Saints Sail Smoothly with Solid Superdome Show

Drew Brees continues to solidify the Saints as Superbowl favorites. New Orleans hosted the New England Patriots Monday night in the most intriguing game of week 12 in the NFL. The Saints pursuit of perfection remained in tack following a 38-17 takedown of the AFC East leading Patriots. New Orleans ran their record to 11-0 and by far the best team in their division. Atlanta sits second in the NFC South with a 6-5 record. The Saints have a chance to run the table and are five victories away from matching the 2007 Patriots perfect record. They demolished that same team in Monday night football thanks to another stellar showing by the signal caller. Brees’ impressive season-high 371 yards helped add to his MVP campaign. The 30 year old quarterback outplayed Tom Brady in the Patriots’ first trip to the Superdome since the Superbowl. Brees carved up Bill Belichick’s defense with five touchdown passes, all tossed to different receivers. Brady left Monday night’s contest a loser and threw a pair of interceptions. He did surpass Drew Bledsoe’s mark in the third quarter to become New England’s all-time leading passer. The Patriots fell to 7-4 and still have a sizeable and comfortable lead in their division.
John Carney’s 30 yard field goal in the first quarter put the home team on the scoreboard first in front of the second largest crowd to ever attend a Saints game at the Superdome. Pats’ running back, Laurence Maroney pounded in for seven on a fourth-and-one play to give New England a 7-3 lead. Cornerback, Mike McKenzie, in his 2009 Saints debut, intercepted Brady pass intended for Randy Moss to end the first quarter. The pick in New Orleans territory set up the Saints first touchdown of the night. Pierre Thomas caught a Brees screen spiral and scrambled for the 18 yard touchdown. Thomas lead the Saints in rushing with 11 carries for 64 yards, and is tied with Robert Meachem for the team lead with seven touchdowns. The touchdown department was in full in the second quarter last night. The Saints went on to score two more touchdowns to take a 24-10 lead into the locker room at the half. Brees connected with Devery Henderson a 75 yard hookup. The one-play, nine-second drive was the longest play from scrimmage for New Orleans this year. Henderson finished with a season high three receptions for 116 yards. It was his seventh 100 receiving yard day of the season, and seventh of his career. The Saints deep receiving corps and committee of gifted backs has them playing outstanding football into December.
Brady drove the Patriots all the way to the New Orleans 18 yard line following Henderson’s long grab from Brees. New England settled for a field goal to pull within a touchdown. Special teams star, Courtney Roby returned Stephen Gostkowski’s 72 yard kick 26 yards to the New Orleans 24. Brees drove the Saints into Patriots territory just before the two minute warning. The solid signal caller completed a 25 yard pass to David Thomas for a Saints first down with under a minute in the half. Meachem reeled in a 38 yard score for his fifth touchdown in the last four games.
Maroney’s two yard touchdown run in the third quarter finished the scoring for Monday night on the New England side. It was all Saints from that point on. Darnell Dinkins delivered the Saints fourth touchdown with 9:02 remaining in the third. It was the former Pittsburgh tight end’s lone reception, but it was good for seven New Orleans points. Brees spread the ball around in the one-sided second half, and extended his own franchise record with his 29th 300 yard passing game. After going three-and-out on their first possession of the final quarter, Brady was intercepted again, but not before Brees snagged his fifth touchdown. This time, the MVP candidate launched a 20 yard pass to Marques Colston on a second-and-five. Veteran safety Darren Sharper was the recipient of Brady’s second miscue. Sharper and the Saints kept Brady in check throughout the night. Defensive end, Will Smith, had four tackles and was credited with 1.5 sacks. Smith is one-half sack shy of his career high 10.5 set three years ago. Carney missed a 37 yard field goal in the middle of the fourth quarter. Brian Hoyer relieved Brady after the miss, but the backup quarterback was unable to put anything together. Hoyer was sacked on the final play of the game for an eight yard New England loss and crushing road defeat.

Parting Points: Song to start December- “All Cried Out” by All Saints

Fond farewell exit to Bobby Bowden and RIP to the Yankees’ “Old Reliable”