12/24/06 Saints-Giants sidebar for the Louisiana Gannett Newspapers

(Writer's note: I covered the Christmas Eve Saints-Giants game at the Meadowlands for the Louisiana Gannett Newspapers. The Shreveport Times was the first paper to post the story on its website. As always, I will attach all the newspapers' URLs to the blog entry. ---- Denis Gorman)

Saints defense was magnificent

December 24, 2006
By Denis Gorman
Special to The Times

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. "" Sometimes statistics are misleading. Sometimes, though, they simply tell the whole story.

In the Saints' 30-7 win Sunday over the rapidly fading Giants, the defense was, to borrow a word from coach Sean Payton, "magnificent." The Saints allowed only 142 yards of offense, 83 yards on the ground and 59 yards passing.

"We got them off the field a lot on third down," Payton noted.

Uh, yeah.

Even more impressive than the 142 yards allowed was the fact that the Saints did not allow the Giants one play that started inside the 50-yard line. Contrast that to the Saints' offense running 50 plays on the Giants' half of the field.

The lone blemish on an otherwise sterling defensive effort was Plaxico Burress' 55-yard touchdown catch on the games fourth play. On the play, Eli Manning took the snap, pumped once and saw Burress streak past cornerback Fred Thomas, who slipped on the play. Manning laid the ball into Burress who dove into the end zone with his arm outstretched.

"We've been allowing points early on," Thomas said after the game. "(But) we're a team that doesn't get rattled easy. It's kind of something we thrive on."After that, though, the Giants couldn't do anything right on offense. In his last home game as a Giant, Tiki Barber found running room to be nonexistent. Manning was blitzed repeatedly and he responded by rushing his throws. When he had time, his receivers dropped balls, eight of them to be exact. Manning finished the day 9-of-25 passing for 74 yards, the touchdown and an interception.

"We had a great first drive and then after that we couldn't do anything," Manning said. "They double blitzed us and we didn't have an answer for anything We weren't in rhythm by any means and we could not get first downs. We kept being three-and-out. We couldn't keep the ball in our hands."

Seven times the Saints forced the Giants to go three-and-out. Giants coach Tom Coughlin, who professed not to hear "Fire Coughlin" chants from the few remaining fans midway through the fourth quarter, said the Saints' ability to stop the Giants was the key to the game.

"Our first few runs were good. We did have some decent plays, but the key issues there (are) we didn't sustain them," Coughlin said.

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12/24/06 Saints-Giants gamer for the Louisiana Gannett Newspapers:

(Writer's note: I covered the Christmas Eve Saints-Giants game at the Meadowlands for the Louisiana Gannett Newspapers. The Shreveport Times was the first paper to post the story on its website. As always, I will attach all the newspapers' URLs to the blog entry. ---- Denis Gorman)

Saints pound Giants

December 24, 2006

By Denis Gorman
Special to The Times

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The only thing that was clearer and colder than the New Jersey weather Sunday was the Saints' offensive efficiency.On a day when winds that reached 29 mph made it almost impossible to pass, the NFC South Champions coldly ran the ball against a depleted and defeated Giants defense.

In its 30-7 win over the Giants at the Meadowlands on Sunday, the Saints ran 53 times for 236 yards and two scores. Reggie Bush rushed for 126 yards and a score, his first 100-yard rushing game as a professional. Deuce McAllister carried the ball 27 times for 108 yards and a touchdown. The 53 rushes were the second-most in team history, only behind two fifty-five rushing performances in the 1970s (October 20, 1974, against Minnesota and October 15, 1978, against San Francisco).

"I thought we ran the ball really well," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "The guys upfront did a great job. Our blocking for the run was exceptional."

For all intents and purposes, the Saints ended the game in the second quarter with a masterful 18-play, 89-yard drive that took over 13 minutes, culminating with a two-yard Drew Brees touchdown pass to Marques Colston on fourth-and-three from the Giants two-yard line.Colston, running a fade route, jumped over Giants' cornerback Sam Madison and came down with the ball. Eight times on the drive, the Saints made first downs. Compare that with the Giants, who totaled six first downs for the game."

Against the wind, we wanted to be balanced and be able to run the football," Payton said. "I felt like we got Reggie going a little bit and I wanted to feed it to him."
Obviously, they did. McAllister noted that the featuring of the run worked especially well against the aggressive Giants defensive ends. Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and Mathias Kiwanuka are up-field pass rushers, and are susceptible to the run. Repeatedly, Bush and McAllister were able to run past the ends and force the Giants linebackers and secondary to make tackles.

After the Colston score, it seemed as if the Giants Stadium crowd, most of whom were there to pay homage to retiring running back Tiki Barber, were deflated. When Bush scored on a one yard end around in the third quarter to extend the Saints' lead to 20-7, the crowd turned on the Giants, booing them and calling for the firing of Tom Coughlin.

The victory kept the Saints on track to earn the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. The Saints need to win their season finale Sunday against Carolina or have Dallas lose one of its remaining two games to clinch the No. 2 seed.MVP candidate Brees finished with 13-of-32 passing for 132 yards and a touchdown. He was hurt by his receivers, who dropped eight passes. Brees' game management, though, more than offset his least statistically impressive performance of the season.

The Giants opened the scoring with an Eli Manning 55-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the first quarter. The Giants then did not cross midfield until the last play of the game, a 12-yard run by fullback Jim Finn to the Saints 39-yard line.

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