Saints Play to St. Louis’ Level, Still Win, 16-7

It was ugly, but with their history, the New Orleans Saints will take anything they can get.

Dave Wilson passed 10 yards to Mike Jones for a touchdown and Morten Andersen kicked three field goals Sunday to give the Saints a 16-7 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

“It is a win, and we always take a win,” said New Orleans Coach Jim Mora, whose team won for the fifth time in six games. “I think we can play better than we played today. It was a physical game. I think they (the Saints) know what they have to do.

“I don’t think we played up to our potential, our capabilities. But you have to win some games when you don’t play that well.”

New Orleans (6-5), which has never finished with a record better than 8-8, won for the third straight time to equal its longest winning streak ever as rookie Rueben Mayes rushed for 131 yards in 25 carries.

Said Mayes: “We could have played better. We took too many (11) penalties. I think I could have taken better advantage of the opportunities. This was a hard game for us to get up for.”

Wilson let Mayes carry the bulk of the offensive load for New Orleans, but did complete 7 of 16 passes for 104 yards after starting 1 for 6.

St. Louis quarterback Cliff Stoudt completed 20 of 38 for 186 yards, but was intercepted 3 times.

The Cardinals (2-9) managed to move to within 10-7 in the third quarter on Stump Mitchell’s one-yard scoring run, the first touchdown allowed by the Saints in nearly nine quarters.

“It was a dogfight,” nose tackle Tony Elliott said. “We played just good enough to win.”

The Cardinals were moving again on the possession after their touchdown, but New Orleans safety Frank Wattelet picked off Stoudt’s pass and returned it 22 yards to the St. Louis 35. That set up Andersen’s second field goal, a 28-yarder. He also made kicks from 47 and 30 yards.

Cornerback Dave Waymer and strong safety Antonio Gibson also intercepted Stoudt passes, with Gibson’s theft in the closing seconds thwarting a scoring bid.