on the sideline like (the interception) is part of it. I'm throwing that nine times out of 10. It was exactly what we wanted, he made a really good play and jumped it. We knew we were going to get the ball back and just go drive down the field and go score. Everybody was on the same page. Stuff like that happens, it was good to go bounce back and let it rip."
