Story by Brad Friedman
This week's Madden simulation followed a very similar arc as New Orleans's Oct. 16 win over Carolina: jump out of the gates fast and weather the storm late.
The Saints piled on 21 in the second quarter alone and withstood a Seattle comeback just long enough to allow Wil Lutz to boot a game-winning 45-yard field goal at the gun to secure a 27-24 win.
The Saints scored all three of their touchdowns in the quarter, including two Drew Brees-to-Brandin Cooks connections and a 6-yard Mark Ingram rushing touchdown. Brees tossed 175 of his 415 total yards in the quarter while Cooks accumulated 45 of his 105.
The busy second quarter put New Orleans ahead 21-13 at the half, from which point the game shifted to a defensive struggle. Neither team found the end zone for the first 26 minutes of the half, instead settling for back-and-forth field goals for the majority of the half.
Seattle eventually broke the dry spell when Russell Wilson found Jermain Kearse from 14-yards out for the score to tie things up a 24 apiece with 2:11 to play. That left just enough time for Brees and company to piece together a 5-play drive and bleed the clock down for the final kick.
