The Saints offense roars to life in Indianapolis with a critical win to get back to .500

INDIANAPOLIS — An embattled New Orleans Saints offense finally found its footing in a 38-27 win against the Indianapolis Colts.

The Saints (4-4) offense racked up five touchdowns, scoring from near and far, while they corrected some of the issues that have plagued them all season. New Orleans scored touchdowns on three of its four of its red zone trips, with Taysom Hill cashing in on two of them, and 6-for-12 on third downs — with one especially notable one late.

And the offensive output was sorely needed, as the Colts kept applying pressure on the Saints defense.

Several of the Saints offensive stars came out to play. Derek Carr put together his best game as a Saint, firing touchdowns of 18 and 58 yards while compiling a 133.3 passer rating, Alvin Kamara scored a touchdown on the ground and through the air. Rashid Shaheed was only targeted three times, but each of those targets went for a gain of 40 yards or more.

Hill also had an impressive all-around game with 55 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, 14 yards receiving and a 44-yard completion to Rashid Shaheed.

That deep pass to Shaheed was an important part of the game. Hill heaved it downfield to Shaheed, who cut in front of Colts safety Rodney Thomas to grab the ball. But Thomas reached his hands in as Shaheed was falling to the ground and appeared to wrench possession away.

The play was initially ruled an interception on the field, but a replay review determined Shaheed was down by contact before he lost the ball. Five plays later, Hill ran it in from 1-yard out to give New Orleans a 35-20 lead.

The Colts responded with a quick touchdown drive to cut the lead to eight, but again, the New Orleans offense came to the rescue.

Facing a crucial third and 13 from their own 30-yard line with three minutes to go, Carr found a streaking Shaheed deep downfield for a massive 51-yard gain that flipped the field. The Saints ran out all but the final 24 seconds before kicking a field goal to put them in front by 11.

Shaheed now has 23 receptions this season, and six of them have gone for 40 or more yards.

New Orleans finished the game with 511 yards of total offense, a season-high.

For the third straight week, the Saints allowed a team to build up a double-digit lead on them in the first half, after Colts running back Zack Moss’ 1-yard touchdown plunge in the second quarter gave Indianapolis a 17-7 lead.

But this time the Saints had an answer before the halftime break.

Following Moss’ score, New Orleans put together back-to-back touchdown drives.

Taysom Hill capped off the first of those scoring drives with a 20-yard gallop through the Colts defense. It was the longest run of the season by a Saints ball-carrier.

The next drive featured another explosive play, with Carr hitting Shaheed in stride behind the Colts secondary for a 58-yard touchdown — the longest play from scrimmage by the Saints this season.