Drew Brees’ historic night encapsulates how dangerous the Saints can be at home
By John Buhler
On Drew Brees’ historic night, the New Orleans Saints showed us why no contending team should want to play this team in the Superdome in the NFC playoffs.
After losing a barn-burner last week to the San Francisco 49ers, the New Orleans Saints most certainly righted that wrong by clobbering the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football in Week 15. New Orleans defeated Jacoby Brissett’s Colts 34-7 to improve to 11-3 on the season.
More importantly, Drew Brees set the NFL career passing touchdown record in this game. Brees also set another incredible record by completing 96.7 percent of his passes. This is the most accurate any NFL quarterback has ever been in any game and he did this at age-40!
If you ever wanted to find a game in the annals of why Brees is a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer, this passing clinic would serve as a fine example of that. Even in his 40s, Brees is still at the top of his game. He had a historic night vs. the bewildered Colts secondary, as he completed 29 of 30 passes for 307 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Brees could not be denied.
It was one of those games where the visiting team lost as soon as it got off the plane. There was no way the Saints were going to lose this game, not after the way last week’s loss left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth. Even with playoff positioning still on the line, this game proved to us once and for all who dangerous this Saints team can be playing in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Sure, the Saints lost twice at home this year to the 49ers last week and the Atlanta Falcons in an absolute head-scratcher several weeks ago. Even in bad years, the Saints rarely lose at home, as this is one of the toughest road environments in the NFL. If you get the crowd in the game, a few easy completions and the pass rush going, you can call it game over for the opposition.
With their latest win, the Saints are still in the mix for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff picture. That being said, they don’t control their own destiny in that regard. While they do have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Seattle Seahawks from way back in September, last week’s loss to the 49ers means if San Francisco wins out, they’ll be better than the Saints in the NFC standings.
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And with another team in the NFC at 11-3 through 15 weeks in the Green Bay Packers, things are about to get very interesting in the upper tier of this football conference. It’s really a shame that either the 49ers or Seahawks won’t even get a home playoff game this year. That being said, you want no part of playing the Saints in front of Who Dat Nation in January. It’s not going to end well.