Mark the date. The Saints clinched a winning record and the war of attrition has officially begun.
The Saints slogged their way to 9 – 0 Sunday with a hard fought victory over the Rams 28-23. It was a talent-over-preparation victory. It counts as a W, and no one will remember the cost, nor the poor clock management in the fourth quarter. This time it was Courtney Roby’s kick return to open the second half, and Reggie Bush’s electric running that saved the Saints. Defensive adjustments at halftime helped slow Steven Jackson, who had pretty much had his way in the first half, and the Saints used big plays to pull it out, rather than grind it out.
With two wonderful free agent pickups, Darren Sharper and Jabari Greer sitting this one out with injuries, Saints fans watched as Tracy Porter was carted off with a knee injury. That's three fourths of the defensive backfield! Compound that with the usually reliable Randall Gay doing a Jason David imitation giving us flashbacks to years of Payton past, and uneasy rests our record.
I said it before and I’ll say it again – the Super Bowl is played by teams that are hot and healthy. The Saints are not playing their best right now, but that worries me much less than their health. It’s the health of the defense which is paramount. The offense has depth – the defense doesn’t.
Next week, we visit Tampa, which doesn’t scare me, although anything can happen in the NFL. But anyone that watched the Manning/Brady Sunday Night Shootout knows that when Brady and an embarrassed Belichick come calling we’ll need all the healthy defensive bodies we can get.
The stretch run, and the war of attrition has begun.
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