Chances are you won’t watch a more dramatic game and finish that this one all season long. At least I hope not for the sake of my health. The Saints escape Atlanta with a season defining type win, 26-23 in overtime, to take full control of the NFC South. The defense was largely good all game long with the exception of their prevent, and the offense was largely shaky as they were completely incapable of running the football. In the end, Drew Brees took care of the football and that was most crucial to the difference. The Saints can now cruise into their bye week and heal up some of the injuries that have been bothering them with the luxury of a a big lead in the division. Here are my bullets on the game:
- Sean Payton surprised his team by coaching from the sidelines and it made a difference. He was working the officials that entire game. Nothing became more clear to me than that the Saints need that man down there.
- Say what you will about the defense, which was alarmingly bad at crucial times, that 4th and inches stop was the play of the season. Say what you will about Aubrayo Franklin and Shaun Rogers, both disappointing this season and in this game overall, they did what they were signed to do on that play. The Saints completed dominated the line of scrimmage and the penetration they got on that play was AWESOME.
- Hats off to John Kasay. I know he missed a field goal but he had a monster performance, including one long field goal wiped off by a hold.
- Speaking of that hold, while Jimmy Graham had a touchdown, his head was just not in the game today.
- Oustanding performance by Brees.
- Harper was incredibly good but he dropped an interception to end the game that was just criminal.
- Tracy Porter and Jabari Greer where both pretty solid in coverage, Leigh Torrence was not.
- Roddy White’s big mouth had a big shoe inserted in it all game long. He didn’t contribute much except a few horrible bone head penalties and an assist on the Scott Shanle interception. Horrible showing by the public enemy #1 of New Orleans.
- The Saints held Michael Turner to 96 yards on 22 carries. Not amazing, but I’ll take that anyday.
- Harry Douglas torched the Saints. Weird.
- The Falcons are the first team to completely shut down Darren Sproles. I was impressed with how they stuffed him. Jimmy Graham, on the other hand, mostly stopped himself.
- Marques Colston had a whale of a game.
- This was one of the better wins I have watched in my life as a fan in terms of regular season victories. Huge win with big stakes on the road. Kudos to the Saints for getting the job done.
That’s all I got. WHO DAT. Stay tuned for the grades.
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