New Orleans Saints vs New England Patriots Match Player Stats On Oct 13, 2013

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Oct 13, 2013

Patriots 30, Saints 27: Tom Brady threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Kenbrell Thompkins with five seconds to play and the Patriots handed the visiting Saints their first loss of the season.

Brady, who saw his streak of throwing a TD pass in 52 consecutive games end at Cincinnati last week, finished 25-for-43 for 269 yards and Stevan Ridley rushed for two short touchdowns. Brady capped the unlikely game-winning drive encompassing 70 yards on eight plays in just over a minute without the use of a timeout.

New Orleans' Drew Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes, including a go-ahead score to Kenny Stills with 3:29 to play. Brees finished 17-for-36 for 236 yards and a 3-yard scoring pass to Travaris Cadet.

The highly-anticipated matchup of star tight ends never materialized as New England's Rob Gronkowski sat out his sixth straight game with a forearm injury and Jimmy Graham was held without a catch and injured his foot in the fourth quarter. Ridley carried the ball 20 times for 96 yards for the Patriots (5-1), who lost wide receiver Danny Amendola to a head injury in the fourth quarter.

A pair of field goals by Steven Gostkowski gave New England a 23-17 lead midway through the fourth quarter. But New Orleans (5-1) took the lead on Brees' pass to Stills, who was covered by a pair of Patriot defenders, and Garrett Hartley added a 39-yard field goal 65 seconds later.

GAME NOTEBOOK: New Orleans trailed 17-7 at the half, the first time the Saints trailed at intermission this season. ...Graham entered the game averaging 118.6 yards a game receiving. ... The Patriots lost cornerback Aqib Talib to a hip injury in the third quarter.