WDZ | Archive for November, 2009

Merriam-Webster certainly did not have in mind a football team when the definition of special was first placed within the confines of its dictionary.

However, with each passing week of more highs than lows, the fans of the Crescent City’s football team might well disagree.

Another memorable performance Monday night against the rival Falcons in a much ballyhooed series that never has really translate to the national level of epic as it so often does down here in the deep south. There is always anticipation for the next opponent, sometimes disdain, at other points quiet admiration, and even sometimes fear for what is to come. Not when the Saints and Falcons get together.

Mostly it is a deep-seated dislike for one another.

Especially if your team happens to be wearing black and gold.

And so the Saints took the stage on a Monday Night up against the World Series featuring two of the northeast’s most popular teams in the Phillies and Yankees, and they stole the show.

One team was seeking to maintain perfection and lobby for their candidacy on the ballot of being something special, while the visiting team looked to slay their division rival whose hype leading into the game bordered on behemoth and place their stake in the ground of something more.

Two fighters squaring off in the center of a Superdome, and unlike so many years before, there would be no one crying ‘no mas.’

In fact, Atlanta came out swinging, levying haymakers in the form of Michael Turner’s monstrous legs, churning out over 150 yards on the ground. The Falcons had not lost in 8 previous battles when Turner had carried the ball beyond the 100 yards mark.

So you had to think they were feeling pretty good about themselves.

Adding to that great feeling were takeaways. The Falcons forced the Saints into four turnovers to complement their impressive ground game.

All that was missing was the passing attack.

Tony Gonzalez did not find a member of the Saints defense he didn’t like and couldn’t easily exploit.

Roddy White made big plays on corner Jabari Greer, who had not surrendered a touchdown pass all season until White hauled in a 68-yard surgical strike for the score.

In total, Gonzalez and White accounted for 10 receptions that covered 197 yards and a touchdown.

The Saints had been special all season long. Always a cut above. They had won a game of almost every variety it seemed, at least when discounting those involving low scores.

New Orleans had taken the lead early, passed the ball for big yardage and scores, run the opponent into the ground while gaining yards on it, and even recovered from a three touchdown deficit.

Special was the fact that the Saints could beat you through the air and on the turf. They could take the ball away, and even score it when the offense was on the sidelines. They were never out of a game no matter the point differential. And the offense always seemed to have its way, and the opponent’s offense never seemed to fire on all cylinders, not for four quarters.

Enter the Falcons.

The way to beat the Saints, experts say, is to limit their possessions. That is force turnovers, control the clock and thus the game with the running game, and when you get those time-consuming drives going, you absolutely must convert them into points.

Limited possessions via turnovers? Four of those.

Check.

Control the clock and the line of scrimmage with the rushing attack? Michael Turner breaking four Saints tackles en route to a carry in excess of 20 yards in the fourth quarter thinks so.

Check.

Long drives culminating in points? Atlanta posted 27 points, 13 of which came in the second half when they outscored the home team by six. In fact, the Falcons were the first team all season to do so.

Check.

The problem?

Atlanta lost.

The reason is not easily identifiable, as so many factors played into the final resolution of the game. Tipped passes turned into picks, critical reviews of a pass hitting the turf instead of being hauled in for a tying score, and on and on.

All of that is complex and part of a tangled web of circumstance changing momentum and the scoreboard.

Yet, with all of that said, it can be so easily stated.

This Saints team is special.

Distinguished by some unusual quality.

The mantra of this New Orleans club is to finish.

Finish every play, every drive, and every quarter strong. Give it your best effort.

Finish the game.

On Monday night, it was all about finishing Atlanta off.

The Saints did just that.

When New Orleans turned the ball over on a late 3rd and 1 Pierre Thomas converted but lost the ball, the muscle memory of every Saints fan forced their stomachs to tighten and turn. The feeling was one of, “Oh no.”

And yet not that of this team.

Matt Ryan was leading his team down the field, watching Michael Turner run past, through, and over tacklers down inside the red zone, where Atlanta has been killers all year.

This was going to be their turn to reclaim the lead and with it the momentum and silence this frenzied crowd.

It did not occur.

Jonathan Vilma showed why he is an indelible player on a franchise. His leaping tip of a beautiful Matt Ryan throw that may well have resulted in Gonzalez dancing in the endzone was special.

So too was his teammate Tracy Porter on the other end of that connection, scooping the pass out of the air just above his shoestrings, and racing down the other way to give the offense some breathing room.

Shortly, Vilma’s counterpart in almost every way on offense, led the Saints down the field consuming over five minutes of clock time when it first showed eight left to go.

Leaping grabs by Marques Colston and Jeremy Shockey, two players beset by injuries last season so significantly that many wondered not so quietly if they might be the same again.

The answer? They would not.

They would be superior.

Better.

On Monday night, they were special.

Not lost in all of this was the outstanding hands of Devery Henderson.

A much-maligned product of LSU and a local player, Henderson’s feet were as fast as his hands unreliable.

Until this season, that is.

It seems that even this year’s quest for something greater than just great has found its way into the most questionable of player’s.

They are finally performing.

On a day where you figure if any Saint running back was going to be guilty of a fumble at a critical point, it would be Reggie Bush, it was not. Bush stood inside and handled most blitz pickups with ferocity, displaying a desire to hit in the early going on a pass reception and run.

No, Mike Bell and Pierre Thomas both seemed intent on giving the game away with late turnovers.

Or perhaps it was Atlanta takeaways, as the Falcons played arguably their best game of the season given the opponent, the stage, and the environment.

They wanted nothing more than to unseat the media’s recently beloved Saints, and to establish only a one game difference in the race for the division crown.

New Orleans as a team would have none of it.

On a day and night where two of the Saints workhorses stalled and sputtered nearing the finish line, it was the entire team that would lift them up and carry them home.

Vilma, Greer, Shockey, Colston, Smith, and the list goes on.

You see this team is not that of individuals.

There are no me-first players here, not even the most braggadocios Saint seems intent on putting himself squarely in the spotlight.

Because it appears that the spotlight for them has not yet shown.

There is a reason something is special.

It is not ordinary.

It is different.

There is something exceptional about it that requires attention and observation if not in the future reverence.

This Saints team is in search of that.

One might even say they are designed for that particular purpose.

And only when it writes its place in the record books as a world champion will it have commanded such recognition.

That very occasion demands attention, the league’s careful study and observation, and the reverence of its fans and all others.

That is what this team wants. That spotlight.

Just for a chance to prove those shirts Drew handed out are true.

Proof that they very much are that.

Special.