JAG’s Sports Blog

After years of inferior play, the Saints came marching back into New Orleans Monday Night and rode the wave of emotion and thoroughly dominated the once dominating Atlanta Falcons 23-3 to take over first place in the NFC South.

The flavor of the night was almost like a Super Bowl as a mini-concert was part of the pre-game festivities. It seemed there was 2 hours of post-game commentary from literally every network to talk about the impact this game had on New Orleans. The scene was set before and after the game and now fans have to wonder if the Saints were reacting on emotion or are they actually a good team now as they now are in first place by themselves for the first time in a long time. The Saints wasted little time in showing the Falcons, who felt everyone would be against them because of the emotion of Hurricane Katrina and the tugging of the heartstrings Americans have for the region. 70,000 fans in the Superdome proved the Falcons right, but it was the Saints the Falcons should have been worried about.

The Saints started the scoring and raised the intensity of the team and crowd by stopping the Falcons on a three and out and Steve Gleason blocked the punt and was recovered by Curtis DeLoatch for a touchdown to go up 7-0. The Saints even displayed some razzle dazzle when they ran a school yard double reverse in using Reggie Bush as a decoy and finishing it off with Drew Brees throwing a block to get Devery Henderson into the endzone for a 14-3 lead. By this time, the game was virtually over, but the Saints did score another 9 points on field goals from John Carney to finish the scoring.

The key to the Saints season will be whether or not this victory was based on pure, raw emotion or have the Saints actually bonded together with a group of talented players that can actually compete and their division. The Saints showed as ferocious a defense as anyone in the league on this night as they rushed, hurried and sacked the ever elusive Michael Vick all night. Warrick Dunn was rendered virtually invisible also as the vaunted Falcons running game was shut down all night and Vick only threw for 137 yards on a 12-31 night. Vick was sacked 5 times and rarely found any of his receivers open to throw to as if the Saints defenders actually knew every route that was being run. Vick wound up with 57 yards rushing, but 30 of those came on 1 run and the team wound up with only 117 yards after running wild the first 2 weeks with close to 600 yards combined yards.

Monday may have been a feel good story, but the question has to be asked if the Saints are actually a feel good story for the whole season. The Saints have traditionally been a bad home team over the last 5 years, but if the fans can provide a 12^th man impact like in stadiums in Seattle, this team may actually make the playoffs if they continue to play decently on the road and can beat the teams in the NFC South. I know that wins against Green Bay and Cleveland aren’t exactly earth shattering, but in the NFL, a win is a win. You can only beat the teams you face every week and this isn’t college, so you aren’t ranked by writers, so it’s all based on who you beat that week.

The Saints have come marching back in to New Orleans and NFL respectability with this 3-0 start and a hot rookie in Reggie Bush. Can they keep this up and how good can it be if Bush really explodes and starts scoring touchdowns, which he hasn’t done yet? This might be fate or just an early feel good story for a team that represents their region like no other professional team has, but I know I’ll keep an eye out and see if this is that magical year for New Orleans.

Why don’t you shout it out and tell us what you’ve got to say on this because whether you’re a Saints fan or not, I think were all interested in how they finish the season and will this inspire a region. And people say it’s only a game. Sometimes it’s more than just a game, but a way of life.