WATCH: Alex Anzalone can’t hold onto would-be TD, sends Saints into halftime with a safety

The New Orleans Saints special teams unit nearly scored a touchdown off a Kansas City Chiefs fumble, but had to settle for a safety.

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Here’s something new for the highlight reel. The New Orleans Saints have a proud tradition of scoring touchdowns off of miscues in the punting game, and they nearly added a new chapter to that history in Sunday’s game with the Kansas City Chiefs. If only Alex Anzalone could have held onto the ball.

The fourth-year linebacker was in position to recover a fumbled punt from Chiefs receiver Demarcus Robinson, who was filling in for the banged-up Mecole Hardman. Special teams captain Craig Robertson ripped the ball from Robinson’s hands and it tumbled into the end zone where Anzalone dove to secure it, only to watch helplessly as it bounced through the back of the end zone.

It wasn’t a total loss, though; the play went down as a Kansas City safety, awarding the Saints a couple of points to help chase the Chiefs’ lead. A nice New Orleans return from Tommylee Lewis sent the teams into halftime, with the Saints receiving the opening kickoff of the third quarter.

While Anzalone will be kicking himself about this for a long time, it still played an important part in simply putting points on the board. You can’t ask for much more than that against an offense as high-powered as the Chiefs’.

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