DETROIT – Kellen Moore didn’t hesitate.
The New Orleans Saints had just scored a touchdown in overtime to take a 31-30 lead over the Detroit Lions with 1:34 left, and the coach immediately called for a two-point conversion.
If the Saints had converted, they would have won 32–31. They missed and lost 31-30.
“If we score the extra point and tie the game, there’s 1:34 left to play,” Moore said. “I didn’t want to let them go on the field with a chance to play and beat us.”
The Lions started overtime with a touchdown, meaning the Saints had one lead to match. Tyler Shaw drove New Orleans 80 yards in 10 plays, completing an eight-yard pass to Noah Fant. Moore’s decision followed.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said he would have done the same.
“If I am him, then I will choose two,” he said.
Moore called for a pass to Chris Olave with an open ball in the right front corner of the end zone, but the Lions defense was able to prevent it.
“We had Chris going to the front pylon, (Devon) Vele in center field and Bryce (Lance) going to the back pylon,” Moore said. “(The Lions) played really well and we got the outside corner kick.”
Schoff passed the ball to Lance, but the pass sailed past his head and out of bounds.
“I tried to give him a chance to play, but I couldn’t,” Shaw said. “It sucks, but I’m also really proud that we got there and gave ourselves a chance to win.”
That seemed unlikely when Jared Goff threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown to give Detroit a 21-0 lead with 8:54 left in the third quarter.
Shaw was 10 of 24 for 85 yards and three passes at that point. He threw an interception on his first try in the third quarter, then was sacked on his next two drives and fumbled the ball on the second.
“I have to play better to give our team a chance to win,” Shaw said. “We were too inconsistent in the first half and I played a big part in that. I think they made us play too fast and I wasn’t able to prepare to shoot the ball.”
However, after the Lions took a three-touchdown lead, Shaw went 20 of 26 for 252 yards and two touchdowns without turning the ball over.
“There’s definitely a natural rhythm when you start playing in chunks,” Shaw said. “It was great for us as a team to face that kind of adversity and come back the way we did.”
The last game wasn’t the first time Moore put a game directly into Shaw’s hands. With two minutes left in regulation and the Saints down 24-17, they faced a 4th-and-12 at the 23 alone.
The Saints could have punted and tried to get the ball back with timeouts, but Moore decided to go for it.
“If we hit and stop them, we’ll still get the ball back to the same spot, and if they make a couple of plays, we’ll never get it back,” he said. “We controlled the ball and I didn’t want to give it away.”
Shaw took the lead, hitting Lance for a 15-yard gain and then throwing the tying touchdown to Juwan Johnson with 1:13 left.
The Saints forced a punt from the Lions and could have won the game on the final play of regulation, but Daniel Carlson missed a 62-yard field goal.
“There are a lot of things we need to fix right now,” Moore said. “But I think our guys need to take some positives out of this game. We were down 21 points in the third quarter and ended up being two plays short of winning the game. It’s a battle.”