In last Monday’s epic showdown the Saints smothered the Patriots  38-17 at the Superdome. The Saints have long been a bad to mediocre franchise to say the least. This win legitimizes them as a team with an undefeated record on the line, as a franchise looking for prominence and glory, as a city looking for hope through their lovable sports team, as a group of young mean feeling as though they belong at the top of the NFL and should be considered with the NFL’s cream of the crops.

The Saints should the whole country that they belonged!

There are a lot of memories from that game - one of them I will not soon forget….the Patriots’ star quarterback, Tom Brady, and head coach, Bill Belichick standing-arms-crossed on the sidelines. It is not very often you see a NFL team take out their starters with 5 minutes and change to spare with the deficit at 21 points (granted it was not highly probable, but the Patriots definitely have the fired power to score quickly).  That told me that Bill Belichick , coach he I always thought to play to the last down…quit, gave up.

I hope the game ball went to Mike McKenzie. The guy flew in mere days before the game and came up with huge play after huge play. The Patriots totally tried to attack McKenzie (the Patriots most likely thinking that McKenzie had lost a step and thus be able to get big players from wide outs who were covered by McKenzie) but he game up with one interception with eight return yards, 3 tackles all solo, and  three pass deflections. Every time McKenzie answered the call when the Patriots drew up a play on him.

The man who should also be given lots of praise is Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams and specifically Secondary’s Coach Dennis Allen, who has done a miraculous job with all the injuries the Saints have faced with their secondary this season with the likes of Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter both starters and both having huge years for the Saints. Coach Allen has been able to plug in Chris McAlister and Mike McKenzie - both firmer pro bowlers who have been out of the game for a while and make them look like STUDS (against the Patriots no less)!!!

Speaking of defense…the whole team is getting a star this week. Even though the Saints scored 38 on the Patriots, were only on the field for 26:44…that means the Saints defense was on the field for the majority of the game. The Saints defense held Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to a weak quarterback rating of 55.00 and a poor completion percentage of 57.5% on 23/40 . As well as holding the Patriots to only completing 4 of 13 3rd down conversations.

There were other players who really stepped on the defensive side of the ball for the Saints. Here are the players I feel really shined against the Patriots:

Roman Harper: had 10 tackles, 6 solo

Jonathon Vilma: had 9 tackles, 8 solo, 1 tackle for loss which came by way of getting at the QB

Scott Fujita: 7 tackles, all solo

Malcolm Jenkins: 8 tackles, all solo and one pass deflection

Darren Sharper: had 6 tackles, 4 solo, 1 pass deflection, 1 interception with 38 return yards

Will Smith: 4 tackles, all solo, 1.5 sacks, and 3 of the tackles were on the quarterback

Now on the other side of the ball the Saints had some studs on the offensive side that need to be recognized for their efforts and performances…

First and foremost the Saints quarterback and leader Drew Brees. Brees had the perfect game…no seriously, a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3 to back it up. Brees threw 5 touchdowns to 5 different receivers. Speaking of the number 5, that is the total amount of balls that were incomplete…he went 18/23 and tallied 371 yards in the air. And no interceptions and fumbles - such a great game by one of the front runners for MVP of the NFL.

His receivers stepped up huge and made all kinds of plays for him:

Marques Colston: was targeted 5 times, had 4 receptions for a total of 121 yards, and 1 touchdown

Devery Henderson: was targeted 5 times, had 3 receptions for a total of 116 yards, and 1 touchdown

Robert Meachem: was targeted 6 times, had 5 receptions for a total of 69 yards, and 1 touchdown. Meachem really stepped up to be a safety valve for Brees during the game, that role had been secured by tight end Jeremy Shockey.

The offensive line really made life easy for Brees and the running backs of the Saints. Only allowing 1 sack on Brees and allowed Brees to have the time to make the best decisions for moving the offense down the field and putting points on the board. The O-line also paved the way for the Saints running backs to combined for 26 carries and 113 yard (a 4.3 yard average).

Lastly, on the offensive side of the ball, there is running back Pierre Thomas who had a great all around performance.Thomas rushed the ball 11 times for 64 yards, with no touchdowns. Thomas also had 3 catches for 23 yards and 1 touchdown. Whatever the play calls for, Thomas delivered.

And the Twinkle of the Week - for the player who had just one play that really made a difference…Courtney Roby, the Kick Returner and special teams player extraordinaire. Roby was on the punt coverage team that was kicking to the Patriots’ Wes Welker. Welker was burst out with the ball and was on his way to the endzone when Roby caught up to Welker (not a whole lot of people can do that). Roby caught up to Welker, took one big leap and tackled Welker from the back, in the first quarter. Roby saved what potentially could have been a huge momentum changer for the Patriots.

Here is a recap of the Star Studded Saints of the Week 12 match up against the Patriots:

Drew Brees, Pierre Thomas, Marques Colston, Robert Meachem, Devery Henderson, Offensive Line, Defense, Mike McKenzie, Roman Harper, Jonathon Vilma, Scott Fujita, Malcolm Jenkins, Darren Sharper, and Will Smith.

Adding this list to the the total here are the new standings…..

(8) SS Roman Harper

(7) QB Drew Brees

(7) SS Darren Sharper

(7) RB Pierre Thomas

(6) WR Marques Colston

(6) MLB Jonathon Vilma

(5) Defense

(5) O-Line

(4) RB Mike Bell

(4) DE Will Smith

(3) CB Jabari Greer

(3) FS Tracy Porter

(3) TE Jeremy Shockey

(3) RB Reggie Bush

(3) KR Courtney Roby

(3) LB Scott Fujita

(3) WR Devery Henderson

(2) OL Jermon Bushrod

(2) CB Malcolm Jenkins

(2) P Thomas Morstead

(2) TE David Thomas

(1) LB Jo-Lonn Dunbar

(1) DE Charles Grant

(1) Robert Meachem

(1) WR  Lance Moore

(1) LB Scott Shanle

(1) CB Usama Young