Lithonia's Team of the Week: New Orleans

Lithonia Team of the Week:

With apologies to the New England Patriots, who continue to be as close to perfect as any team in football, this week's honor goes to the New Orleans Saints, who until Sunday had been perfectly awful. The Saints' 28-17 win over the Seahawks in Seattle was a refreshing and unexpected treat for New Orleans fans, who were about an interception away from digging the "Aints" bags out of storage. 

How bad had the Saints' offense been heading into their matchup with Seattle? New Orleans hadn't scored more than 14 points in any of its four losses. Drew Brees had thrown so many passes to the opponents that a check for colorblindness was in order. Reggie Bush had apparently left his explosiveness back in Southern California with his Heisman Trophy. Bush, Brees and coach Sean Payton wore their shock and desperation over the team's ineptitude on their collective sleeves.

But for a day, at least, these were the Saints we had expected - as had the NFL, which had made Bush a centerpiece of the preseason hype machine, only to watch him flop like New Coke. Brees threw for a tidy 246 yards, with two touchdown passes and no interceptions - a far cry from the Brees who entered the game with a shockingly awful TD-to-interception ratio of 1-to-9. Bush left Seahawk defenders grasping at air on his way to 97 yards on the ground, including a run of 22 yards - amazingly, the longest run of Bush's NFL career.
 
"This was us," Brees said succinctly. "Rhythm. Tempo. We did a great job."

Bush established that tempo with an electric first half during which he gained most of his 141 total yards.

"He showed his speed and quickness," said Seattle coach Mike Holmgren. "He showed he's a fine back. He got around us. He cut back. It's too hard to come back, as a rule, when you dig a hole like that for yourself."

The Saints' defense joined the fun, despite allowing 333 passing yards to Matt Hasselbeck, yards that in retrospect were virtually meaningless. The New Orleans D held its ground against the run and thoroughly stymied the suddenly ineffective Shaun Alexander, holding him to 35 yards on 14 carries thanks to a package of run blitzes that limited the Seahawks to 92 yards on the ground. The Saints' front pressured Hasselbeck all day, sacking him five times and forcing him to throw repeatedly off his back foot. Two fourth-quarter drives deep into Saints territory were erased by the New Orleans secondary - one on an interception by Josh Bullocks, and another on a Hasselbeck incompletion on fourth-and-9.

Now, can the Saints become the second team after the 1992 Chargers to overcome an 0-4 start and make the playoffs? One game at a time, but for a day, at least, the question doesn't seem so outlandish.

"It feels good to come in after the game and see a smile on everyone's face," said receiver David Patten, who caught eight Brees tosses for 113 yards. "Hopefully we can hang onto this and keep this going."