4 days ago
Jake Delhomme's 51-yard touchdown pass is the Saints Play of the Day
We've reached Day 51 in our countdown to the New Orleans Saints' 2025 season opener, so we're looking back to 1999 for our Saints Play of the Day. A rookie quarterback stunned the Dallas Cowboys in front of a big crowd when Jake Delhomme scored a 51-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Eddie Kennison. You can see it for yourself right here.
While the Saints jumped out to a surprising 10-0 lead early on, the Cowboys fought back to get ahead 17-10 midway through the third quarter. So imagine their surprise when Delhomme struck back to tie it all up? It was a great throw off of play action, traveling from the New Orleans 41-yard line to the Dallas 19, where Kennison corralled the catch and jogged into the end zone. The Cowboys had Hall of Famers like Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Deion Sanders on their side, and it didn't matter.
This is a game we've highlighted before; Saints cornerback Fred Weary picked off Aikman and scored the game-winning touchdown on a Smith fumble recovery. Good on him and Delhomme for making such a difference.
This was a big win for a Saints team that really needed it. New Orleans went into the game with a 2-12 record, and this ended up being a great gift for fans on Christmas Eve. They couldn't sustain that success, but with wins so rare in those days, this became an easy rallying point for fans to enjoy late in a lost season.