It’s the offseason and we’re thick in the middle of that dreaded lull in between OTAs and training camp. So let’s just crank out some more top 10 lists! We’re gearing up for the home stretch with the training camp at the end of the month, so in the meantime enjoy this taste of Saints history. Here are my top 10 plays in team history:
1. Tracy Porter’s Super Bowl pick six
I could probably pick at least five plays from the Super Bowl win that were memorable moments in team history. I settled for two. This is clearly the biggest moment in franchise history. This play made the idea of the Saints winning the Super Bowl a reality. Enough said.
2. Garrett Hartley sends the Saints to the Super Bowl
I was in the stadium for this one and it is the most memorable sporting moment of my life time. People that didn’t know each other in the seats around me were hugging each other. People were crying. You could just feel how much it meant to every single person in the building. As soon as the kick went through the uprights the reality that the “Saints are going to the Super Bowl” sunk in
3. Hakim Drops the Ball
The Saints waited 33 years to finally win a playoff game. Despite an early lead, this game in 2000 was in very serious jeopardy thanks to a late Rams run that left the entire stadium bracing for the inevitable final collapse. There was almost zero doubt that the Saints would give up a scoring drive on the final possession to “the greatest show on turf”. But that scenario never played out as punt returner Az Hakim handed the Saints their first ever playoff win in team history with this fumble. I was in the stadium for this one too and the reaction of the fans was priceless because literally no one in that stadium believed they would win the game. There was just too much baggage and history, but the Saints proved everyone wrong. That play was so huge, there’s a blog named after it (props Kevin!)
4. Steve Gleason’s punt block
As amazing and awesome of a guy as Steve Gleason is, this play has nothing to do with ALS or him as an individual off the field. If Gleason was a criminal this would still be a top 5 play in team history. The fact that he was pretty much the easiest guy in the world to root for on and off the field during football and after football makes it more special, though. After Katrina and the flood of personal issues that came with it for many of us, we were just glad to be back in the Superdome. It wouldn’t have mattered if the Saints were 1-15 that year, football was back in New Orleans and that was something to celebrate. But they were GOOD. A truly inspiring season. I was there for this one too, and this punt block in my opinion was the loudest the Superdome has ever been. And check out Curtis Deloatch teaching Jimmy Graham the touchdown celebration ropes.
5. Ambush
This was about as gutsy of a decision as I’ve ever seen in football. And it was absolutely a difference making one. While most will remember Tracy Porter’s pick six as “the play” in the Super Bowl, Chris Reis recovering Thomas Morstead’s “ambush” to start the second half is a very close second.
6. Tom Dempsey’s game winning 63 yard field goal
This would stand as an NFL record for 43 years until it was broken by a yard in 2013. Dempsey had a club foot that apparently gave him more distance on his kicks. In the 70s this was the one special moment in team history.
7. Tracy Porter intercepting Brett Favre
As great as the pick six, the ambush and the Garrett Hartley field goal before them were, none of those things happen if Tracy Porter doesn’t come up with this huge play.
8. John Gilliam’s opening kickoff return
As bad as the Saints were from the late 60s all the way through to the late 80s, the first play in team history was pretty special. Only two teams in NFL history can ever say their first play was a touchdown (the other is the Dolphins).
9. River City Relay
On the final play of a game against the Jaguars with a chance to go to the playoffs hanging in the balance, the Saints pulled off this miracle TD with the “River City Relay”. This play would probably be higher if it wasn’t for the play that would immediately follow it.
10. The Meacharound
You just had a feeling the Saints’ 2009 season was destined for a title when they started pulling off plays like this one.
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