4 winners, 4 losers from Saints’ domination of Washington on ‘Monday Night Football’

The New Orleans Saints notched a big win over Washington on Monday Night Football, 43-19, and are now 4-1 on the season. Drew Brees led the way, as usual, throwing for 363 yards and three touchdowns. He also caught his own pass, lined up at wide receiver, and carried the ball a couple times. In-all, a pretty good night for the quarterback!

Brees came into the game needing 201 yards to pass Peyton Manning and become the all-time passing yards leader in NFL history. He managed 228 yards and a pair of touchdowns before the end of the first half. He broke the record on a 62-yard touchdown pass to rookie Tre’Quan Smith. It was also Smith’s first career touchdown reception.

Monday’s game also saw the return of running back Mark Ingram, who missed the first four Saints games of the season due to a suspension. He caught a big 20-yard pass on the team’s opening drive and managed to drive in a couple short-yardage touchdowns.

For Washington, it was just a poor performance all around. They got some pressure here and there on defense, but lost just at just about every other aspect of the game. Quarterback Alex Smith had his worst game in a very long time, with multiple turnovers and a low completion percentage. He managed some decent drives near the end of the game when it was well out of reach, which inflated his stats somewhat. But it was still a terrible game for the Washington offense.

Below are some winners and losers from Monday:

Coming into Monday’s game, Brees needed 201 yards to pass Peyton Manning on the all-time career yardage list. He also entered the game behind Brett Favre, second all-time, but he moved past him quickly. Late in the second quarter and needing 33 yards to pass Manning, Brees threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to Smith, breaking Manning’s record and also putting his team up, 26-6!

If Smith is known for anything, it’s being one of the better game managers in the NFL. He’s not going to throw for a million yards and a bunch of touchdowns, but he usually makes the right decisions at the right times. Not on Monday. He’s been under pressure constantly, and has missed some wide open players with errant throws. And most recently, he tossed an interception that was returned to the red zone, leading to another Saints’ touchdown.

Oh and after that, Smith fumbled on the ensuing drive.

Smith caught his first NFL touchdown pass on the same play that Brees broke the NFL record in passing yardage. So obviously, that ball is going to the Hall of Fame, and Smith won’t get to keep it. But when the Saints took the field again, Brees hit Smith AGAIN for a 35-yard touchdown, and an even bigger lead for the Saints! And it also looked like Smith kept the football from the TD as well, seeing as how the ball from the first one is going to the Hall of Fame.

On a third-and-1, the Saints brought in Taysom Hill, and he kept the ball himself to pick up the first. Thing is, Kamara came off the fake with room to run, potentially a touchdown. On top of that, with Ingram back, Kamara’s touches went down, and he finished the game with just 24 yards rushing and 15 yards receiving.

New Orleans was driving big time, but Ryan Kerrigan came up big on a crucial third-and-8 to sack Brees for a loss of eight yards, well out of field-goal range. Any time you can force a high-powered offense like the Saints to punt when they’re nearing midfield, you’ve done a good job.

You haven’t done a good job if you decide to shove another player to the ground immediately after the sack, drawing an unnecessary roughness penalty. The Saints are the last team you want to give free first downs to! On the ensuing play, Brees hit Michael Thomas for 31 yards into the red zone.

Washington was just outside the red zone when Smith dropped back, took a big hit, but fired off a high pass to Paul Richardson over the middle anyway. It was very high, but Richardson went up and got it, and looked damn good doing it. What a catch!

Unfortunately for Washington, they couldn’t turn it into a touchdown, and had to settle for a field goal.

The offense looks even more dangerous now that Ingram, a running back, has returned from his four-game suspension to start the season. On New Orleans’ first offensive drive, Ingram had three carries and a touchdown, and caught one pass for 28 yards. He finished with 16 carries for 53 yards and two touchdowns, and caught two passes.

That was an ugly one to start. Smith threw an ugly deep pass, then a short one to Adrian Peterson, that led him right into a tackle that seemed to cause an injury on the running back. Then they throw it well short of the sticks again, and have to punt. False start on the punt, and the Saints will start their drive with good field position. Not a great start for Washington.

8:05 p.m. ET: We’ll have a running live blog with winners and losers from Monday’s game between the Saints and Washington, and will have our first update once the game gets underway and the action happens!

Washington is coming off a bye week, while the New Orleans Saints are a week away from their own. First, they’ll play host to Washington on Monday Night Football, beginning at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN (live streaming via WatchESPN).

After starting the season with a 48-40 loss to the rival Buccaneers, the Saints have earned three consecutive wins, beating the Browns, Falcons (in overtime) and most recently, the Giants. They’re coming off a pair of road games, and will face the Ravens on the road in their next outing after the upcoming bye week.

Before their bye, Washington bested the Packers, and in Week 1 took down the Cardinals. They’re 2-1, with a loss at home against the Colts in Week 2. Alex Smith has been his usual efficient self with his new team, completing 68.8 percent of his passes for 767 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Adrian Peterson has also shown that he has a lot left in the tank, with 236 yards on 56 carries this season. He’s also found the end zone three times on the ground.

Below is all you need to know to watch Monday’s game.

Of the seven SB Nation experts picking Week 5 games, only one of them thinks Washington will win it, though they have the coin flip for company, as it also came up Washington. The other six experts are joined by the OddsShark computer in picking New Orleans.