Monday night mess

• By LES EAST
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Oct 7, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:30 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — After the Saints defeated San Francisco, 31-17, despite 13 penalties a week ago, coach Sean Payton warned that his team would pay a price if it continued to make mistakes at a similar rate.

He was proven right when the Saints stumbled and bumbled their way to a 30-27 loss against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night in the Superdome.

They committed 11 penalties for 102 yards, including a 42-yard pass interference penalty against safety Kevin Kaesviharn, which set up Ryan Longwell’s game-winning 30-yard field goal with 13 seconds left.

Martin Gramatica missed 2-of-3 field goals, including one that was blocked and returned for a touchdown, and the Saints turned the ball over four times, had a handful of dropped passes, a couple of botched snaps, and a surprise onside kickoff that failed.

All of those self-inflicted wounds negated a record-setting night by Reggie Bush and a defensive effort that held Adrian Peterson, the NFL’s second-leading rusher, to 32 yards on 21 carries.

“There were some positives, but they were overshadowed by the amount of mistakes we made,” Payton said. “We turned the ball over too much, we had too many penalties again. Regardless of how we defended the running back or our yardage on offense or two great punt returns by Reggie Bush, all that gets overshadowed by those mistakes we made. You really end up hurting yourself.”

Bush tied an NFL record with two punt returns for touchdowns, set a Saints record with 176 punt return yards, and almost single-handedly salvaged the game. But the Vikings (2-3) scored 10 points in the final seven minutes to drop the Saints to 2-3. New Orleans host Oakland on Sunday.

“This game was different for me because it felt like we were playing in quicksand,” Bush said. “We couldn’t stay on side, we didn’t pick up blitzes that we normally pick up in our sleep. We couldn’t block a guy in field goal protection and they get a touchdown.

“In the first half we had three turnovers and eight penalties. You can’t win a game like that if you’re an all-star team. We blatantly handed them 17 points. It’s tough to win that way. We have to go back to the drawing board and to the fundamentals of football and find way to get it done.”

The Saints offense, which roared out of the gate to get 148 yards and 10 points in the first quarter, was sputtering in the third quarter. The Vikings front four was dominating the offensive line and Minnesota had a 20-10 lead.

But that all changed in the few seconds it took Bush to return a punt 71 yards for a touchdown that made it 20-17 with 1:46 left in the third quarter.

That play electrified the crowd and pumped up the New Orleans defense, which forced another Vikings punt. Bush broke free for a 29-yard return and was barely tripped up at the Minnesota 49 with a wide-open field in front of him.

The drive stalled, but Gramatica, kicking with a strained groin, made a 53-yard field goal to tie the score with 13:20 remaining.