NEW ORLEANS – The Who Dats do love to mock.
“Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?”
It’s the traditional chant of New Orleans football fans — because of it they’ve simply become known as Who Dats — and Sunday it was apparently louder than ever.
“TV doesn’t do that justice,” said the press box security guy.
No, it sure doesn’t.
The Who Dats have had plenty of reason to scream and cheer for the last six playoff games played at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, as no visitors have been been able to beat dem Saints.
And for the third time this season, the Carolina Panthers couldn’t beat dem either.
Led by the steady hand of Drew Brees, New Orleans was able to with stand a late push to defeat the Panthers 31-26 in the NFC wild-card game witnessed by 73,186 mostly Who Dats.
The victory puts the Saints into the divisional round next Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium, site of next month’s Super Bowl.
Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes while completing 23 of 33 passes for 376 yards. He was also intercepted in on a fourth and two gamble when the Saints tried to seal the victory but instead gave the Panthers once last gasp.
But a Saints defence which bent in the fourth quarter put the finishing touches on Cam Newton and the Panthers.
“Obviously, it was a hard-fought win,” said Saints coach Sean Payton. “It came down the final series. We knew going into this game it was going to be a different type of game … I thought the early portion of the game where we were able to hold them to field goals proved most valuable.”
The 12 points from kicker Graham Gano was all the Panthers could muster until Greg Olson pulled in a 24-yard TD pass from Newton with 12:47 left to make the score 24-19.
Only minutes later, Newton was crushed by Saints lineman David Onyemata and after slowly getting to his feet, started towards the sideline only to go back down on the ground. He was checked for a concussion and, after missing a series, came back to lead another scoring drive, this time connecting with Christian McCaffery on a 56-yard touchdown.
Newton wound up completing 24 of 40 passes for 349 yards. But on the final series, with his last five snaps, he threw three incompletions, was charged for intentionally grounding the ball and was sacked.
It was testament to a defence that was aided all day by the Who Dats.
Newton moved the chains on his first snap of the day, then had to call a time out before his second.
The rest of the game he had the noise meter pushed up every time he stood under centre.
“I wish we could bring like 10 fans right in the middle of the field and have them hear what happens,” said Payton. “We’ll experience it now, going to Minnesota.
“There’s a stress level, when you’re dealing with it all the time (as an opposing offence) on the other side of the ball. I definitely think it hurts with the communication in the huddle, it hurts with formations. Certainly your cadence is not used and that’s an advantage offensively if you can use your cadence.
“So I think there are a lot of challenges, and I think they were as good tonight as I’ve heard in a long time.”
Brees echoed the sentiment.
“We’ve got the best fans in the world,” he said. “I know everybody says that, but we really do. Certainly the last two games here, our fan base has created an electric atmosphere.”
The Saints lost starting left guard Andreas Peat with a leg injury — he was carted off the field in the second quarter — and his teammates rallied in his absence.
After a couple of step-up plays by Mark Ingram and some nifty manoeuvring down the sideline by Michael Thomas, Brees called a play-action that left Josh Hill wide open in the end zone.
In the more than 47 minutes before Olson’s touchdown, all the Panthers points came from the toe of Gano. In the second quarter, Newton hit Brenton Bursin on a crossing route with lots of open space but he tripped over the 28-yard line.
The only first down the Saints had on their first two possessions was the result of a penalty. On the third. Brees found Ted Ginn Jr. for an 80-yard touchdown.
Brees almost had his third touchdown pass of the half when, after teaming with Hill for a 25-yarder up the middle, he connected with Thomas that fell a yard short of pay dirt. Fullback Zach Line scored on a one-yard plunge the next play to put the Saints up 21-6 with 43 seconds left before the break.
Gano, who missed a 25-yarder in the first quarter, nailed a 58-yard field goal to close out the half.
The pick by Carolina safety Mike Adams didn’t bother Brees.
“I’m glad he intercepted it,” said Brees. “It pushed them 20, 25 yards. back. It worked to our advantage.”
Most things did for the Saints.