On a night when the city was in an uproar, a concert was rocking Jackson Square, the Superdome roof was about to be blown off, and a championship banner was unveiled...two teams known for their offensive prowess showed that sometimes it is defense that wins games.
Thursday night marked the opening of the 2010 NFL season and the first game saw the New Orleans Saints defeat the Minnesota Vikings 14-9. In what ended up being a rematch of last year's NFC Championship Game; the offensive firepower just wasn't there for either team but the defenses showed up big time and proved that they can play too.
Drew Brees led the Saints 77 yards on the opening drive of the game for a touchdown and a 7-0 nothing lead. It was simply a beautiful offensive display where Brees put on a passing clinic that saw him complete 3 of 4 passes for 69 yards finishing with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Devery Henderson. After that though, the offense would virtually stall out for the rest of the first half.
The Vikings came into New Orleans with Brett Favre returning for a twentieth NFL season which truly showed in tonight's game. While there were moments when Favre looked like he has for most of his career, most of the night showed his age and severe amounts of fatigue. The entire second half of the game appeared as if Favre was merely going through the motions of the game without a bit of enthusiasm whatsoever.
Favre did lead the Vikings to all 9 of their points in the second quarter which culminated with a beautiful two-minute drive to end the first half. Without Sidney Rice, his primary target from last season, Favre relied on tight end Visanthe Shiancoe to pick up the slack and he did just that. The final drive of the half for the Vikings took only 45 seconds for them to go 64 yards ending on a 20-yard touchdown pass to Shiancoe.
Remi Ayodele busted through the line and blocked Ryan Longwell's extra point attempt.
Minnesota got the ball to start the second half and the Saints forced a punt after just four plays. The opening drive of the second half for New Orleans proved to be the game winner for them and just as clinical as their opening drive of the game.
After rushing for only 9 yards in the first half, the rushing game took over for the Saints in the second half and helped keep the ball, as well as the clock, moving. Pierre Thomas had 28 total rushing yards on that second half opening drive which culminated with a 1-yard touchdown run.
It was at that point that both defenses took over yet again and that especially holds true for the Saints who held Favre without a completion in the entire third quarter. He went o for 7 passing in the second half before finally completing a short one, but even then he just didn't seem to have much of anything behind it. That would prove to be his and the Vikings' downfall.
"I think the timing was a little bit off. I'll give credit to the Saints as I did last year...they're a good football team," said Favre after the game.
The Saints could have gone ahead by eight to force the Vikings to go for a two-point conversion had they gotten in the end zone, but Garrett Hartley ended up missing both field goals on the night after not missing a single one throughout the preseason (8 for 8). Hartley missed a 46-yarder in the second quarter and a 32-yarder in the fourth quarter, both wide left.
Those points didn't prove to be necessary though as the Saints got the ball with over five minutes to in the fourth quarter and were able to run the clock out thanks to some hard running from Thomas.
Not all was bad for the Vikings though as their young defensive backs proved to be worthy of being in there as they held Brees to 237 yards and 1 touchdown. He did end up completing 27 of 36 passes, but the Vikings' secondary was still impressive.
Adrian Peterson also had a good game with 87 yards on 19 carries which may not sound like a lot for one of the best backs in the league, but he did not fumble the ball at all. That's a huge change from last year's match-up which saw him hardly able to hold onto the ball at all. Peterson may have ended up with more, but the Vikings steered away from the running game in the second half after going down by five.
New Orleans came out on a good note and looked very good on their opening offensive drives of both halves, but then just couldn't get it going. Many may worry about that, but we saw it happen numerous times last year only to have them come out firing the next weekend. Fans need to be happy with the fantastic performance by the defense.
Jonathan Vilma, who intercepted Favre for the game's only turnover, led the defensive unit to hold the Vikings to a mere 253 yards. Roman Harper and Malcolm Jenkins must also be commended for their incredible coverage in the secondary and keeping numerous passes from being completed.
Minnesota fans need worry because while their defense looks great, their offense looks overly stagnant and slow.
While it may not have been the shootout that everyone was expecting, it was still a great game and one that starts out the defending Super Bowl champions to a 1-0 start. Tune in tomorrow for my weekly edition of "what went right and wrong."
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Comments
As much as I want to see Favre do well because I am a Packer fan and always liked him, I really am getting sick of his fiasco.
Oh my Vikings...Whatever are we going to do with you? One of these days...
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