Mark Ingram looked like the dominant Heisman Trophy winning running back that the Saints expected when trading up to draft him in 2011.

Well, the New Orleans Saints have finally arrived to the 2014 NFL season. After matching each and every score from the Green Bay Packers in the first half, the Saints exploded in the final 30 minutes with a dominant 28-7 half to win their 19th consecutive home game with Sean Payton on the sideline. The Sunday night victory also extended New Orleans’ streak of consecutive home prime time victories to fourteen.

Coming in to the 2014 season, not only did the team itself have Super Bowl aspirations, but many experts, analysts, and writers around the league believed the Saints were primed for a championship run. It wasn’t until Sunday night that we all finally saw the team everyone expects. The Saints had played great for a few short stretches this season, but had yet to put it together for a complete game. For example, they played well in the first half of their Week 1 game at Atlanta, the first quarter of Week 3 against Minnesota, and for about 56 minutes at Detroit last week. They showed flashes, but this is far and away the best performance New Orleans has displayed since probably Week 14 of 2013 when the Saints beat up on the Carolina Panthers on Sunday Night Football in the Superdome. Whatever it was that finally clicked for the black and gold, it was great to see and we can only hope for more.

The Green Bay Packers tested the Saints right off the bat, when Aaron Rodgers hit Randall Cobb for a 70 yard touchdown on the fifth play of the game. It’s safe to say that there was a collective “here we go again” feeling when the game started like that. To their credit, New Orleans came right back down the field with a seven play, 80 yard drive to tie it up. The touchdown came on a 4 yard end around to Brandin Cooks to tie it up. The teams then traded field goals on the remaining six drives of the first half, knotting the score at 16-16 heading in to halftime. 

The Saints received the ball to begin the 3rd quarter and appeared to have immediately given the Packers the advantage to re-take the lead. New Orleans faced a 4th and 2 at the Green Bay 43 yard line when Sean Payton decided to roll the dice and go for it, despite Austin Johnson being stuffed for a loss of one on the play before. The Packers acted like a brick wall for the second play in a row, pushing Mark Ingram for a loss of one and the turnover on downs.

Green Bay looked primed to settle for a field, at the very least, which could have given them the lead for the fifth time in the game, but instead came away with nothing. The Packers got the ball all the way down to the Saints 6 yard line, but could only gain a yard on 1st and 2nd down. On 3rd and goal, Corey White made a fantastic play, tipping Rodgers’ pass intended for Andrew Quarless, right in to the hands of David Hawthorne at the 2 yard line. The interception was the first for Hawthorne since becoming a Saint in 2012.

Starting at their own 12 yard line, Drew Brees and his offense took the field for what would be the first of four consecutive touchdown drives to blow the game open. The first came on a 50 yard touchdown strike from Brees to Cooks, capping off a quick four play, 88 yard drive that took just 2:03 off of the clock.

Only down seven, the ensuing drive is where head coach Mike McCarthy and the Packers likely costed themselves the game. On a 3rd and 7, Rodgers hit Davante Adams for what appeared to be a seven yard gain and a first down, but Coach Payton challenged the spot of the ball, claiming Adams possessed the ball short of the first down marker when touched. After review, Ed Hochuli ruled that the receiver had indeed been touched down a half yard short of first down yardage, setting up a 4th down and inches. With the ball at his own 40 yard line, McCarthy took no hesitation to going for it. Eddie Lacy was stuffed on a run up the middle, giving the ball to the Saints with great field position and a chance to extend their lead.

Extend the lead is just what the Saints did, going 40 yards in four plays when Brees found Jimmy Graham in one-on-one coverage with a safety, throwing a jump ball that Graham easily came down with, pushing the New Orleans lead to 30-16. Things then got really ugly for the Packers on the next drive, when on their seventh play of the drive, Rodgers threw a pass to Adams that the receiver tipped in the air and was intercepted by Corey White, who continued what may have been a career game for the young cornerback.

With the ball at their own 29, Brees and his offense once again took advantage of the turnover created by their defense, marching 71 yards in seven plays and capping off the drive on an easy play-action pass from Brees to Josh Hill for a 2 yard touchdown pass to blow the game open at 37-16. The touchdown pas was Brees’ third of the game, marking the first game all season that the quarterback has thrown for more than two touchdowns in a game.

To Green Bay’s credit, they didn’t quit right then and there. Rodgers marched his team 80 yards in eleven plays, cutting the lead back to two touchdowns when he scrambled up the middle for a 14 yard touchdown run to make it 37-23. The Packers then attempted an onside kick and nearly recovered it, but in the end it was the black and gold that came away with the ball. With 5:07 left on the clock and facing their biggest challenge of “finishing”, the Saints did just that. Mark Ingram capped off his career night, breaking off a 21 yard touchdown run to make the score 44-23, wrapping up the third victory of the season for New Orleans. The teams then traded otherwise meaningless fumbles, before the final whistle blew and the Saints had completed their dominant performance.

Observations

– Drew Brees quieted every critic with easily his best game of the season. Those questioning his arm strength were hushed on a few perfectly thrown deep balls to Brandin Cooks, one of which was completed for a 50 yard touchdown.

– I said it in the game’s preview, what Mark Ingram would be able to do in this game could go a long way for his future in black and gold. With both Khiry Robinson and Pierre Thomas missing the game, Ingram was expected to shoulder the load in the running game and he did just that. He posted career high numbers in carries and rushing yards, averaging 7.5 yards per carry and tearing the Packers run defense to shreds.

