Trying desperately to become relevant again the New Orleans
Saints played their best game of the season in beating the Seattle Seahawks
25-20 in the Mercedes Benz Superdome on Sunday. They finally exacted a little revenge for season ending playoff losses in 2010 and 2011.
The turning point in the game was when the Seahawks scored a
defensive touchdown to take a 7-0 early lead by wrestling the football away from Mark
Ingram and running it in. It was the
second time in two weeks that Ingram had coughed it up causing great
damage. This time however was
different. Sean Payton had seen enough
of “straight line” and finally sat him down, albeit three years too late. And just like that Tim Hightower took over and
the Saints suddenly had a running game.
Hightower would rush for over 100 yards, something Ingram hasn’t down
since the Chicago Cubs last won a World Series.
The Saints battled back from a 14-3 second quarter deficit. Drew Brees led the Saints to scores on their
last 5 possessions, remarkable given the caliber of the Seahawks defense. The Saints moved the ball all day, but were
somewhat stymied in the red zone. Sean
Payton played it uncharacteristically conservatively, settling for field goals
against the tough goal line defense.
Meanwhile, the Saints no-name defense harassed Russell
Wilson all day and even more importantly kept him in the pocket. The defense began to show the progress Saints
fans have been hoping for. If the defense continues to play this way, the running game is the slightest of threats (in other words Ingram stays where he spent most of this game) and Brees and his stellar receiving corps continue to impress, maybe, just maybe there's relevancy in the Saints future.
Next week the Saints travel to San Francisco and make
another effort to pull themselves to .500 on the year. At least that would make for an interesting 2nd half of the season.
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