Sunday marked the beginning of the 2025 NFL regular season for the New Orleans Saints with a visit from the Arizona Cardinals in the Caesars Superdome. Here’s a quick recap of all the action in the Saints’ first game under head coach Kellen Moore.
First Quarter
Each team’s first possession was fruitless, with Cam Jordan recording the first sack of the new season to help force a quick punt by Arizona before a short Alvin Kamara run, coupled with a pair of incomplete passes from quarterback Spencer Rattler on his
first two throws of the afternoon, resulted in the Saints punting the ball right back.
The ensuing Cardinals’ drive was stop-and-start as the referees began throwing flags, though the visitors found enough yardage through a Kyler Murray scramble and a 12-yard run from James Conner to get themselves into field goal range. Chad Ryland kicked one through from 42 yards for the game’s first score.
Rattler returned to the field looking for a response, which he instantly found. Completions to Juwan Johnson and Chris Olave had the Saints into Cardinals territory before an illegal shift penalty on Olave pushed the offense back.
Kendre Miller would then have an impressive run to recover the lost yards, but a holding penalty on Cesar Ruiz pushed the Saints back once more.
Rattler followed that up with a home-run shot to Rashid Shaheed that was intercepted, but was bailed out by a penalty away from the play by Max Melton.
Despite more penalties, the black and gold eventually got deeper into Cardinals territory with runs from Kamara and a 12-yard connection from Rattler to Brandin Cooks as the quarter came to an end with the visitors up 3-0.
Second Quarter
A short connection with Kamara got the second quarter underway and moved the Saints into the red zone. Kamara would then break out for an 18-yard run to the house, scoring the first touchdown of the new season and putting the Saints on top 7-3 after Blake Grupe kicked through the extra point.
The ensuing Cardinals drive was defined by Marvin Harrison Jr, who picked up the bulk of the drive’s yardage on a 45-yard connection with Murray. Harrison Jr was soon found again in the end zone, and the extra point restored a 3-point advantage for Arizona at 10-7.
The Saints offense returned to the field and responded once more. Rattler connected thrice with Olave, once with Johnson, and both Kendre Miller and Devin Neal made good progress on the ground to move the black and gold near the red zone. After coming up short on a third down, though, it was Grupe who came out to knock through a 36-yard kick and tie the game at 10-10.
Murray and the Cardinals offense returned to the field and kicked into gear. A 25-yard reception from Trey McBride was the highlight of a drive that went 71 yards in under 5 minutes, finished by a short throw to James Conner that restored the visitors’ lead at 17-10.
The Saints made no real attempt at a two-minute drill, which meant halftime arrived at the Dome.
Third Quarter
Rattler would find Shaheed for 17 yards early in the third as the black and gold got the second half underway, though he was soon sacked by Baron Browning and the Saints were made to punt.
Arizona got back to work right away, though this time it was a 52-yard breakout run by Trey Benson that moved the Cardinals into field goal range instantaneously. The drive had no other positive plays, though Ryland was successful from 50 yards out to extend the lead to 20-10.
After a relatively successful first half for the Saints offense, it found its feet once again on the ensuing drive. Rattler found Johnson, Olave, and Cooks on a drive that went 53 yards. After an incompletion intended for Shaheed brought 4th down, Grupe stepped up for a routine 37-yarder. Alas, he missed.
With the ball back and a two-possession lead, Murray returned to the field in the driving seat. But before he knew it, Jordan had gotten to him again, and the Cardinals’ punt unit was out to kick.
The Saints began their drive just before the quarter concluded with a defensive pass interference penalty handing them a first down, still trailing 20-10.
Fourth Quarter
A false start against Dillon Radunz didn’t help matters, and the Saints were soon made to punt.
Murray chewed some clock on the following drive, finding first downs with his feet and through the air with passes to Harrison Jr and Tip Reiman. But a pair of incompletions, including a breakup forced by Kool-Aid McKinstry, resulted in another punt.
New Orleans then went three-and-out at the wrong time.
As the Cardinals got the ball back with decent field position, they quickly found themselves set up for a 46-yard field goal attempt to further extend the lead. Though Bryan Bresee got his hand on the kick and blocked it, and Rattler returned to the field still trailing by just 10.
On four consecutive plays, Rattler found Johnson for 21 yards, Shaheed for 5, Devaughn Vele for 13, and scrambled for 12 in a sequence that pushed the Saints deep into the red zone.
Frustration ensued as the black and gold failed to find the end zone for a second time, and Grupe chipped in from 28 yards to make it 20-13 to the visitors.
The Cardinals’ final offensive possession was less than a minute long, as Alontae Taylor sacked Murray and gave the ball back to the Saints with a chance to tie the game with just under 3 minutes to play.
Rattler found a variety of his receivers in a well-executed two-minute drill, and the black and gold were in with a chance. The second-year quarterback came closest to a touchdown when he found Johnson on the game’s second-to-last play, though the tight end couldn’t hold on as he came down.
An incomplete throw to Olave wasn’t close as the clock expired, and despite a valiant effort, the black and gold would fall to 0-1.
The Saints will look to avenge the defeat and get back to .500 when they host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, September 14th in the Caesars Superdome.
