Saints Shock Giants, Vikings barely escape

Eli Manning may have been going home to New Orleans Sunday, but he’d have probably rather cancelled the trip in hindsight. New York, undefeated atop the NFC East, got crushed by an opportunistic Saints offense that rang up 315 yards of total offense and 34 points by halftime, in what ultimately wound up a 48‒27 win. It was over just barely after the opening coin toss. New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees peppered the No. 1 defense in the NFL with 259 passing yards and three touchdowns in the opening 30 minutes, the Giants offense unable to come close to matching the Saints’ furious firepower. The N.O. juggernaut will be tough to derail. In the whole NFC, only Minnesota carries a chance of upending them.
Along with New Orleans, Minnesota remains unbeaten in the NFC. In Minneapolis, the Vikes lost the handle on what looked like a relatively comfortable win over Baltimore, only to see the Ravens unleash a dramatic comeback to take a 31‒30 lead with 3:34 remaining. But as anyone knows who has ever seen a game in which Brett Favre is playing, something great, perhaps something horrible, but at the very least, something dramatic is going to take place. In this instance, with just under three minutes to play, Favre, on a second-and-6 from his 24, connected with wideout Sidney Rice on a 58-yard pass play to the Ravens 18. The drive stalled but the Vikings got the three-pointer they needed to take a 33‒31 lead. Then the Minnesota defense dug in to withstand a final Baltimore attack that came down to a 44-yard field goal attempt by Baltimore kicker Steven Hauschka. The ball just barely hooked left of the left upright, and Minnesota, for the second time this season, escaped on the final play of a game with a win.
There’s not much anyone can say about the sorry state of the Tennessee Titans. When things go bad they go very badly. In a harrowing 59‒0 obliteration in Foxboro, the Titoons looked like the Keystone Cops on a slick tabletop. Accumulated in that defeat were unfathomable passing numbers posted by ’Toons QB Kerry Collins, who likely never spent a day of such ignominy at any phase of his career, college or pro: Collins completed a stat-defying two-of-12 passes for the entire afternoon—for minus -7 total passing yards. Admittedly it was in the snow, but that same snow didn’t impede New England icon Tom Brady from logging a career day, including an NFL-record five touchdown passes in the second quarter alone.
But if you thought Collins and Tennessee were bad, you may have missed the New York Jets debacle against Buffalo. With a chance to atone for an inexcusable six interceptions, Jets rookie QB Mark Sanchez bobbled the snap from center in overtime on what likely would have been the game-winning field goal, and New York went on to lose later in OT. Six INTS and a bobble of the potential game-winning snap. It had to be difficult for Sanchez to find a rock anywhere in the vicinity of the Meadowlands to hide under.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books, including Away from the Ball: The NFL’s Off-the-Field Heroes. E-mail him at:alanross_sports@yahoo.com© Sportland 2009