Forecast: For the first time, Saints an NFL Alpha Dog

MIAMI - You probably didn’t think about it while you watched the Saints turn a 24-3 deficit into a 46-34 win but you’ve actually seen the Saints play in many games like that through the years.

Of course, usually the Saints were playing the role of the Miami Dolphins.

Drew Brees dives for a score.

Sitting in Landshark Stadium had me thinking of countless times the Saints faced an elite NFL team and the Saints would come out fired up and with help from the Dome crowd victory seemed possible.

The Saints weren’t anything more than average but on that particular Sunday they were going to take down an NFL Alpha Dog.

Maybe it was Joe Montana’s 49ers, Troy Aikman’s Cowboys, or for the old timers the Raiders on a Monday Night.
It was the Dome Patrol seemingly breaking Montana in half or Archie throwing the Saints to a 28-7 lead.

All Saints fans knew we were about to feel the ecstasy of killing the king or the would-be king.

Our boys were playing incredible and this win would turn the Saints season around.

The Saints are lined up for the kill but suddenly there is a misstep, then fear creeps in, and before you know it the NFL Alpha Dog has defeated the Saints and crushed our little dream like a truck over a bug.

Watching the Saints play the role of NFL Alpha Dog in person was a truly surreal experience.

The Dolphins came out and were perfect for nearly 29 minutes. Their defense was crushing the Saints offense. The crowd was frenzied.

Dolphins were up 24-3 and had the ball near midfield. Miami could score to close the half and the Saints might as well have taken an early flight home except the Dolphins fumbled and Saints drove to the goal line.

The Saints even got a huge break when the referee made the wrong call on Colston’s TD catch. If the referee makes the right call originally, which was Colston being down at the one-yard line, the half ends 24-3.

Play gets reviewed, TD overturned, and Saints get another play.

NFL Alpha Dogs always get the calls and always take advantage. We’ve all seen it and watched the Saints be victims of it.

It’s the way the world works.

Like any true NFL Alpha Dog the Saints score and game is 24-10.

When Darren Sharper returned an interception for a score to close the score to 24-17 one Miami fan next to me summed it up perfectly, “The Dolphins just ruined 29 minutes of perfect football in 90 seconds. We’re screwed.” Any Saints fan knows the sinking feeling he had.

The Dolphins rallied and even took a 34-24 lead to close the 3^rd quarter.

The stadium was rocking and 66,000 people stood and sang the Dolphin fight song.

It was if the fans decided, “Damn it we’ll scream our lungs out and finish the Saints off ourselves.”

The guy next to me asked me why I was so calm.

“The Saints aren’t losing this game. The Dolphins had their chance to kill the Saints before halftime and failed.” I said calmly.

Maybe I was so relaxed and confident because the Saints were 5-0, perhaps being undefeated makes one loss not such a big deal but then I had a flash back to 1989.

The Saints opened that season on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers.

The Dome Patrol and Jim Mora’s great defense had arrived. They were crushing Joe Montana but the 49er fans sitting behind us never talked trash or seemed remotely concerned.

They knew NFL Alpha Dogs always find a way to win if you give them a chance.

The Saints kicked field goals instead of scoring touchdowns and in the end Montana made them pay.

Flash forward 20 years to the start of the fourth quarter Sunday in Miami.

Drew Brees hits Jeremy Shockey and moments later its 34-31.

The Saints would finally take the lead on a Reggie Bush flight into the end zone.

Even the John Carney missed PAT and the Saints giving the Dolphins one last chance at the end didn’t shake me.

It just set up Tracy Porter with the chance to rip the Dolphins fans hearts out, set them on fire, and watch them burn.

Watching the fans file out the stadium with the look of people who absolutely weren’t surprised by the fact the Dolphins blew it but were emotional crushed anyway reminded me of why 2009 is so very special.    

Every week Saint fans get to check off another thing off the football fan list of, “I wonder what that feels like?”

What its like to go into a stadium, come from behind, and show greatness and crush dreams is now checked off.

My girlfriend kept asking me why I wasn’t more excited about the Saints win.

“Why aren’t you yelling and screaming?”

I didn’t know what to say but while I waited for her outside the bathroom a Saints fan walked up to me.

He and his wife must have been about 70 years old. He stopped and complimented me on my retro Saints t-shirt then said, “This makes surviving 40 years of Saints football.  Incredible. It makes you not want to miss one minute of it.”

 

Ralph Malbrough is a Saints fan living in Houston. Email him at ralphmalbrough@hotmail.com, find him on facebook, or listen to his Saints podcast at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/forecastradio