METAIRIE, La. (AP) -Drew Brees seemed uncharacteristically pleased about a rare lousy throw that prevented him from having five touchdown passes during the Saints’ victory over Green Bay.
New Orleans’ prolific quarterback stopped short of admitting the incompletion, thrown behind and short of receiver Lance Moore, was by design. The misfire had the benefit of spreading out the Packers’ defense on the next play, when Deuce McAllister powered in from the 3-yard line for his franchise record-setting 54th touchdown as a Saint.
“I’ll be honest. That’s automatic between me and Lance and I just think some things are meant to be,” Brees said coyly. “It was meant that we come back and find a play where we’re definitely going to run it and Deuce is going to get the ball and he’s going to score and get the record.”
tant late-season stretch that could decide whether New Orleans (6-5) re-emerges as a contender or languishes in mediocrity for a second-straight year.
“It just felt like anything we did worked,” Brees said Tuesday, a day after the Saints’ 51-29 thumping of the Packers before an energized sellout crowd in the Louisiana Superdome. “Rarely do you get in a game and you just feel like whatever you’re calling is working.”
After a lopsided loss in Atlanta on Nov. 9, which dropped New Orleans 4-5, the Saints looked like a team on the brink of falling apart. They rebounded with a 30-20 victory at Kansas City, however, before Monday night’s convincing triumph gave them their first two-game winning streak of the season.
“This is when a few teams just kind of start to separate themselves and obviously we feel like we’re one of those teams,” Brees said.
Coach Sean Payton said the Saints played one of their best games of the season against the Packers, noting that big plays on defense turned a close game into a romp in the second half. Cornerback Jason David, often booed in the Superdome because of his difficulty adapting to the Saints’ defensive schemes since he was signed as a restricted free agent in 2007, intercepted Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers twice. Safety Kevin Kaesviharn also intercepted Rodgers.
d half, I thought those defensive stops we had and the turnovers we created ended up really being the difference in a game that was kind of going back and forth,” Payton said. “We’re searching still for our most complete game, but it was an important win for us against a good opponent.”
While McAllister set a new franchise mark with his score, eclipsing the record Dalton Hilliard set in 1993, the Saints tied a club record for points scored in a game and could have broken it with a point-after kick on their last touchdown. Instead, Payton called for a 2-point conversion in an effort to put the Saints up by 24 points. The play failed.
Brees was 20-of-26 for 323 yards and four TDs, remaining on pace to break Dan Marino’s 1984 record of 5,084 yards passing in a season. Brees has 3,574 yards passing with five games left. Two of Brees’ scoring passes went for 70 yards, one each to Moore and Marques Colston.
Payton called the pass to Colston Brees’ best of the night, marveling at the quarterback’s ability to step up as the pocket collapsed on a broken play while seeing Colston change his route and delivering a perfect pass that caught the receiver in stride.
That was a fantastic play.”
Payton gave players Tuesday off, but Brees came in to watch film, while others, like running back Reggie Bush and fullback Mike Karney, were at the Saints’ suburban training headquarters to get treatment for injuries.
Bush has missed four games since having arthroscopic surgery to repair the meniscus in his left knee. The Saints are 3-1 without him. Bush has practiced intermittently the past two weeks, each week saying he was close to playing again.
“I feel like I’m on track and I definitely feel like this is the week,” Bush said Tuesday.
The Saints have games remaining against all three NFC South Division opponents, beginning this weekend at Tampa Bay.
Karney said he also hopes to return from his sprained right knee for the Buccaneers game, and wants another chance to block for McAllister.
McAllister and Saints defensive end Will Smith await word on their pending appeal of a four-game suspension, levied after diet pills they took resulted in positive tests for a diuretic that is banned by the NFL because it could be used as a masking agent for steroids. Their lawyer, David Cornwell, has said the players never took steroids and did not know the banned substance was in their supplements because it was not listed as an ingredient. The league has not said when it will rule.
ing back from his second knee surgery in three seasons, McAllister has played a limited role as a short-yardage back this year but has five touchdowns (four rushing).
The Superdome crowd seemed well aware of his record-setting score, exploding with the loudest cheers of the night. Karney, who ventured onto the field to congratulate McAllister, said it sounded “like a bomb went off.”
“It was just awesome,” Karney said. “He does a lot for this city, for this region and it’s well deserved.”
Add A Comment