The liveliest quarter in New Orleans is the first
09:02 AM CDT on Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The New Orleans Saints are adopting the blueprint of the 2007 New England Patriots. Bludgeon your foe early. Get on top, stay on top, stay unbeaten.
The Saints are 5-0 and have not trailed. New Orleans has scored on its opening possession in each of its first five games with four touchdowns and a field goal.
The Patriots scored on their opening possession in eight consecutive games to open the 2007 season before the Colts finally forced an opening-possession punt in Game 9. Because of those fast starts, the Patriots trailed only 18 of a possible 480 minutes through the first eight games.
New England wound up scoring on its first possession 13 times (nine touchdowns, four field goals) on the way to the only 16-0 regular season in NFL history. The Patriots were at their dominating best in first quarters of games, outscoring the opposition 134-41. They went on to set an NFL scoring record with 589 points.
That put opponents in a bind. To compete with the Patriots, you needed to score with the Patriots. That meant matching them point for point. Fall behind by two scores early, and the game was over.
That’s what happened to the Giants last Sunday in New Orleans. The Saints lead the NFL in scoring with 192 points. At that pace, New Orleans will set the NFL single-season record with 614 points. So you have to match the Saints point for point to stay in the game.
New Orleans drove 70 yards in 13 plays to open the game with a touchdown. Then the Giants punted on their opening possession. The Saints drove the length of the field again, this time 80 yards, for a 14-0 lead.
That heightens the sense of urgency for the opposing offense. That forced the Giants to abandon the running game, their strength. That led to turnovers. Eli Manning lost a fumble on a sack in the second quarter and threw an interception in the third. What was supposed to be a competitive game turned into a 48-27 rout by the Saints.
“We put a lot of emphasis on how we start games,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. “You always want to start fast.”
The Saints have outscored the opposition 48-13 in first quarters this season. Getting on top early also takes the pressure off your defense. The Saints can be more free-wheeling on that side of the ball, knowing that any mistake on defense can be quickly erased by the NFL’s most explosive offense.
New England rode that mentality to a No. 4 ranking on defense in 2007. Opponents were in a continual catch-up mode, so the football was always in the air. The Patriots led the AFC in sacks that season.
St. Louis rode that same mentality to a No. 6 ranking on defense in 1999 when the Rams unveiled the Greatest Show on Turf and won its only Super Bowl. The Rams led the NFL in run defense that season because they faced the fewest rushing attempts in the league. The ball was always in the air, so the Rams led the NFC in interceptions that season.
Now New Orleans is benefiting on defense. The Saints rank ninth overall and fifth against the run, having faced the second fewest rushing attempts in the league. Because the ball is always in the air, the Saints lead with NFL with 11 interceptions.
It all starts with the ability of the New Orleans offense to dominate in the first quarter.
Let’s go with Indianapolis-New Orleans in an offensive shootout. The Super Bowl record for points in a game is 75 set by San Diego and San Francisco in 1995. A Colts-Saints game could easily put 80 points on the scoreboard.
Four years after Katrina, New Orleans still isn’t back. Not even close. The population has been cut almost in half from the 500,000 before the hurricane, and a city that survives on tourism is struggling to attract the major conventions that once flocked to New Orleans.
I’ve had some nightmare travel days in New Orleans returning to Dallas from games in the pre-Katrina years, showing up at Louis Armstrong International Airport two hours before my flight on Monday mornings and then having to scramble through lengthy security lines to board my plane on time.
But at the airport at 8 a.m. Monday, there was no one at the ticket counter ahead of me and only one person ahead of me in the security line. You could have rolled a bowling ball down the center of Terminal C and not struck anyone.
The Superdome was electric for the Saints-Giants game with a rabid, sellout crowd. Hopefully a magical run by the Saints in 2009 can help restore the self-esteem of New Orleans. This is too good a town to stay down.
Actually, I’m headed for Pittsburgh via Detroit. I’ll be in the Motor City on Saturday for the Catholic League high school championship games at Ford Field. The Catholic League is going to honor the 1959 St. Ambrose Cavaliers, who won the city title 50 years ago in one of the biggest upsets in state history. That St. Ambrose team was the subject of my first book, “Goodfellows,” which was published in May. I’ll be on hand at Ford Field on Saturday to attend a banquet honoring the Cavaliers and also to sign books. Then I’m off to Pittsburgh on Sunday to catch Adrian Peterson square off against the NFL’s best run defense.
Rick Gosselin shares his NFL analysis Wednesdays through Fridays on the NFL blog.
Rick Gosselin is the author of GoodFellows, the story of Detroit's surprisingly successful St. Ambrose football teams of the '50s and '60s.