Saintly Stuff: Thoughts On The Week One Victory

Some things went well and some things didn’t, but overall it was a good effort and obviously the result was encouraging.

Congratulations need to go out to Drew Brees on his six touchdown day. In reality, it should have been seven, but six isn’t too shabby. He even acknowledged that he left a few out there.  He has been able to achieve things that only the greats have been able to do and at the rate he is going, he really could find himself in Canton before too long.

Five things that happened to make me think the Saints are for real:

Jeremy Shockey reminded us what he is capable of, catching two touchdowns. A healthy Shockey adds one more dimension to the best passing offense in the league.

The run defense looked great. Smith and Grant were allowed to play (and it seems they might be able to continue to). The Lions were held to 33 yards on 20 carries. Their inability to move the rock on the ground led to Stafford being the focal point of the offense, a hefty task for an unproven rookie in his first game.

The starting pass defense looked great too. Aside from a 64 yard catch by Calvin Johnson (covered by Malcolm Jenkins who was temporarily subbed in for Tracy Porter) Stafford was limited to just 141 yards. His passer rating was a pitiful 27.4. It's nice to see the Saints have a defensive plan and actually execute it.

Mike Freaking Bell. This is a guy who saw some time in Denver and despite averaging 4.3 yards a carry, he was barely able to hold a backup job for the subsequent two years. He's got a lot of talent and put it on display, running hard every single time and averaging 5.1 a carry. He and Pierre Thomas look more than capable of shouldering the load in the backfield.

The dome was rocking and loud. It was clearly a huge advantage for the Saints and should continue to be all year long. It's good to see that the despite the economy we are still seeing great attendance.

Five reasons not to read too far into this week one victory:

It was 21 year old Mathew Stafford's first NFL game.

Detroit hasn't won a game since 2007.

The two teams played last year in Detroit. The final score was 42-7 with New Orleans prevailing.

Fumbles and miscues have been their downfall (along with defense obviously) in recent years. Three fumbles and an interception against a better team won't have the same end result that it does against the lowly Lions.

Sean Payton continues to call wild plays. This time it was a flea flicker that led to the lone interception by Drew Brees. In what was a cupcake game, there was no plausible reason to try such a risky play. It's unfortunate that Sean continues to choose plays like an inexperienced online Madden player. Multiple losses over the last three years can be attributed to unnecessarilly difficult plays.

It's going to be a great year for the Saints. They have a real chance to reach the Superbowl for the first time in the team's history. New Orleans clearly deserves a title and this team is built to win both now an in the future.

It’s obviously been a hard time being a New Orleans sports fan over the years, but it’s time to expect greatness from the Big Easy. You won’t be disappointed.