SportsDirect Inc. staff
Oct 9, 2011
Drew Brees led another fourth-quarter comeback and the Carolina Panthers suffered another narrow defeat, as the New Orleans Saints rallied for a 30-27 road victory Sunday in a matchup of two of the league's top passing attacks.
Brees and Pierre Thomas hooked up for a 6-yard touchdown pass with 50 seconds left to cap a 13-play, 89-yard drive and lift the Saints (4-1) to their fourth consecutive win.
The Panthers (1-4) drove into New Orleans territory in the final minute, but a holding penalty backed them up and they ran out of time before they could get into field goal range.
All five of Carolina's games have been decided by seven points or less.
Brees didn't waste much time extending his streak of games with at least one touchdown pass, making it 32 straight with a 1-yard toss to Jed Collins after Patrick Robinson intercepted Cam Newton's pass on the first offensive play.
The streak is the third-longest in NFL history behind Johnny Unitas (47) and Brett Favre (36).
Brees also extended his streak of consecutive games with at least 20 completions to an NFL-record 25 games.
Carolina's DeAngelo Williams recorded his first 100-yard rushing game since 2009, with most of it coming on a 69-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.