– The Saints finally got Brandin Cooks very involved in the deep passing game. They had taken just a few shots to him through the first six games of the season, but they had yet to really open up the playbook with him as a consistent deep target. Instead, it had been Robert Meachem who was seeing multiple deep targets, but he and Brees had just not been able to connect. Brees and Cooks showed a good rapport with one deep incompletion between the two coming from Cooks simply dropping the pass which was right in his hands.

– Jimmy Graham looked very good and appeared to be back to full strength after battling his shoulder injury sustained back in Week 5 against Tampa Bay. He caught five of his six targets and did not show any signs of being in pain.

– Travaris Cadet continues to provide as a very formidable target out of the backfield for Drew Brees. He caught four of his five targets for 40 yards.

– After apparently being booed in pregame introductions, Corey White responded with possibly his best game in his young career. Not only did he come up with an interception of his own, but he made a great play on an Aaron Rodgers pass just short of the goal line, tipping the ball in to the hands of David Hawthorne and saving the Saints at least three points.

– Cam Jordan appeared to have gotten his groove back, recording two sacks in what was his best performance of the season, pushing his season total to three.

– Kasim Edebali showed why the coaches and media talked him up as a very good prospect in the preseason and training camp. He recorded the first two sacks of his career and flashed his ability to rush the passer.

– David Hawthorne played one of his best games as a Saint. Along with the interception he came down with, he was also in on the big fourth down stop that set the Saints up with great field position to take a two score lead.

– Keenan Lewis quietly played a fantastic game. He was on Cobb for the 70 yard touchdown, but after being in good position, he seemed to get himself turned around, letting Cobb get behind him on the catch. Other than that, he played the majority of the night on Jordy Nelson, keeping him to just 3/25.

– Despite there being no punts in this game (only the 3rd time in NFL history), the defense did a great job of getting off the field on 3rd downs. They held Green Bay to 1-7 on 3rd down conversions, which was crucial in holding them to those three first half field goals.

Stats

Saints

Drew Brees – 27-32 / 311 yards / 3 TDs / 0 INTs / 84% completions / 138.4 passer rating

Mark Ingram – 24 carries / 172 yards / 1 TD / 7.2 yards per carry

Brandin Cooks – 6 receptions / 94 yards / 1 TD / 1 carry / 4 yards / 1 rushing TD

Jimmy Graham – 5 receptions / 59 yards / 1 TD

Kenny Stills – 4 receptions / 57 yards

Marques Colston – 4 receptions / 49 yards

Travaris Cadet – 4 receptions / 40 yards

Josh Hill – 1 reception / 2 yards / 1 TD

Kenny Vaccaro – 10 tackles

Curtis Lofton – 9 tackles

Rafael Bush – 8 tackles / 1 tackle for loss / 1 pass defended

David Hawthorne – 5 tackles / 1 pass defended / 1 INT

Corey White – 4 tackles / 2 passes defended / 1 INT

Cam Jordan – 3 tackles / 2 tackles for loss / 2 sacks

Kasim Edebali – 3 tackles / 1 tackle for loss / 2 sacks

Parys Haralson – 1 fumble recovery

Packers

Aaron Rodgers – 28-39 / 418 yards / 1 TD / 2 INTs / 72% completions / 93.8 passer rating / 2 rushes / 21 yards / 1 rushing TD

Eddie Lacy – 13 rushes / 59 yards / 4.5 yards per carry / 8 receptions / 123 yards

Randall Cobb – 5 receptions / 126 yards / 1 TD

Davante Adams – 7 receptions / 75 yards

Aaron Rodgers – 4 receptions / 58 yards

Jordy Nelson – 3 receptions / 25 yards

AJ Hawk – 8 tackles

Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix – 8 tackles

Clay Matthews – 2 tackles / 1 tackle for loss / 1 sack

Julius Peppers – 1 tackle / 1 tackle for loss / 1 sack

Team Stats

Total yards: Saints-495, Packers-491

Pass yards: Saints-302, Packers-402

Rush yards: Saints-193, Packers-89

1st downs: Saints-28, Packers-23

3rd down conversions: Saints-6/10, Packers-1/7

Turnovers: Saints-1, Packers-3

Possession: Saints-31:39, Packers-28:21

Penalties: Saints-4/35, Packers-8/84

Week 9

The Saints (3-4) will travel to face the Carolina Panthers (3-4-1) on Thursday Night Football in a battle for first place in the NFC South. The Panthers technically hold the edge in the division, as of now, because of their extra game which is a tie, but the winner of this game will find themselves in sole possession of the top spot in the division, despite such rough starts by both teams. Due to this being such a short week, I will have to skip the Saints and Sinners article for the Packers game, in order to get the Carolina previews to you before kickoff Thursday night. I believe Sunday night’s game was one that everyone could pretty easily determine who the Saints and Sinners were. With that being said, I will be back tomorrow night with the offensive preview for this week’s game. Just a reminder, the Saints and Panthers will kickoff at 7:25 central time on Thursday night. The game will ONLY be on NFL Network, with the simulcasting of Thursday night games on both CBS and NFL Network ending last week.

See y’all tomorrow and as always, Who Dat?!

Follow David Billiot Jr on Twitter @DCBilliotJr6