LANDOVER, MD – The Saints really wanted to get a win to give them a little momentum headed into their bye week next week.

Wide receiver Marquez Callaway gave the team momentum when they needed it most in the game today.

With under 10 seconds to go and tied at 13 with Washington, Jameis Winston launched a Hail Mary pass to the end zone. Callaway came down with it to give the Saints the lead headed into half.

“We just run down there, look as soon as we get there and then Sean was yelling at us talking about how when you run a Hail Mary you’ve got to look while you’re running to track it because we were going to have better position and that’s what happened,” Callaway says. “Just tracking the ball and attacking it.”

“Callaway made an amazing play,” Winston says. “On plays like that, all the glory period belongs to God. Period. It was awesome to get the momentum to head into the half.”

After the game, head coach Sean Payton said the team works on those plays in practice on both offense and defense.

“A good play, good throw,” Payton says. “Part of a Hail Mary is giving ourselves a chance. We did it. Our landmarks were good. Marquez (Callaway) found it. Listen, those things come up. We practice them. I think that was pretty significant.”

Callaway played at the University of Tennessee in college. He caught a Hail Mary pass his junior year in the Volunteers win over Kentucky.

But since he’s been with the Saints, he’s never even caught a pass like that in practice.

He caught one when it mattered most though.

“We practice it every week,” Callway says. “We know what to do. We just have to execute it. It showed today.”

“It’s the want-to,” running back Alvin Kamara says. “You gotta want to do that. He wanted it more than the defensive guys. I feel like Hail Mary’s are so routine. Like people talk about it. Like Hail Mary okay go defend it. We practice that to come down with it. I don’t know what they do over there, if they practice to defend it. If you watch it, it looked like we wanted it.”