It took me so long to edit the East Coast Offense podcast, the game had already started, so I watched the first half live, stayed up to 3 am. I caught the condensed version of the second half this morning, taking in some truly baffling play calling by Sean Payton in the fourth quarter.

• The Saints should have won this game but for the turnovers and utter lack of urgency during their comeback. Despite being down 10 points, Sean Payton called run after run with Tim Hightower and mostly targeted his receivers with short passes. He also elected to kick a field goal down 20 on 4th-and-goal from the nine.

• The Saints defense won't be mistaken for that of the 2000 Ravens, but neither will it be confused for the 2015 version of itself. The front seven got pressure on Cam Newton and completely stuffed Jonathan Stewart.

• It's amazing the Saints essentially lost two straight games on blocked kicks. This one happened at the end of the first half, but it was a 10-point swing.

•  Cam Newton had a very modest game, and his only TD came on a 40-yard bomb, barely caught by Ted Ginn, set up by the blocked kick. I said Newton was a top-seven QB last week, but I now retract that.

• Mark Ingram might have had a big game as a receiver had he not left early in the third quarter with a concussion. Instead Tim Hightower went 8-for-57 along with 69 yards on the ground.

• Drew Brees didn't have a lot of time, either, and he spread the ball around, mostly on short throws.

• Kenny Vaccaro got a roughing-the-kicker penalty in the first quarter after he tried to block a Graham Gano field goal and accidentally rolled into his leg after Gano had followed through on the kick. I get why the NFL wants to deter that kind of thing, but it's ridiculous that fouls that don't affect the play are potentially game-changing automatic first downs. Why do we want games decided on random junk? Can't they fine or, if necessary, suspend players for infractions of that sort without having it affect the game on the field? In this case, it was moot as the Panthers stalled anyway, thanks to Newton taking another deep sack, something he's in the habit of doing.