Saints Sideline Blog

ITS HOW YOU FINISH!

Monday, October 26th, 2009      Email Print

DATELINE: Miami, FL October 25th, 2009

(Landshark stadium bitten by the Who Dats!)
 
No offense Don Johnson, but the Saints committed more Miami VIces in the 1st half than your five years of quality investigative work in these parts back in the eighties.(yes I had to look that up). Vices aplenty for the Saints who were charged with several first time offenses versus Miami. First things first, where the black and gold failed to score on its first drive for the 1st time this season. Believe it or not, they trailed for the 1st time THIS SEASON when former Saint Ricky Williams made it 7-0 Dolphins in the 1st Qtr. Several vices later, the Saints trailed 24-3 in the 2nd quarter and while many around the country chose to turn off their TV's, New Orleans was still poised to turn it on, and turn it on they did.
 
After back to back disappointing seasons, Sean Payton knew the key to his team's rise back to the elite (along with Gregg Williams) was finishing football games. The Saints wear "Finish" t-shirts in practice and during OTA's this offseason Drew Brees gave every player black wrist bands with the slogan "Finish Strong." Well the slogan sure rang true against the Dolphins as the Saints not only finished strong, they transformed LandShark into their own personal "Jaws sequel." Move over Roy Scheider, this one was full of leading men for the Saints. From Drew Brees rebounding from his three interceptions to lead scoring drives, to Jeremy Shockey stiff arming the Fins secondary, to Mike Bell getting the extra yards, everybody on offense came to play. On defense it if wasn't Darren Sharper with another pick six, it was Scott Shanle and Jonathan VIlma making several big plays to Tracy Porter putting the cherry on top of a comeback for the ages with another pick six to ice it for the visitors who knew how squished the fish.
 
Yes in the end, the Saints recover from a 21 point deficit to outscore the Fins 36-10 in the second half and an amazing 22-0 in the fourth quarter. How's that for finishing?? Its something this team couldn't do last year against the likes of Denver, Minnesota and Tampa Bay when they had the chance to. Its a new year and clearly this is a new team. A team which has showed us it can blow out the competition and this time around can play comeback with the best of them. I have covered every one of Sean Payton's games and would be hard pressed to find a better one. Shanle said this win "could define their season," I couldn't agree more.
 
The victory was big but for this team the bigger picture is the team's mindset. When it seemed everything was falling apart, the Saints didn't finger point and didn't make excuses. Instead, they turned it around on the field in a game which might turn out to be the South Florida appetizer. The main course would be a return trip to these parts, yeah that Super Bowl which will be played here on February 7th would be a fantastic finish down the road!
 
WHO DAT HITS
 
SHOCK-ING DEVELOPMENT: Hard to believe but Sunday was the first time Jeremy Shockey ever played a game inside Landshark Stadium, formerly Dolphin Stadium, former Pro Player Stadium and former Joe Robbie Stadium. Hard to believe not only because he played his college ball in Miami (all those home games were in the Orange Bowl) but its his 8th year in the league and you figured one of those years he would make a pit stop back to his old stomping grounds? Maybe the big fellah will want to come back as he turned in his first 100 yard receiving game since week 10 of the 2007 season.
 
HERE'S JOHNNY: Miami native Jonathan Vilma told me he didn't grow up a Dolphins fan but enjoyed his homecoming game anyway. He was anxious to see the many family and friends who watched him play such a key role in the Saints comeback.Vilma led the way with 10 tackles.
 
AND TO YOU JOHN: Not a good day for John Carney who missed a field goal and at one time seemed to be a crucial extra point. The good news for the wiley veteran is he became the fourth member of the 2000 point club in the second half passing George Blanda for third place all time trailing Morten Anderson for the all-time lead.
 
ELLIS AND EVANS ON THE MEND: No Scott Fujita or Malcolm Jenkins against the Dolphins and the game saw another casuality in Defensive Tackle Sedrick Ellis who will undergo more testing on his sprained knee. Fullback Heath Evans also left the game in the second half with an injured right leg.
 
WILDCAT SOLVED: So much for that wildcat phenomenon here in Dolphin land, it only tallied 30 yard on 14 plays.
 
AIR BREES: How about the celebration of Drew Brees who scored twice against the Fish. His first was an emphatic spike and then he followed up with a slam dunk over the goalposts. Brees said it was more "a throw" than a dunk but liked proving to his teammates he had the hops.
 
UNTIL NEXT BLOG,
Mike Nabors
CST

By: Mike Nabors

An Emmy award winning sports reporter who covers a wide variety of events for CST. Primarily, Mike serves as the network's reporter for Saints coverage.

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