Patriots 17 Saints 38

So your ‘Game of the week’ and probably the biggest game of the season went down in New Orleans last night, and the home team came out on top, and proved to all doubters that they are for real. Drew Brees had 371 yards, 5 TD’s and 0 INT’s, which completely out performed Tom Brady who had 237 yards, 0 TD’s and 2 INT’s. The talk before the game was about the Saints secondary, and how they would not be able to cope with Brady and co, I think they passed that test. I mentioned in my preview of this game that the Patriots have a good pass defence – didn’t work out to well did it. This was a complete domination of a Patriots team that, before this game, hadn’t lost to a NFC team in the regular season since 2005.

On the first drive of the game the Saints got a FG, before the Pats drove down the field behind great running from Laurence Maroney, before he punched it in on a 4th and 1 from the 4 yard line. The Pats got the ball back before the end of the quarter, but Brady threw a INT to newly signed CB Mike McKenzie. The Saints made the most of this turnover and Brees threw a screen pass to RB Pierre Thomas at the 18 yard line. Thomas bounced off 3 Patriots defenders and fell into the end zone, 10 – 7 Saints. This proved to be the turning point of the game. The Saints got the ball back, and on a 1st and 10 from their own 25 yard line, Brees found a wide open Devery Henderson, who ran in, unchallenged for a 75 yard TD. The rout was on as Brees found WR Robert Meacham for a 38 yard TD before half time, 24 – 7 Saints.

The second half started, and on the very first play of the half, the Saints almost put the game away. Maroney fumbled the ball, it was recovered by the Saints, but as Sedrick Ellis took the ball inside the Pats 20, before he fumbled and the Pats recovered. The Pats took full advantage of this slice of luck and following a big pass play to Randy Moss, Maroney ran in from 2 yards for his 2nd TD of the day. Game on?? No. Brees got the ball back and on the very first play from scrimmage, he found Marcus Coulston, who shook off the Pats secondary for a gain of 69 yards, down to the 6 yard line. Brees then found Darnell Dinkins from the 2 yard line, for his first ever catch for the Saints. 31 – 17 and nice breathing room again for the Saints. The scoring calmed down slightly until midway through the 4th, when Brees threw his 5th TD pass of the day to Marcus Coulston, for a 20 yard TD.
This was a hugely impressive performance from the undefeated Saints. They look very good on both sides of the ball, and are now, in my opinion, the best team in football. The talk this year has been about the depth in the AFC, with the Colts, the Bengals, the Patriots, the Chargers, the Steelers, the Broncos etc, but I believe that the NFC has 2 elite teams. The Saints and the Vikings may be the clear favourites in the NFC, but I believe they may well beat any of the AFC teams. The playoffs look to be shaping up very nicely.

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