Week 12 came and went for the New Orleans Saints, and it did so with plenty of chaos and fanfare. Despite controlling the game for most of the outing, the Saints made enough mistakes and created enough opportunities for the Carolina Panthers to fight their way back into it. But the important thing to remember is that the Saints did win, proving their resiliency. Here are our six biggest takeaways from Sunday’s victory.

Too many penalties to ignore

There’s no excusing how poorly the Saints executed against Carolina, especially on defense. They committed 18 penalties on Sunday, though six were either declined or offset by the Panthers’ fouls. Still, at the end of the day a dozen penalties for 123 yards is impossible to overlook. All of those mistakes and self-inflicted wounds — like Cameron Jordan’s uncharacteristic personal foul — kept the Panthers in the game even after the Saints took a substantial lead, and New Orleans has got to clean up its act. That’s easier said than done with such a quick turnaround for Thursday night’s game with the Atlanta Falcons. This Saints team may just be a sloppy bunch. This is their third game in a row in which they’ve drawn nine or more penalties.