(AP Photo/Mike McCarn)
By Rod Walker | The Advocate
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It wasn't pretty. Far from it. And it wasn't easy. Far from that too. But the defense came up with enough plays to allow the New Orleans Saints to escape Bank of America Stadium with a 12-9 victory over the revenge-minded Carolina Panthers on Monday night.
Safety Vonn Bell, whose sack of Panthers quarterback Cam Newton last season sealed the Saints' playoff victory, came up with a big play once again. Leading up the game, Bell said that last year's sack was one of the biggest plays of his career. "But I have more big plays to make," he said Saturday. Two days later, he proved to be a man of his word.
Bell jarred the ball loose from Carolina's D.J. Moore on a 22-yard run in the third quarter and the fumble was recovered by A.J. Klein. "It was just relentless effort," Bell said. "I just laid it all out for the team, for my brothers out there. I just wanted to make a play, something to change the game. I guess it did."
Indeed it did. ...
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