“It was the best half of football I've ever seen from the Saints. I've not seen anything close to that.”
WWL NFL analyst Mike Detillier was not hedging about the New Orleans Saints' 38-3 demolition of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Saints raced out to a 31-0 first half lead. The offense scored on five of their first six drives. The defense forced four straight 3 and out and then nabbed interceptions on two of their three next drives (the other drive was a turnover on downs).
“I think the biggest surprise was how they played on defense,” Detillier said. “We saw no indication of this all season long. This is what we thought we'd see defensively from this team.”
It was a dominant outing for the Saints defense. In addition to the first half performance detailed above, New Orleans forced another turnover on downs after holding on four straight plays from their one yard line. The defense came away with yet another interception on Tampa's next possession before the Saints finally gave up a field goal as the Bucs were desperate to avoid the shutout.
Tom Brady passed for just 209 yards with 0 touchdowns to go along with his 3 interceptions. Constantly playing from behind, the Buccaneers were never able to establish their running game and finished with just 4 carries for 9 yards (excluding the final kneel down at the end of the game).
Detillier then turned his attention to the offense.
“Drew was fantastic,” he said. “His ability to get the ball out so quickly is the key today.”
Brees completed 81.3% of his passes for 222 yards and 4 touchdowns with no interceptions. He completed balls to 11 different receivers with four different players catching touchdowns.
“He touched greatness last night. You saw it,” Detillier said. “When you get hot, it's almost like a shooter in basketball. You take a shot from almost everywhere, and you can hit it. He was just outstanding.
“He had time,” Detillier continued, praising the offensive line. “I thought the key was they slowed down that Buccaneer rush, and he was able to get [passes] off. And then the playmakers did their number after the catch.”
Because of how well Brees was distributing the ball, no players had more than 51 yards receiving (Michael Thomas); but five different players had catches of at least 19 yards.
The Saints have now won five straight after starting 1-2; and they now turn their attention to the San Francisco 49ers, who are sitting at 4-5 with two losses in a row.
