Upon the slaughtering of the New England Patriots by our New Orleans Saints by the final score of 38-17 on Monday Night Football, it appears that this franchise has finally come of age after 42 solid years of non-stop disappointment for an ever and always faithful fan base.
Aside from once upon a time when we all had high hopes for the likes of Bobby Hebert and the Dome Patrol when they were with this team in the late 80′s and then for a fleeting moment in 2006 when we actually got to see them play in the NFC Championship Game (only to get humiliated in snowy Chicago by the Bears on their way to losing the Super Bowl in our place), this season should go down in Saints history (one way or another) as the winningest (is that a word?) year ever for the franchise.
With only five more games to play, all that is needed are 2 more wins for the Saints to establish their best ever regular season ending record of better than 12-3 (which is how they ended the 1987 strike-shortened season).
Expectations are much higher than that for these Saints though.
Drew Brees and Sean Payton may have each come out after the Patriots win on Monday night and said in their respective press conferences that this win was just one more “W” for the record books in the grand scheme of things this season, but, for the long-suffering fans of these New Orleans Saints, it definitely represents a whole lot more than that in their overall “Grand Scheme of Things”. Actually, Brees did mention that the emotional impact of a win as big as this one was bigger than just another “W” on the schedule.
It really does seem like somewhat of a “Trading Places” has happened here between these two teams involving their recent pasts and presents. The Patriots, with one of the most feared and respected offenses in the league, just weren’t able to muster enough defense to stop an explosive Saints offense that simply ran buck-shot all over them. That sounds a lot like the Saints’ teams of both 2007 and 2008, doesn’t it? At the same time, the Saints almost appear unstoppable on their way to a potentially “perfect season”. Does that remind anyone of any certain team at about this same point in 2007, perhaps?
He still looks pretty even when he's being pulled to the turf, doesn't he?
The Saints would receive the ball first and proceed to drive 53 yards in 8 plays while using only 3 minutes and 46 seconds of the clock to kick a 30 yard K John Carney field goal and take the initial lead 3-0.
The Patriots then put together an impressive drive of their own going 80 yards in 14 plays and burning 7:40 off the clock to take the lead right back from the Saints with a RB Laurence Maroney 4 yard run off right guard on 4th and one.
The second drive of the game stalled with the Saints’ offense going 3-and-out after a 6 yard gain by RB Pierre Thomas off left guard, an end around for no gain by WR Devery Henderson on 2nd down and a rare incomplete pass attempt to WR Robert Meachem on 3rd and 4. This would represent the first of only four non-scoring possessions by the Saints in this game.
The "Mack" is back baby!!!
The very first play from scrimmage for the Patriots’ second possession of the game with the score still New England 7 and the Saints 3 was the early-on turning point in this contest. Saints CB Mike McKenzie, who just signed with the team exactly one week (Monday November 23, 2009) prior to playing in this game, stepped up and grabbed an interception from the great Patriots QB Tom Brady and shifted all the momentum in the world back to the Black and Gold. From that point on, it would be all she wrote for the Pats in their quest for another Big win in the Louisiana Superdome.
PT Cruiser on his way to scoring the Saints' first TD of the night
Seemingly in direct answer to the Patriots’ first drive from scrimmage where they converted on two fourth and ones on their way to score the game’s first touchdown, the Saints’ went for it and prevailed on fourth and two on their own second drive. That would then lead up to a screen pass touchdown run by RB Pierre Thomas taking back the lead 10-7 in the Saints favor. The Saints would never again relinquish the lead in this game.
The Patriots would be forced to punt after only 5 plays from scrimmage on their third drive of the first half.
From their own 25 yard line, the Saints would then go 75 yards in just one play and use up only 9 seconds of clock time to generate their next point scoring drive with a blown coverage pass deep right to WR Devery Henderson for a TD to make the scoreboard now read Saints 17, Patriots 7.
New England settled for a 36 yard field goal to end their fourth drive in the first half after going 58 yards in 11 plays and using up 5 minutes and 39 seconds of clock time to close the scoring gap to just seven points at 17-10 in favor of New Orleans.
Meachem's TD
With the touchdown pass to Robert Meachem late in the 2nd quarter to make the score 24-10, Saints QB Drew Brees became the first NFL quarterback to ever throw for 3 touchdowns in one quarter against a Bill Belichick coached defense.
24-10 would remain the score going into halftime after the missed 50 yard field goal try by Patriots K Stephen Gostkowski leaving only 13 seconds on the game clock.
In the second half, New England would only add one more touchdown early in the third quarter on a short run by Laurence Maroney off left tackle while the Saints would benefit from two more Drew Brees passed for TD’s. One to TE Darnell Dinkins at 9:06 in the third quarter and the other to WR Marques Colston at 7:55 in the fourth.
The only play I saw that I would have liked to have gotten back was the forced fumble by LB Scott Fujita (early on in the 3rd quarter) that was recovered by DT Sedrick Ellis who then tried to impersonate a Darren Sharper interception return but ran into a large crowd of New England Patriots and coughed the ball back up right back into their hands. If Ellis had just fallen on the ball, the Saints would have been in scoring range already. That drive ended in a Patriots touchdown when it could have ended in another Saints score (a potential 10-14 point swing).
INT #8 on the year for Sharper
Saints S Darren Sharper would also grab one more interception from an errant Tom Brady pass late in this game to bring his yearly interception total to 8 and his career total to 62.
Not only does it seem to me that the Saints and the Patriots have traded places this season, it also appears that the overwhelming dominance of the American Football Conference over the National Football Conference has been reversed as well. Think about it. The Indianapolis Colts are still undefeated at 11-0 just like the Saints but the gap in talent is seemingly much larger in the AFC than it is in the NFC right now.
Behind the 11-0 Colts, there are two teams at 8-3 (Cincinnati Bengals and San Diego Chargers), two teams at 7-4 (New England Patriots and Denver Broncos) and three teams at 6-5 (Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars).
Under the 11-0 Saints and breathing down their necks are the 10-1 Minnesota Vikings followed by the Dallas Cowboys at 8-3, the Arizona Cardinals, Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers at 7-4 and the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons at 6-5. There may be the same exact number of teams in each conference sitting above .500 at this point in the season but, in my own opinion, the Saints and the Vikings are currently playing head and shoulders above the Colts, Bengals and Chargers on the other side of the coin.
I’d be willing to bet that we will see this very point of mine exaggerated in the 2010 Pro Bowl as well as in the 2010 Super Bowl with victories on the NFC side of things for a change.
Saints fans like me (I’ll be 44 in early February of 2010 right before Super Bowl 44 is played) have been cheering this team on all our lives in the hopes of a season just like this one. Through all the losing seasons, one mantra has been constant for as long as I can remember. “Just wait ’til next year!”
Well folks, this is that next year and the only thing left to wait for now is that ever elusive (Super Bowl) Lombardi Trophy to be placed in the trophy case of the New Orleans Saints training facility in Metairie Louisiana. The football gods willing, may 2010 finally be the year that all of our collective prayers might be answered across the Gulf South region of these United States where the good people need suffer no longer at the feet of their beloved Saints.
