What a seven day stretch it has been for the New Orleans Saints and the ‘Who Dat Nation’.
The Saints defeated the “Team of the 2000’s” in the New England Patriots 38-17 in front of the second largest viewing audience in cable-television history last Monday night.
It wasn’t just a good performance against a quality team, but a dominating one.
And before the Saints had finished their contest against the Washington Redskins last Sunday they had won the NFC South Division due to the Atlanta Falcons losing to the Philadelphia Eagles. The 34-7 loss by the Falcons gave the Saints their fourth division title since the franchise started back in 1967.
But the best was yet to come.
With the Saints trailing by 10 points with less than seven minutes in the game against the Redskins, the Boys in Black and Gold put on their most memorable comeback in team history.
In covering this football franchise for 26 years I can not remember more significant events occurring in a seven minute stand for the Saints to rally for the tie and eventually win the contest in overtime 33-30.
This game was not about statistics and all about football heart, resiliency, a little bit of football good luck and some may say finally, destiny.
The images of quarterback Drew Brees, wide receiver Robert Meachem-who had the best game of his pro career, linebacker Jonathan Vilma and kicker Garrett Hartley, are etched into our sports memory bank as the team rallied for 10 points in the final minutes of the game to tie the contest.
But football luck came into play when Redskins field goal kicker Shaun Suisham missed a 23 yard field goal with 1:52 to play in regulation. It was the first time in his NFL career that he had missed a field goal from inside 30 yards.
Five plays later Brees connected with Meachem on a 53-yard touchdown pass to tie to the game 30-30.
Then in overtime cornerback Chris McAlister forced Redskins fullback Mike Sellers to fumble the football after a jarring hit. The Saints called timeout to have the play reviewed by replay officials and the Saints were granted the football after initially Sellers was ruled down by game officials.
Eight plays later kicker Garrett Hartley connected on the game winning 18-yard field goal and the Saints along with the Indianapolis Colts remain unbeaten with a 12-0 mark.
This marks the first time in NFL history two teams have been 12-0 in a season.
Call it destiny, call it luck, call it playing great when you need to play great, but you can call it a WIN and that is all that matters today.
The Saints are the talk of south Louisiana and also the talk of the football nation.
Who could have imagined before the season that the New Orleans Saints would have the division clinched with four weeks left to play and have a legitimate shot to go 16-0 in the regular season.
The story gets even better as the Arizona Cardinals defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30-17 Sunday night and the Saints now have a two game lead on the Vikings for hosting every postseason game in the Louisiana SuperDome.
Oh My…What a biblical week of events for the Saints.
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