Motoring to a 2009 championship, the New Orleans Saints paid a preliminary visit to the Super Bowl site to play the Miami Dolphins and won in the most improbable fashion. They came back from a 24-3 deficit, cementing their credentials as real contenders.
On Thanksgiving Day in 2010, the Saints visited the site of this year’s Super Bowl and made last year’s preliminary trip look almost boring by comparison. The Saints charged out to a 17-0 lead. They came out in the 2nd half as if they’d just eaten Thanksgiving dinner and slowly gave up the lead, allowing 3 touchdowns.
Reggie Bush giveth, Malcolm Jenkins taketh away. Reggie was rusty, dropping a probable touchdown pass that could’ve iced the game. However he was not too rusty to dance around on his one punt return long enough to cough up the football, handing the Cowboys a touchdown. That 11 point swing put the Saints on the verge of a disastrous loss.
In steps Malcolm Jenkins. With Dallas only having to run the clock out, QB Kitna connected on a short pass with Roy Williams, beating rookie first round draft pick Patrick Robinson, who had slipped. Williams is off to the races, with Tracy Porter and Jenkins in hot pursuit. As they converge on Williams, Jenkins wrestles the ball out, and the Saints have the ball, down 4 with 3 minutes left.
In the NFL, if you have an elite Quarterback, your strategy is to be close enough for him to pull the game out on your last drive, so thanks Malcolm, Drew will take it from here.
Taking all of 5 plays, the big one being a 55 yarder to Robert Meachum, zip, zip, zip down the field and the Saints end the Dallas Jason Garrett euphoria.
Malcolm Jenkins may have saved the season, as the Saints move to 8-3 and await a little help from Green Bay and Baltimore this weekend.
The Saints are not without their problems, but after 43 years of victimization at the hands of some star quarterback who snatches victory from us, it’s kind of fun to pull a rabbit out of the hat as often as Drew does. We sure know how it feels from the other side.
Now comes that part of the schedule where the Saints have to prove they can produce in the cold weather. Trips to Cincy and Baltimore loom large. To win the division the Saints almost have to match last year’s 13 – 3 record. Wouldn’t that be something?
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