Drew Brees passed for a touchdown and ran for one and the host New Orleans Saints withstood four touchdown passes by rookie Justin Herbert to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 30-27 in overtime Monday night.
Brees completed 33 of 47 passes for 325 yards and drove the Saints (3-2) to a tiebreaking 36-yard field goal by Wil Lutz on the first possession of overtime. New Orleans overcame a 20-3 deficit.
Herbert completed 20 of 34 for 264 yards, but his 5-yard completion to Mike Williams came up a yard short on fourth down at the Los Angeles 49 to end the game. The Chargers (1-4) lost their fourth straight since Herbert, the No. 6 pick in the 2020 draft, took over for Tyrod Taylor as the starter.
Williams caught two touchdown passes, Keenan Allen caught one before leaving the game because of a back injury and Hunter Henry caught the other touchdown. Williams amassed 109 yards on five receptions.
Lutz's 53-yard field goal trimmed Los Angeles' 20-10 halftime lead to a touchdown late in the third quarter.
On a third-and-14, Brees found Jared Cook for a 41-yard touchdown that tied the score at 20 with 11:21 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Herbert threw a 64-yard touchdown to Williams to give the Chargers a 27-20 lead with 3:40 left.
Brees answered with an eight-play, 73-yard drive that ended with Taysom Hill's 9-yard touchdown run that tied the score with 52 seconds left.
Herbert drove Los Angeles to the New Orleans 32, but Michael Badgley's 50-yard field-goal attempt missed when the football hit the right upright and fell into the end zone.
On the Chargers' second possession, Herbert drove the team 80 yards and threw a 17-yard touchdown on third-and-7. That gave Los Angeles a 6-0 lead after Badgley's extra point was wide right.
Lutz kicked a 48-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 6-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Herbert's 4-yard touchdown pass to Williams increased the lead to 13-3 early in the second quarter.
Nasir Adderley intercepted Brees and returned the ball to the New Orleans 1. Two plays later, Herbert threw a 3-yard touchdown to Henry for a 20-3 lead.
Brees ran 1 yard for a touchdown with 14 seconds left in the half to pull the Saints within 20-10.
--Field Level Media
L.A. Chargers | New Orleans | |
Justin Jackson | Player | Alvin Kamara |
15 | Attempts | 11 |
71 | Yards | 45 |
4.7 | Avg Yards | 4.1 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
36 | Long | 10 |
L.A. Chargers | New Orleans | |
Mike Williams | Player | Emmanuel Sanders |
5 | Receptions | 12 |
109 | Yards | 122 |
21.8 | Avg Yards | 10.2 |
2 | Touchdowns | 0 |
64 | Long | 19 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
L.A. Chargers | 350 | 111 | 239 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2.0 | 1 |
New Orleans | 408 | 95 | 313 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3.0 | 0 |