Just when you think you’ve seen the best a man can do, Drew
Brees surprises you. On Sunday, he may
have played his best game ever in the Saints’ overtime victory over Atlanta in
their Mercedes dome. The Saints scored
an overtime touchdown to win 43-37. When the Saints won the overtime coin flip, the
Falcons couldn’t know it, but they were dead already.
Brees went 39-49 for 396 yards. It seemed like the only balls that hit the
ground hit Ted Ginn’s hands first. I
counted 3 drops so let’s call it 42 of 49.
He is completing 80% of his passes this year. Unheard of, and if that wasn’t enough Brees
even ran for 2 touchdowns. During the
game Brees set the NFL record for career completions, but there was no fanfare,
only the drone of near-perfection. Alvin
Kamara ran and caught, while Michael Thomas caught and ran. The Saints have developed a superstar
triumvirate on offense.
Defense is another story.
The Saints held on one drive forcing a rare Atlanta punt,
which they blocked as is their tradition.
It allowed them to stay close, but the defense continued in disarray as
they couldn’t cover anyone. The defense
appears 2 Lattimores short of a secondary as PJ Williams replaced Ken Crawley
who then replaced PJ Williams as neither could stay with the speedy Atlanta receivers. The good news is there were signs of life in
the pass rush at times, but asking the offense to outscore 37 points, well its
not a formula for long term success.
The Saints march to end the game was a thing of beauty. Brees was the surgeon and Kamara and Thomas were the scapel and saw. The Falcons were helpless and never got the ball in overtime.
So the Saints rally to a 2-1
record, keeping pace with Carolina in the division, with hopes that the
Steelers can bring the Bucs down to earth on Monday night.
It’s going to be a long season and it looks like Brees will have to be Superman. As usual.
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