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Saints win one for the ages

Credit: AP

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees (9) chats with fullback Heath Evans late in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009 in Miami. The Saints defeated the Dolphins 46-34. (AP Photo/Jeffrey M. Boan)

by Jim Henderson / Sports Director

Posted on October 26, 2009 at 11:27 AM

Updated Monday, Oct 26 at 11:28 AM

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MIAMI - If there was one turning point in this Game for the Ages, it was the Saints going for the touchdown instead of the field goal to close the first half.

A 21-point deficit, the largest of the game, became 14 and the Saints were on their way.

“There’s just moments in a game that you feel as a head coach or as a quarterback that we needed an emotional lift right now, we need a momentum swing, we need to make a play and I just felt that I could get in,” said Drew Brees, who had his toughest day of the year with three interceptions, but who came back to lead several late scoring drives.

The deficit was 10 after three quarters, but then the Saints outscored the Dolphins 22-0 in the final 15 minutes. A 21-point deficit was overcome and so was the last knock on an unbeaten football team, could it come from behind.

“All of a sudden you’re sitting there and you’re looking at the scoreboard and it’s 24-3 and you say, ‘How did this game get out of hand like this?’” Brees said. “But, I’ll say, there was no doubt on our sideline that we would come back and win this game, because that’s all we talk about is finishing football games and I think we all knew that they had given us their best shot and we had played about as bad as we could play. All we had to do was string a few drives together to get the momentum back and start making some plays. Honest to God, we knew it was going to happen and sure enough it did.”

The end of the game featured a victory lap by the visitors, whose traveling fans made them feel almost at home.

“We travel really well,” commented an impressed Brees. “Wherever we go, ter is a great New Orleans contingency, a Saints contingency, dressed up in the Black and Gold and the Who Dat gear and you hear them. They are noticed. I don’t know about you guys but in the fourth quarter, I could hear them. I mean they were loud. We were returning punts and it was ‘Reggie, Reggie,’ it’s cheering when our defense is out there almost to the point where it seemed like a home atmosphere for us.”

The number one seed in the NFC right now is your New Orleans Saints. As you might expect, Sean Payton was not impressed with that tidbit.

“It’s not the BCS. In the BCS you have to pay attention to the 1, the 2, the 3, the 4. That means nothing here. After six weeks, we have a lot of football left. The Alabamas the LSUs the Ohio States and all those people – Iowa - that means something for them, it doesn’t mean anything for us right now.”

One for the history books for the Saints, who took a bite out of the Dolphins at Land Shark stadium.

 

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