New Orleans Saints halt Cam Newton in 12-9 win over Carolina Panthers

Alvin Kamara scored on a 16-yard rush in the fourth quarter as the New Orleans Saints beat the Carolina Panthers 12-9.

The Saints, who how have the league's best record at 12-2, went down early as the Panthers opted not to punt on fourth down and instead Christian McCaffrey found Chris Manhertz for a 50-yard score.

Wil Lutz was true with the boot from 46 and 24 yards as the Saints went into the half 7-6 down.

But Kamara put on the jets and was able to get good blocking as he found the end zone with 12 minutes left to play.

The attempted two-point conversion failed, with Drew Brees intercepted by Donte Jackson and returned for two.

But a late drive from the Panthers was halted as Cam Newton's attempt to Ian Thomas fell short on fourth down as the Saints took the win.

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'}); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Press Association Sport staff'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '163e0724-efcf-4c4c-ab3b-4a27bb1a5744'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:uk,paservice:sport:world'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:gridiron,sport:other'); ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'New Orleans Saints halt Cam Newton in 12-9 win over Carolina Panthers'});