Tyler Shough and the Saints produce two big drives at the end to topple the Ravens 24-17

BALTIMORE (AP) — Tyler Shough scored on a fourth-down sneak with 1:28 remaining, and the New Orleans Saints rallied to a 24-17 win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

New Orleans (1-1) had first down from the 2 before a penalty and a costly incomplete pass allowed Baltimore — with only two timeouts left — to stop the clock after the next two plays. On fourth-and-goal, the Saints decided against a short field goal, and Shough was ruled to have scored on a 1-yard sneak. The play was upheld after a review.

The Ravens, who didn't have a first down on either of their previous two drives, made it to the New Orleans 37, but Lamar Jackson's deep pass was intercepted by Julian Blackmon with 13 seconds left.

Baltimore had a 17-9 lead and forced a three-and-out with sacks by Trey Hendrickson and Mike Green. That gave the Ravens the ball at the New Orleans 49 late in the third quarter with a chance to make it a two-score game.

But Baltimore went backwards 16 yards and punted, then the Saints drove to tie it with 9:42 remaining on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Shough to Chris Olave. After a penalty on the Ravens (1-1) moved the 2-point conversion to the 1-yard line, and Travis Etienne Jr. ran the ball in to make it 17-all.

After another Baltimore three-and-out — Jackson curiously threw long on third-and-1 and his pass to Chris Moore was broken up by Kool-Aid McKinstry — the Saints took over at their own 32 with 8:06 remaining. They drove about as methodically as possible, converting two third downs and two fourth downs to seize the lead.

Baltimore beat Indianapolis 41-23 in Jesse Minter's debut as coach, but in Week 2 the Ravens did many of the things that got John Harbaugh's staff fired, collapsing in the fourth quarter and dropping yet another home game. Baltimore was 3-6 at M&T Bank Stadium last season.

The Ravens were without top receiver Zay Flowers against the Saints. Baltimore did have offensive linemen Ronnie Stanley and John Simpson after their status was in doubt, but Stanley (toe) left the game in the second half.

New Orleans lost left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. to an ankle injury, but at the end the Saints moved the ball just fine.

Derrick Henry opened the scoring with a 1-yard run in the first quarter for Baltimore. After the Saints decided to kick a field goal on fourth-and-3 from the 5, Baltimore drove 80 yards and took a 14-3 lead on Jackson's 22-yard scoring strike to Rashod Bateman with 24 seconds left in the half.

Barion Brown's 53-yard kickoff return set up a New Orleans field goal before the end of the second quarter, and the Saints started the third with another three points on a 51-yard kick by Daniel Carlson. Tyler Loop connected from 49 for the Ravens to make it 17-9.

In addition to Banks, the Saints lost cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. to a shoulder injury.

Saints: Host Las Vegas next Sunday.

Ravens: Face Dallas in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough (6) is sacked by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Trey Hendrickson (91) in the second half of an NFL football game in Baltimore, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) passes against the New Orleans Saints in the second half of an NFL football game in Baltimore, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry (22) carries against New Orleans Saints safety Justin Reid (21) in the first half of an NFL football game in Baltimore, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough (6) passes in the second half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

iNew Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough converts on a fourth and one for a first down n the second half of an NFL football game in Baltimore, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suffered a bruising electoral setback in two state elections on Sunday, including a historic defeat for his party, but vowed to press ahead with potentially painful reforms to Europe’s biggest economy.

Projections by public broadcaster ARD on Sunday night indicated that Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, came in with just 4.9% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania — the lowest result since World War II for the party in any state. The anti-migration, Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party made significant gains Sunday. The projections were based on exit polls and partial counting for ARD television.

Should the CDU stay below 5% in the final vote count, it would mean that the party would fail for the first time to win seats in a state legislature anywhere in Germany.

Merz acknowledged his party's result as a “disaster,” but struck a defiant note, rejecting any retreat from his government’s reform agenda. He argued that Germany’s economic and political problems made difficult and potentially unpopular reforms more urgent, not less so, and pledged to press ahead.

“What needs to be done now requires backbone, steadfastness, and patience,” Merz said in a statement shortly after the exit polls were announced on public television. “I will demonstrate these qualities as chairman of the CDU and, above all, as chancellor of our country.”

In Berlin, projections showed the CDU was to come in second with 19.1%, behind the Left party at 25.3%, according to ARD.

Merz’s authority was already damaged by CDU's stinging defeat to AfD in the Sept. 6 election in the small eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. That result shocked many Germans who had believed their country had developed an immunity to nationalism and assertions of racial superiority after confronting the horrors of its Nazi past through education and laws to outlaw persecution.

On Sunday, AfD also made big gains in both states. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, it garnered 37.9% of the vote, and in Berlin it achieved 16.2%, according to ARD. But it was nowhere close to being able to form a regional government.

AfD's national co-leader, Alice Weidel, said on ZDF television that "we have displaced the CDU as the people’s party.”

She added that “we have a great deal to offer our voters, namely political change in this country."

However, in an apparent reference to the far-right party, Merz said that his government’s reforms would be “the antidote to the poison of authoritarianism, which is penetrating ever deeper into our society as the fascination with authoritarianism grows.”

The government’s reforms include cuts to income tax for low- and middle-income families, an overhaul of the creaking pension system and a reduction of Germany's stifling bureaucracy.

Merz, 70, became Germany’s leader 16 months ago with promises to turn around an economy that has barely grown in years. But he has failed to lift a sullen national mood and become deeply unpopular.

The strong showing of AfD in the Saxony-Anhalt election, where it has the best chance yet of forming the country’s first far-right regional government since World War II, had further weakened the chancellor's standing on the national level as well.

In the past two weeks, there had been calls, even from within his own party, for him to be replaced as chancellor, although no top-level allies have called publicly for his departure, and many warned against “personnel debates.”

Philipp Amthor, a prominent CDU figure from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania who now manages relations between the federal and state governments at the chancellery, said Sunday night that one problem in the campaign had been “the difficult personnel discussions” of recent weeks — an apparent reference to the speculation about Merz.

“It is good and right for these personnel discussions not to be continued now,” he said.

From right, Franziska Brantner, Federal Chair of Alliance 90/The Greens; Claudia Müller (Alliance 90/The Greens), the Greens' lead candidate in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and a member of the Bundestag; and Ole Krueger (Alliance 90/The Greens), state chair of Alliance 90/The Greens in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, react to the projections for the state election at their party's election party at the tisch coworking space, in Schwerin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (Ulrich Perrey/dpa via AP)

Amira Mohamed Ali, right, reactss to the first projections at the BSW election party in Schwerin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (Philip Dulian/dpa via AP)

Supporters and members of the Left Party react to the projected results of the House of Representatives election at an election party in Berlin, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (Sebastian Gollnow/dpa via AP)

Alice Weidel (AfD), the party's federal chairwoman, reacts to the projections for the State Parliament election at the AfD election party in Berlin, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

Russian citizen line up to cast their vote for Russian parliament elections at the Russian embassy in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Voters sit at a voting booth in Schwerin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, as the vote for the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state election, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (Philip Dulian/dpa via AP)

A man casts his vote at a polling station during the Berlin state election in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Social Democratic Party Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the party's top candidate for the upcoming state election Manuela Schwesig poses in front of an election campaign poster reading "The Woman Against Blue", in Schwerin, Germany, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. ( Jens Buettner/dpa via AP)

Leif-Erik Holm, the AfD's candidate for state premier in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, speaks at the campaign's closing rally in Neubrandenburg, Germany, on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (Philip Dulian/dpa via AP)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrives for the Cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)