Here's what people from around the internet are saying about last night's 28-17 win:
NOTE: The national media seems focused on what the Seahawks did wrong, as opposed to what the Saints did right. I thought the Saints were just the better team last night -- am I delusional? Discuss in the comments section.
- Doug Farrar, Football Outsiders:
The Saints met a team that allowed them to reverse all their negative trends in one fell swoop. They had one sack through the first four games, and five in this one. Drew Brees had thrown nine picks this season, and he threw none in this game, primarily because he didn’t really see any pressure. Reggie Bush had his breakout game as a running back, and an offense that had scored the third-fewest points per game this season (behind only the 49ers and Rams) didn’t seem to have any trouble tonight.
- John DeShaizer, Times Picayune:
The Saints met a team that allowed them to reverse all their negative trends in one fell swoop. They had one sack through the first four games, and five in this one. Drew Brees had thrown nine picks this season, and he threw none in this game, primarily because he didn’t really see any pressure. Reggie Bush had his breakout game as a running back, and an offense that had scored the third-fewest points per game this season (behind only the 49ers and Rams) didn’t seem to have any trouble tonight.
- Sheldon Mickles, The Advocate:
It took awhile, but the New Orleans Saints picked the right time to find their offense.
After getting just five offensive touchdowns in their first 43 possessions this season, the Saints exploded and scored on three straight possessions in the first half of Sunday night’s 28-17 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
They had to punt after their first series, but then put together touchdown drives of 86, 66 and 80 yards to take a big 28-7 lead over the Seahawks before holding on for the victory.
- Doug Kretz, ESPN.com:
New Orleans defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs brought a broader blitz package than he normally uses to Seattle on Sunday night, and the Seahawks did not respond very well. Using a mixture of run blitzes and safety blitzes to hold the Seattle running attack to 92 yards, the Saints took away one of the Seahawks' most effective weapons in the passing game -- the play-action pass. With running back Shaun Alexander averaging just 2.5 yards per carry, the Saints did not have to honor the play-action fake and managed to sack Seattle QB Matt Hasselbeck five times as well as harass him into an interception. The Seahawks' offensive line did not do a very good job of picking up the blitzes and appeared confused at times. Seattle did find some success throwing the ball into the middle of the Saints' two-deep zone, with Hasselbeck connecting with WR Bobby Engram on nine passes, but it was not nearly enough.
- Jon Naito, Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
The Saints entered Sunday night's game against the Seahawks 0-4, bearing little resemblance -- most vexingly on offense -- to last season's 10-6 team.
Entering Sunday, New Orleans ranked 22nd in the NFL in total offense and 30th in scoring offense, netting just 10.2 points per game. They had failed to score more than 14 points in a game this season.
A little over one quarter into Sunday's game, they led 14-0. By halftime, the punchless Saints suddenly began to resemble the team that harbored realistic Super Bowl aspirations when the season began.