New Orleans Saints Find Offensive Balance in Second Half, Defeat Vikings 14-9

New Orleans wasted no time starting their 2010 season off right, as they hosted the Vikings in the season opener Thursday night.

The Saints marched 77 yards on five plays to open the game. Quarterback Drew Brees capped off the three-minute drive with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Devery Henderson. The Saints scored 10 times on opening drives in 2009, seven of those being touchdowns.

Brees was 3-of-4 for 69 yards on the opening drive, and it looked like the Vikings were in for a rough one.

Then came the second quarter.

After a Ryan Longwell field goal got the Vikings on the board, trailing 7-3, quarterback Brett Favre hit tight end Visanthe Shiancoe on back-to-back plays in the final minute of the first half—the first for a 33-yard gain, the second for a 20-yard touchdown.

The extra point was blocked, and the Vikings took a 9-7 lead into the locker room.

The Saints threw the ball 22 times in the first half and ran the ball just three times. They tallied minus-four yards in the second quarter.

“We wanted to spread ourselves out and make them play coverage,” head coach Sean Payton said at halftime. “It’ll be the same formula in the second half.”

At least that was the plan.

The Saints ran the ball seven times on their first second-half possession, an 11-play drive in which they never reached third down, culminating with a one-yard touchdown run by Pierre Thomas, giving the Saints a 14-9 third-quarter lead, a score that held until the fourth quarter.

The Saints outscored their opponents by 91 points in the fourth quarter in 2009, the best fourth-quarter advantage over the last three seasons.

But that wouldn’t be necessary.

The Saints’ defense held the Vikings scoreless in the fourth quarter, and New Orleans escaped with a 14-9 opening-night victory that was anything but the high-scoring affair many anticipated.

Brees noted that the offensive balance in the second half helped the Saints find a rhythm.

“We scored on the opening drive—made it look easy. We scored on the opening drive in the third quarter, and everything other than that wasn’t very pretty,” said Brees. “Once we got the run game going, we were much more balanced. Kept our defense off the field, used the clock, and scored a few more points.”

The Saints look to start 2-0 as they travel to San Francisco to face the 49ers next Monday night.

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