Looking back at the New Orleans Saints halfway through the season

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

So that’s three consecutive games of field goal wins and bend don’t break defense. Tampa Bay is a division game. They’ve been playing well, and despite the close call in New York in a Monday night tilt, playing Sunday night at home, they were the heavy favorites.

And why wouldn’t they be with all their offensive weapons and a defense that was top-ranked?

Putting it mildly, this was one of the most shocking performances in New Orleans Saints history. The Saints completely dominated and embarrassed a team that some pundits had begun to put in the Super Bowl contender category.

And what’s more, their QB is the person many claim is the greatest to have ever played the game. Tom Brady is revered and is on the shortlist of best ever.

Didn’t look like it that Sunday night…

We’ve already covered the dominance of that Saints win in various WhoDatDish.com pieces, but a quick note on some superlatives.

The Saints have never held a team under 10 yards rushing. Tampa’s five rushes were the fewest in NFL history. Tom Brady has never been beaten twice in a regular-season by the same team. It was the worst defeat of his career.

The three sacks the Saints tallied doesn’t include the multiple hurries and hits they put on Brady, nor does it include one sack that came back on a penalty in the stretch where Trey Hendrickson sacked him on THREE CONSECUTIVE PLAYS.

We could go on and on for days with superlatives about how good this Saints team was.

Offensively they did anything they wanted. Were it not for a red-zone fumble, there is a strong likelihood the score could have been much worse. Defensively, we simply shut them down. Three sacks, three interceptions, and under 200 yards of total offense against. Unreal numbers.