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NFL News, Opinion, Top PostsBrees and Co. embarrass Giants
EDDIE LEE
NFL Posts.com Editor
If there was an impostor in the Saints-Giants showdown for NFC supremacy, few would have picked Big Blue as the jester in king’s clothes prior to Sunday.
But after getting repeatedly undressed by Drew Brees, there’s little doubt as to who wears the crown now. New Orleans, 5-0, walked away with a 48-27 win and issued a royal declaration in the process, ‘Who dat say they gonna beat them Saints. Who dat, Who dat.’
The Giants, benefactors of an early schedule full of AFC West patsies, came in with the No. 1 defense and left with assorted question marks as the Saints rolled to 5 TDs on their first 6 possessions – they got stopped once on 4th and goal from the 1-yard line.
Brees got off to a slow start, if 3 passes can be considered a start, missing on 2 of them. He responded by not missing another attempt until his last pass of the half and leading his team to 34 points. His reads were impeccable. On seemingly every attempt, he found the mismatch in his favor. It helped that the Giants complied by rushing only 4 and dropping back into zone coverage.
“I don’t know that we ever hit him,” Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said. “At this level, if you’re going to stop the pass, you’ve got to get pressure. You’ve got to force the quarterback not to throw it on his tempo.”
One of the key matchups to the game was supposed to be all-pro Giants DE Osi Umenyiora against the Saints’ LT Jermon Bushrod, a third-year man from Towson filling in for the injured Jammal Brown. It was another massive no contest as Umenyiora collected just 1 tackle.
As a result, Brees finished 23-of-30 for 369 yards and 4 TDs. His passer rating of 156.8 was 1.5 off a perfect 158.3 mark.
“We wanted to really dictate the tempo of the game the whole way through,” Brees said. “Seven different guys scored touchdowns. That’s big. That’s the type of rhythm that, when you get in, you feel like you can call anything and it’s going to work.”
He was at his best in the first half, when he unleashed 15 straight completions to an array of receivers that included Marques Colston (8-166-1), Lance Moore (6-78-1), Robert Meachem (2-70-1) and TE Jeremy Shockey (4-37-1). The former Giant caught the first TD pass, a 1-yard reception that made the score 14-0.
While the Saints and their offense were in hyperdrive, the Giants, missing CB Aaron Ross and S Kenny Phillips, stalled from the start and never recovered.
At the half, the score was 34-20. A generous tally given how badly the Giants were getting blown off the field.
Saints special teams missed a convert and allowed Domenik Hixon to return kickoffs 49 and 68 yards to set up 10 Giant points.
New Orleans native Eli Manning had a forgettable debut at the Superdome (14-of-31 for 178 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT and 1 fumble).
His personal nemesis, Darren Sharper, got his hands on a Manning pass and returned it 70 yards for a TD only to have it called back on a roughing call after the pass was released. Sharper has four career interceptions off Manning, two of which were turned into TDs.
The Giants entered the game giving up 211 yards per game and only 105 via the pass. At half, the Saints had rolled up 315 yards and 247 through the air. Colston had caught 100 by himself.
A sack and a fumble of Manning at the end of the first half set up a 7-yard TD run by Reggie Bush. Mike Bell and Heath Evans had the other scores for New Orleans, which thanks to a bye, had two weeks for prepare for the game.
It showed.
