I’ll admit it. I’m a junkie for high scores and offensives.
Lots of people like defensive battles. I, on the other hand, prefer the high-scoring affairs.
Sure, a low-scoring game has its high points.
It’s like a soccer match. One team gets close, then there is a turnover that leads to the other team knocking on the door to score.
But nobody ever does, and the game ends with fewer than 20 combined points.
I need more points.
For over a month and a half, I’ve been waiting for an offensive explosion from those New Orleans Saints.
I grew accustomed to their offense putting up 30-plus points a game last season on a regular basis.
This season, there was nothing. No cheap thrills.
All I got was a mediocre offensive that was killing my fantasy team’s dreams of becoming champions.
The bigger problem was, I couldn’t find other ways to get my fix.
With LSU’s offense down in a gutter, I started to roam the streets, looking for a way to handle my addiction. I needed a fix.
But even the kids playing street ball couldn’t provide that for me.
“We’ve lost our offense too,” one kid told me. “We used to watch the Saints and LSU and learn from their offense, but they don’t have one anymore.”
“I feel your pain, kid,” I told him. “I feel it.”
Sunday, I finally got what I had been looking for.
The Saints went to town, stomping all over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-6. It was magical.
Even the commentator on FOX said that the Saints had “put together the perfect game.”
I wouldn’t go that far (The defense did give up a late touchdown, though it was partially because they were just playing to contain a big play).
But it was pretty close to perfect, especially offensively.
The great thing about the offense was that it was an all-around effort.
The Saints finally opened their playbook a little bit to throw the ball deep.
Saints quarterback Drew Brees hit wide receiver Lance Moore for a 41-yard touchdown strike to open the scoring, and not long after that he hit Robert Meachem for a 42-yard touchdown.
And the running game held its own as three Saints running backs combined to rush for 210 yards.
For a team that entered 31st (out of 32) in the NFL in rushing at a 75.6 yard-per-game clip, that’s a pretty impressive stat.
All three of those backs, you may note, are backups to injured running backs Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush.
The Saints’ offensive line created some holes against a Tampa Bay defense that is just as bad against the run as the Saints were so far this season running the ball.
The Bucs entered the game ranking 30th in the league against the run, giving up more than 140 yards per game entering the contest.
It showed.
Chris Ivory (who I decided for whatever reason to bench in my fantasy league) went for 158 yards on just 15 carries.
That was the first time since week three last year that a Saints back cracked the century mark (Pierre Thomas went for 126 in a 27-7 win against the Bills).
It was also the most by a Saint since Deuce McAllister ran for 165 yards against Washington in 2003.
It was the offensive explosion that I’ve been awaiting.
Now, I hope they can keep it up.
And maybe teach that team on campus a thing or two on how to effectively throw the ball down the field.
Andy Schwehm is a 21-year-old English and psychology senior from New Orleans. You can follow him on Twitter @TDR_ASchwehm.
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Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]