The Chargers completely blew it to give the Saints their 1st win of the season

The New Orleans Saints finally won a game, defeating the Chargers in San Diego by a final score of 35-34. The Chargers had a 24-14 lead going into the half, but were overwhelmed by mistakes in the fourth quarter. The Saints capitalized to finally get their first win of the 2016 season.

New Orleans was trailing, 34-21, with under seven minutes remaining, but both Melvin Gordon and Travis Benjamin lost fumbles to the Saints, who were able to capitalize.

Gordon fumbled on the San Diego 13-yard line, and it was recovered by Saints defensive end Darryl Tapp. The New Orleans offense was able to score quickly on a 5-yard pass to rookie wide receiver Michael Thomas, cutting the Chargers’ lead to 34-28.

Benjamin’s fumble was recovered by Saints linebacker Nathan Stupar with 4:42 left to play and Drew Brees marched the offense down the field. With less than two minutes remaining, the Saints took a 35-34 lead over the Chargers after New Orleans fullback John Kuhn ran in his third touchdown of the day.

The Chargers trailed by just one, and had time to get into field goal position, but Philip Rivers was sacked by Nick Fairley on first down for a loss of 5 yards. Rivers fumbled on second down, and though he did recover it, he lost 7 yards on the play. On third-and-22, Rivers threw an incomplete pass, and on fourth down, Rivers was intercepted.

The interception, by Saints defensive back B.W. Webb, was New Orleans’ first of the season. It was also the first interception thrown by Rivers this year.