The Saints WON!

What a game!!!

That first quarter was scary if you were a Saints fan and even going into half time with the score 6-10. But the Saints have been down before and came to win 31-17. One of the most impressive numbers is the fact that the Saints’ defense held the Colts’ offense to 17 points. The tenacious Jets defense could not even do that, and what is really impressive is that the Saints had a similar game to the one they played against the Vikings in the NFC Championship game. Here are some of the statistics:

Total Yards:

Colts: 432 Saints: 332

3rd Downs:

Colts: 6 out of 13 Saints: 3 out of 9

Rushing: Attempts/Yards/Average

Colts: 19/99/5.2     Saints: 18/51/2.8

Passing: Attempts/ Yards/Average

Colts: 31-45/333/7.4   Saints: 32-39/281/7.2

The Saints won the turnover battle, and won the way they have all season: opportunistic defense. Tracy Porter took it to the house for a 74 yard interception returned for a touchdown.

I had been watching and reading from various media resources that the Saints or any team for that matter could never win a SuperBowl with being good at hoping to get an interception. I think they were saying you need to be consistent at something in order to win and catching interceptions and returning them for touchdowns did not count in the eyes of the analyzers. But who is to say your consistency can come from something that may not happen every game (like interceptions returned for touchdowns).

I like that the Saints did it their way…they did not conform to any particular style or listen to any of the people on the major networks…they listened to their coaches and stuck to their game plan. Solid team effort.

The whole team played a beautiful game! I am so proud of all of the efforts of each player. As for the offense, I am really proud that each time the ball went into one of their hands, there were no mistakes made (minus that one ball thrown to Colston that literally hit him in the face), no fumbles, no interceptions…just great players making great plays. I thought that head coach Sean Payton and his staff were extremely well prepared and had a great game plan, which they believed in and stuck to…no getting worried about their first quarter deficit. Brees led his team the way he has all year, doing all the emotional aspects in the pregame warm ups to standing tall in the pocket.  Pierre Thomas made so many great plays with the ball in his hands. I thought all the receivers: Lance Moore, Robert Meachem, Marques Colston, Devery Henderson. Moore’s reach for the two point conversation was extremely impressive as he was tumbling upside down and all of his body’s weight was on his head, but he held onto the ball long enough. Colston, Meachem, and Henderson all made awesome catches that were impressive to the eyes. But the pounding tight end Jeremy Shockey took…that was painful. He caught this ball and got nailed in the side of his torso and then another defender popped him again to the point where his helmet almost came off and he had to grab it with his free hand so that his head would be protected. He came out for a few plays after that but then showed again when the Saints were in the red zone and caught a touchdown pass from Drew Brees.

And I have to say the best thing that happened for the Saints to guard the Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney was non other than the half time show, he was never the same in the second half. Freeney was loose and able to go through or around who ever the Saints put on him to try and stop him, but in the second half…with that long break of movement he looked stiff and took himself out of the game. I do not know what happened at halftime but I am surprised he did not try to keep his body moving on a stationary bike.

And as the game went on the Saints’ defenders got better and better at attacking the quarterback of the Colts, Peyton Manning….obtaining much more pressure on him as the game progressed.

Great Job Saints!!!

What a season…what a game!!!