My overall impression of what happened that night was Detroit played exceptionally stupid and undisciplined football. They dropped passes, they committed three offensive pass interference penalties and, living up to their well deserved reputation for "dirty" play, committed several unnecessary roughness fouls hurting themselves even further. Yet despite all of this, and despite the fact that Lions all-world receiver Calvin Johnson did basically nothing all night, the Saints still had trouble getting away from the Lions. Here's what I wrote the next day.
Not putting it away. The Saints had a chance to put the game away before halftime but let Detroit drive 80 yards and score to stay in the game. This was the first time in 4 games the Saints' defense allowed a touchdown in the first half. Although the Saints answered with a quick 80 yard drive of their own, they would only score once more for the rest of the game which got pretty ugly as the Lions continued to hang around and mostly beat themselves before time ran out.
One optimistic note I can add here is that the Saints make a regular habit of stealing that one extra score just before the half which ends up being the turning point in a lot of these games. They did it just last week against Carolina, for example. And when they do that, they can usually outscore their opponent the rest of the way. Against Detroit, though, they almost didn't get away with that. The Lions owned the third quarter and pulled to within a touchdown thanks to some uncharacteristically poor play by Jabari Greer. I had notes on that too.
Jabari Greer almost lost this game singlehandedly. Detroit managed to pull within a touchdown of the Saints during the 3rd quarter when Jabari Greer let Detroit out of a 3rd and 14 situation by committing an "illegal contact" foul which sounds like something Jerry Sandusky might be accused of, but in this situation, was actually far worse. Two plays later Jabari Greer badly mistimed what should have been an easy pass deflection (we've long given up expecting "easy" interceptions from these no-catching motherfuckers) and allowed Tony Scheffler to steal a 36 yard pass from Stafford setting the Lions up at the Saints' 9. Maruice Morris would score on the next play and all of a sudden the game was in danger of going completely to crap.
But the Saints did get away with it because the Lions continued to make embarrassing mistakes and, in truly mystifying fashion, not cover Jimmy Graham.
How this game was eventually won. Did we mention that the Lions are terrible? Here's how terrible they are. Following a missed 55 yard field goal by Detroit kicker Jason Hanson, the Saints, set up on the 45 yard line with a 7 point lead were primed to put the game away. Here's how they managed to do that. Detroit's defense got together in the huddle and agreed among themselves that right then would be an excellent time for nobody to cover Jimmy Graham. This resulted in the following sequence.
1st and 10 Saints 45 Brees incomplete to Colston
2nd and 10 Saints 45 Brees to Graham 3 yards
3rd and 7 Saints 48 Brees to Graham 16 yards
1st and 10 Lions 36 Brees to Graham 14 yards
1st and 10 Lions 22 Ingram runs for 3 yards
2nd and 7 Lions 19 Brees to Graham 13 yards
1st and Goal Lions 6 Brees to Sproles Touchdown
That's a 55 yard scoring drive all but 9 yards of which involved the Lions not covering the Saints' leading receiver for some reason.
Are the Lions really that terrible? They somehow managed to win 10 games this year which leads me to suspect they don't always turn in the sort of shitburger they brought to the Dome last time. But even if they do play a less ridiculous game, it's hard to imagine this record-breaking, steadily improving, and mostly healthy Saints team bowing out of the playoffs this quickly. Most Saints fans think this team deserves a second shot at Green Bay and not getting there would certainly qualify as a disappointment.
But even if that does happen, let's make sure we don't call it a failure. Another note I found sitting in the draft folder for the unfinished Lions post read, "Enjoy that 9th win, you ungrateful fucks!" I know I'm getting pretty old but I'm sure the majority of Saints fans paying attention are, like me, able to remember that it took 21 years for any Saints team to even win that many. And here we are at the end of what has arguably been the best regular season put together by any Saints team ready to yawn if something happens to go a bit wrong tomorrow. I don't expect it will but consider this a preemptive reminder for everyone to keep their heads up if it does.
In the meantime, enjoy your Twelfth Night. Enjoy your weekend. And if you run into any Bama fans, remember the Mayor urges you not to kick any of them in the face.
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