To call the start to yesterday's game uninspiring from the Saints' perspective would be all too kind. The ease with which Jameis Winston navigated down field on the open drive while looking comfortable both in and out of the pocket despite crappy conditions reeked of the same type of familiarity that always seems to serve as the ultimate equalizer in divisional games. It didn't get much better from there, as the offense that got humbled in Dallas looked like it it did nothing more than travel to Tampa Bay by horse and carriage during their ten days off. The run game was less than legless, as it averaged negative yards per carry in the first half. For the second time in as many weeks, Drew Brees was far from blameless, as inexplicable turnovers basically slide-tackled the Saints' defense as they were just finding their footing. All in all, the 14-3 deficit they carried into the locker room felt entirely deserved, as the fumble they opened the second half with didn't leave much reason to believe that halftime was all that helpful. Insert Taysom Hill. Ironically that could make for a very fitting name to a chapter in the book if the Saints end up making this season worthy of it's own literature, but his blocked punt served as the foreword to an entirely different story...
Referring to it as a wakeup call wouldn't even do it justice, because it's almost as if it snapped the offense out of a six quarter trance. The Buccaneers suffering from hemophilia is just about the only thing that can explain how helpless they were when it came to stopping the bleeding as the Saints' swiss army knife seemed to seal their fate with just one timely stab. All the sudden, the unit that was damn near allergic to punting for a month straight reappeared back on the field with a renewed commitment to force-feeding a resurgent rushing attack while the quarterback who was once a lock for MVP finally found his keys. A defense that has proved dominant in becoming a catalyst for the offense as opposed to a byproduct of it kept up their streak of terrorizing quarterbacks, and before you knew it there were 25 unanswered points were tacked on to scoreboard that so instantly became lopsided that you'd swear it got struck by lightning. Mark Ingram, Michael Thomas, Cam Jordan, and Sheldon Rankins - just to name a few - stood out as incredibly complimentary football (and the positive field position that comes with it) cured the proverbial coughing fit that ailed the Saints for 2.5 quarters about as quickly as a touch from the Lord and Savior himself.
The start provided just about every ounce of cause for concern, but as a wise man who probably coached a bipolar team once said, "it's not about how you start, but how you finish". The Saints finished the game looking like every bit the part as the NFC South Champions, and they finished the day sitting in the driver's seat for home-field advantage. If the foot truly is back on a gas pedal that temporarily looked to be jammed then there's no reason why the Super Bowl shouldn't have to go through New Orleans. We'll see if that's how the season plays itself out in the coming weeks, but in about a half hour's time a couple underwhelming weeks were put far, far behind them. The Saints found their mid-season swagger on the leg of Bryan Anger, and immediately reminded everyone how goddamn good it looks on them...
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