Wowed crowd makes Arrowhead loud and bothers Saints

Quarterbacks as successful as the Saints’ Drew Brees don’t get rattled in hostile environments, so it’s no surprise that he dismissed the idea of Arrowhead Stadium’s noise contributing to the Chiefs’ 27-21 victory on Sunday.

“We had our silent cadence going like we normally do anytime on the road,” Brees said. “We were flinching a bit too much on occasion.”

But the Chiefs are convinced the lung capacity of the crowd listed at 76,282 helped along the flinching and played a role in disrupting the Saints, who were called for four false starts and a delay of game penalty.

“That’s a pretty good stat right there,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “When you get three or four of those, that’s a great deal.”

Chiefs defensive players beckoned for noise and the Arrowhead crowd responded. Saints running back Mark Ingram thought it made a difference as his team visited Kansas City for the first time since 2008.

“They have a good environment, a great environment to play football,” Ingram said. “You just have to stay focused. They did a good job making it loud and we had a lot of presnap penalties. Those are things that you can’t do in order to win games on the road.”

No team has won at Arrowhead lately. Since the Bears took an 18-17 triumph last October, the day when running back Jamaal Charles tore his ACL, the Chiefs have won nine straight at home. The streak matches the fourth longest in team history.

Five home games remain. If the Chiefs win out, they’ll pass the club record of 13 set in 2002-03.

The Saints make the Superdome their indoor home, so they know something about rising decibel levels. Sunday marked the Chiefs’ third home game this season, and this one seemed louder than the first two, which might have something to do with seemingly fewer empty seats.

The possession that ended with an interception return for a touchdown by Chiefs safety Daniel Sorensen was complicated with a false start.

The delay of game penalty opened the Saints’ final possession. In all, the Saints were penalized 10 times for 75 yards, none more inopportune and ill-advised than defensive tackle Nick Fairley body-slamming Chiefs running back Spencer Ware on the opposite side of the field from the play that kept alive the Chiefs’ final drive that ended with a field goal.

Lack of discipline cost the Saints there.

“I certainly believe there’s a part of that,” Saints coach Sean Payton said of the noise. “I don’t think noise is responsible for holding. I don’t think noise is responsible for personal fouls, unsportsmanlike conduct. False start, maybe.”

No maybe, say the Chiefs.

“Definitely,” said safety Eric Berry.

This story was originally published October 23, 2016 at 7:35 PM with the headline "Wowed crowd makes Arrowhead loud and bothers Saints."