NEW ORLEANS — It took until mid-December, but we finally saw the Saints team they thought they could be in training camp.
An excellent effort on both sides of the ball in beating the New York Giants.
Better late than never. The two-game winning streak gets a huge test Thursday night in Los Angeles.
The Rams are playing really well right now. They've won four of their last five. But let's worry about that later and enjoy this win for now.
Here are my four takeaways:
#4 Fairytale of NY spoiled
The Saints spoiled the latest fairytale of New York. I'm not anti-New York. It's a great city to visit.
But because New York is the country's media capital, New York stories get blown out of proportion.
The latest fairytale of New York. Tommy cutlets. That's the cute nickname for Tommy DeVito. The former practice squad quarterback was riding a three-game win streak and was the toast of New York.
Even his agent, dressed like a cartoon character, is now a star.
DeVito's quarterback rating in those three wins over Washington, New England, and Green Bay was never under 103. He was excellent in all three.
Until Sunday. The Saints brought him back down to earth with a way below-average quarterback rating and perpetual harassment spoiling this New York fairytale. It was fun to watch.
My single favorite thing about the current football season is that both New York teams are terrible.
This season, Tommy DeVito was their one good story, and the Saints popped that balloon.
#3 Best defense
They did it with the season's best defensive effort. Demario Davis played *by far* his best game of the season.
The Giants were 15th in rushing offense. Middle of the pack, and the Saints were 27th in stopping the run. Not good.
On Sunday, the Saints held Saquon Barkley to 14 rush yards.
The Saints were averaging 2.1 sacks a game, but Sunday, they didn't let Devito escape. They sacked him seven times.
My favorite rush package was Carl Granderson, Tanoh Kpassagnon, Bryan Bresee, and Zach Baun. That's a four-man front with length and speed.
That pass rush keyed the best defensive performance of the season. The Giants were 2-16 on third down and had less than 200 yards of total offense.
Those are horrible numbers.
#2 Clean Carr
On offense, Derek Carr was excellent. I know he's not the most popular guy in New Orleans, but Sunday was Carr's best day as a Saint.
On a day, the defense was playing well. Zero turnovers, 50 percent on third down, and 2-2 in the red zone was all the Saints needed.
There was nothing flashy Sunday, just solid winning football.
#1 The final three
At number one, the Saints are down to the final three. And everything could go either way.
We absolutely know who the Saints are right now. Better than the Giants and the scrubs.
In six games against the NFL bottom feeders, the Saints are a perfect 6-0. In their only game against the NFL's elite, they're 0-1.
They've now played seven games against the middle of the pack, and the Saints are 1-6..
The Saints will play three more Middle-of-the-pack teams in their final three games.
If you believe the Saints have turned the corner and the two-game win streak means something.
Maybe this is the start of a run that leads to the playoffs. At 1- 6 against the middle of the pack, the odds are still against it.
And the question lingers. Will Dennis Allen be back next year?
It could still go either way. I think the win over the Giants kicks the can one more week down the road, and it was a fun week.
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