I love the movie 'Tombstone' and especially Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday. One of my favorite quotes is when Doc Holiday says of Wyatt Earp, “Make no mistake, it's not revenge he's after, it's a reckoning.”
Holiday wasn't talking about the 2018 New Orleans Saints 30-20 victory against the Minnesota Vikings but I feel like he could have been. The Saints said all week last year's heartbreaking playoff loss was behind them and it was just another game. Do teams who play Yella Beezy in the locker room after a win seem like a team who didn't want to win against a team really really badly?
Even Drew Brees in his post game press conference hinted this game meant more, “Obviously, this one had a little extra special meaning,.” I'll translate from Brees football speak to English for y'all, “Hell yes we wanted this ##%^ game after that stupid ridiculous bogus fluke of a play. You damn right the flight home will be special. Skol this.”
The Saints from the opening kickoff sure looked like a team who had a little something extra pumping through their veins. And even if they didn't, as a Saints fan, I sure as #$% wanted this win against Minnesota. I wonder if knowing Minnesota couldn't even get to a Super Bowl following the greatest play in their history eats at Vikings fans souls? I'd like to think it does.
I can't decide what was the more insane thing about the Saints victory; that Drew Brees only threw for 120 yards or PJ Williams swung the entire game with two gigantic plays while also getting destroyed by Vikings receivers?
Williams couldn't have looked worse when the Saints trailed 13-10 and then he did the one thing he always does no matter what; throw his body around and tackle with reckless abandon and force an Adam Thielen turnover. Suddenly the Saints went from a likely 20-10 halftime deficit to a 17-13 lead. In the third quarter he'd add a pick 6 to give the Saints 27-13 lead. Williams delivered one of the greatest and most terrible games in Saints history simultaneously. It's gonna be one of my favorite Saints memories ever. A shall remember this as 'The PJ Williams Game'.
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While PJ Williams followed up disastrous coverage with superb ball-hawking skills, Drew Brees decided to celebrate Halloween early and dress up as a boring game manager quarterback. Brees was 18-23 for 120 yards and played the kind of game the Jacksonville Jaguars would make a deal with devil for if Blake Bortles could do it every week. Yet the Saints coasted to another road win against a winning team even without Brees being Superman.
The Saints don't get the credit for it but the last two weeks their offense has proved to be physically dominant. The offensive line whipped both the Baltimore and Minnesota defensive lines. The Saints ran the ball 29 times for 106 yards and by the fourth quarter Mark Ingram was rolling. The scariest thing is Alvin Kamara doesn't even look 100 percent and the Saints are still firing on all cylinders.
The Saints defense is still kind of a mess in the secondary but you know what cures that? Four sacks and hitting the opposing quarterback relentlessly. The Saints harassed Kirk Cousins and OH MY GOD MARCUS DAVENPORT IS A DREAM. Davenport delivered 2 more sacks and looks worth every bit the price the Saints paid on draft day to get him. Oh and Sheldon Rankins is looking like a #1 pick defensive tackle should look too. Quite the defensive line there suddenly.
The Saints are going to need a very good pass rush because the next four opponents (Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Atlanta) can all sling the ball all over the yard. Eli Apple may yet improve the secondary, but make no mistake the Saints defense will live and die by its ability to stop the run and pressure the quarterback.
The Saints have delivered as impressive back-to-back wins as any team in the NFL has this year the last two weeks. I'm sad there are only 9 more weeks because this Saints team is so fun to watch win different ways. The Saints are 6-1 and the NFC suddenly looks like it's the Rams, the Saints, and everybody else. Guess who is coming to town next Sunday?
Are you ready for the greatest regular season weekend in the history of Louisiana football? On Saturday it's #4 LSU hosting #1 Alabama and on Sunday the 6-1 Saints host the 8-0 Rams. Best. Football. Weekend. Ever. It seems too good to be real. Except it is. It all is.
Ralph Malbrough is a Saints fan living in Houston. Email him at saintshappyhour@gmail.com, find him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast or download his podcast at Itunes. Oh and watch him every Monday on the WWL morning news at 6:45 a.m.