Derek Carr managed to pull off the kind of finish he wanted in his New Orleans Saints debut despite taking four sacks, tossing an interception, and taking a forearm to the face.
Carr completed 305 passes for 305 yards and one touchdown, and his 41-yard connection to Rashid Shaheed on third-and-6 with seconds left helped New Orleans beat the Tennessee Titans 16-15.
In addition to stopping Tennessee on 10 of 12 third down attempts and intercepting Ryan Tannehill three times, the Saints’ defense did not allow a touchdown.
Linebacker Zack Baun’s block of a punt in Titans territory gave New Orleans another significant special teams play and helped one of rookie Blake Grupe’s three field goals.
Shaheed, a Weber State graduate who went undrafted and is now in his second season, recovered from his error on the opening kickoff to end with five receptions for 89 yards and the game’s only touchdown.
For New Orleans, Chris Olave caught eight catches for 112 yards. After missing the final 14 games of the previous season, Michael Thomas came back to catch five catches for 61 yards.
Before New Orleans eventually found the end zone with 1:23 remaining in the third quarter, the teams traded field goals, punts, or turnovers for most of the game. Just as the pocket crumbled, Carr pump-faked and lofted a pass into the right side of the end zone. The 19-yard touchdown throw was caught by Shaheed, who faked a shorter route before eluding the defense and bringing the score to 16-9.
Nick Folk of the Titans added two more field goals, this time from 45 and 29 yards, giving Tennessee a chance to win with one more third-down stop. Carr then made contact with Shaheed down the left sideline.
Soon later, Jamaal Williams’ first-down run allowed New Orleans to finish the game with no time remaining.
Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel decided to send Folk out for a field goal instead of running an offensive play on fourth-and-6 from the New Orleans 11 because he thought his defense would force one more punt with 2:20 remaining.
Finishing with a 16 of 34 for 198 yards, Tannehill. Derrick Henry, a prominent running back, was held to 63 rushing yards by New Orleans. In his Titans debut, DeAndre Hopkins caught seven catches for 65 yards.
Thomas got a 25-yard completion from Carr on his first play from scrimmage for the Saints along the left sideline.
However, it did not portend well for the remainder of the first half, which finished with Carr being intercepted on the Titans’ 12-yard line by safety Amani Hooker.
The error kept Tennessee ahead 9-6 at the break.
