Charlie Smyth tied a franchise record with five field goals in the New Orleans Saints’ game against the New York Jets on Sunday, with Chris Olave catching two touchdown passes as the Saints ran out 29-6 winners at the Superdome.
Tyler Shough had season highs of 32 completions, 49 attempts and 308 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown pass to Olave, who finished with 10 catches for a season-best 148 yards.
The Saints have now won three straight games and are 4-3 since Shough became the starter.
Smyth was recently elevated to the New Orleans Saints’ 53-man roster, signing a new three-year contract with the NFL team.
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It comes after the former Down Gaelic football goalkeeper made three consecutive appearances for the Saints and accumulated 17 points – successfully making four out of five field-goal attempts and registering five from five with his extra point efforts.
On his regular season debut against the Miami Dolphins, he announced himself Stateside by drilling over a 56-yard field goal. He also had an onside kick recovered late in that game, with recoveries averaging only 5 per cent for the last three NFL seasons.
Smyth kicked kicking the winning score for the Saints with just two seconds remaining against the Carolina Panthers.
In the Saints-Jets game neither side was able to find the end zone for nearly three quarters until Shough and Olave connected for their touchdown, giving New Orleans a 16-6 edge at the end of the third quarter, completing a 12-play, 93-yard drive.
Rookie Jonas Sanker intercepted Cook and returned it to the Jets’ 44, leading to former Smyth’s record-tying 39-yard field goal with 5:17 remaining. Taysom Hill threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Olave to complete the scoring with 1:54 left.
In addition to his 38 yards passing, Hill rushed 12 times for 42 yards and caught four passes from Shough for 36 yards.
He fumbled on the second play from scrimmage and Qwan’tez Stiggers recovered for the Jets at the New Orleans 37. New York stalled at the 11 and Nick Folk kicked a 29-yard field goal.
The Saints drove to Smyth’s 35-yard field goal to forge a tie that held up through the end of the first quarter.
On the second play of the second quarter, Smyth – who penned a three-year contract with the Saints earlier this week – broke the tie by kicking a 49-yard field goal.
Folk’s 36-yarder knotted the score at 6, but Smyth answered with a 36-yarder with 1:31 left in the half before recording his only miss of the game, a 61-yarder as time expired, to leave New Orleans with a 9-6 half-time lead. – Reuters
