Raiders @ Saints: The View from Section 108

By Dave Cariello Oct 12, 2008, 5:33pm CDT

This one was a good one. Pure domination. The Saints were all business and steamrolled over a weak Raider team. Actually, the game went very quickly and was a little boring compared to last week's nail biter.

Make the jump to check out my initial observations in no particular order. I just got back from the game and haven't looked at anything yet so take this with a grain of salt.

Colston was not introduced as a starter. Maybe next week.
Today was former Saintsation day. All of the former Saintsations reunited for this game and watched it from seats on the field. This means, of course, that I got a chance to see Renny of Big Brother fame.
The giveaway for today's game was a foam stick. Very phalic if you ask me. While we're on the subject...I will never understand those people who hoard the free giveaways. I know the economy is bad but these cheap items will not be used to replace American currency if the dollar continues to tank.
The Saints secondary missed a couple of interceptions opportunities, particularly safeties Josh Bullocks and Roman Harper.
On Weatherfords first punt he made a nice hit on the returner, up-ending him.
Following a nice 29 yards catch by Mark Campbell he is shaken up and slow to get up. Somewhere Stujo4 is laughing. Fortunately Campbell would be fine.
There was confusion in the crowd around me after Mehlhaff’s first field goal attempt. It looked like he had made it but obviously did not. Not sure what to make of Mehlhaff at this point. He kicked one into the endzone and went 2/3. Not sure if he is the next Morten Andersen but I'm sure we will find out sooner rather than later.
Reggie’s numbers actually weren’t that great, particularly on the ground, but he is turning out to be quite a playmaker and defenses need to account for him. He got a great block from the ref on his second touchdown.
Deuce had another solid game. I think it is safe to say that he is back and I see no reason why we shouldn't continue to see more and more of Deuce running the ball up the middle. It makes Reggie and Drew so much more effective.
The Raiders did a good job containing Reggie on punt returns with very high kicks and decent coverage. Fortunately, you can’t stop Reggie you can only hope to contain him.
The Saints defense initially looked poor. The Raiders seemed to convert easily on key third downs. After a slow start, however, the defense picked it up and played a great game. Fargas and McFadden were extremely limited. The Saints have become quite adept that stopping very good running backs.
I think we might have to accept the fact that Payton is going to be hard headed about Reggie with regards to running him between the tackles. Personally, I think his touches in those situations should be very limited but coach continues to try and fit a square peg in a round hole. Maybe it’s purely to mislead defenses?
The Saints put together a masterful 18 play, 86 yard, 10 minute drive capped by a Reggie Bush run for a touchdown to put them ahead 7-3. That Saints never looked back.
Brees put up ridiculous numbers. He is not even human! Where would we be without him? Seriously?
Janikowski has a hell of a leg. Fortunately its not very accurate. Those 53 and 57-yard attempts had the distance.
The turnover streak is over!!
My waving hand made the corner of the Jumbotron as they put members of my section up on the screen.
How good is Jonathan Vilma? He is all over the place. I feel like I say this every week but he was a steal this offseason.
It was at about the middle of the game when I realized that I never set my fantasy football rosters or make my weekly pick'em picks. Gil Fenerty...you're welcome!!
While it didn’t affect the game like last week, the officiating seemed a little lacking again. A couple of calls that appeared to be penalties went unnoticed. The refs were loudly booed off the field yet again following the first half because the crowd felt there was still enough time on the clock to kick a field goal.
Halftime saw a team of children play football against a collection of mascots including ones from the Saints, Zephyrs, Voodoo, LSU and, randomly, the Miami Dolphins. The mascots lost.
Guess who got a pick off? Everyone’s favorite cornerback Jason David.
Bobby McCray got himself 2 sacks today. McCray has 3 tackles for the entire season. All of them are sacks. The Saints defense had a tough time taking the very large JaMarcus Russell down however, and could only do so late in the game.
Russell has a cannon of an arm and overthrew his receivers more than a couple of times.
Aaron Stecker continued his comeback from injury by getting himself a touchdown. I like Aaron.
Lance Moore had another great game as Drew Brees’ favorite receiver. Though he did drop one, Lance did a great job getting open and making tough catches. Meachem didn’t even make the box score. Henderson also came up big on his two catches.
Quite a few Raider fans came out to support their team in the Dome. Behind me was a loud-mouthed Raider fan who talked trash about Reggie Bush and the Saints kicking woes through the first quarter. Didn’t hear much from him after the second quarter. There were also 2 Raider fans sitting in front of me but being respectful and polite. Unfortunately for them, the two parentless 10 years olds sitting next to them weren’t so respectful. In the fourth quarter the kids continued to sarcastically ask the pissed off Raider fans how they were doing, taunting, teasing and poking them with their foam penis. Funny kids. Poor guys.
On the ride home, the streetcar I was riding hit a car full of Saints fans that had cut in front of it on Lee Circle. The car pulled over to assess damage and maybe wait for the police. The streetcar just kept going.