Kellen Moore didn’t hesitate.
When the New Orleans Saints scored a touchdown in overtime to pull within one point of the Detroit Lions on Sunday in Week 1, the Saints’ head coach held up two fingers on the sideline.
The Saints were going to attempt a two-point conversion to win the football game.
They lined up for the play before Detroit took a timeout to talk things over. Then, the Saints’ offense came out again and ran what they likely planned to run all along.
New Orleans motioned Chris Olave before the snap inside, and on the snap, he raced back toward the right pylon, trying to get a rub route to work and create some space, but the Lions had it covered.
Tyler Shough didn’t see his first two options open, so he tried a jump ball in the back right corner of the end zone, but there wasn’t space to make a play inbounds, and the football fell out of bounds and incomplete.
Lions 31, Saints 30.
It’s a decision that will have people talking, but it made sense for Moore.
Why Did Saints Go For 2?
The Saints had only one chance to win this football game, and it was this play.
There was less than two minutes left in overtime, and the Lions had already scored to go up 31-24. Both teams get a chance to possess the ball, but this was the Saints’ chance.
The Lions would get a kickoff from the Saints if they had simply tied it 31-31 with an extra point, and then Detroit would get one more chance to win. But given the amount of time on the clock, odds were low that the Saints would see the football again.
That means that, if the Saints kicked the extra point, the probable best-case scenario is a tie. And while a tie isn’t a loss, it’s not a win, either.
Since the Lions had already had the football, if the Saints converted the 2, they would’ve won the game without Detroit getting it back. It would’ve functioned as if New Orleans won on a 2-point conversion with time expired.
So really, that was the only chance to start 1-0 — not 0-1 or 0-0-1.
You can question the play call if you want. Maybe it would’ve made sense to put Shough on the move.
But the decision made sense.
The NFL season has a lot of small sample sizes throughout it, but the process needs to be good to get the best results in the long run. This Saints process was good.
Overturned Call Adds Heartbreak For Saints
An added painful element here is that the Saints thought they scored their first touchdown on a fumble-six in the first quarter.
While it’s a rule that confused everyone, it’s the rule, and so the Saints missed out on a key score in a game they ended up losing by a single point.
Why Saints Went for 2-Point Conversion in Overtime vs. Lions