Brees keeps bandwagon seats warm

When I was a kid the old man would take me and my brother fishing in the Atchafalaya Spillway and it never mattered how badly the day would begin, we'd fish our hearts out till the very end.

We may not have filled the box up every time with fish, but we finished. 

When we went down 24-3 against the Miami Fish, did you really think we wouldn't finish? That's where we dominate -- and it's our modus operandi -- finishing in the fourth quarter. And on Sunday we scored 22 points to the Dolphins' 0 in the fourth to finish the Fish 46-34.

You might think Drew Brees got the team turned around with five seconds to go in the second half when he persuaded Sean Payton to skip the field goal on the half-yard line and let him punch it in. That did leave us down by just two touchdowns at half time. But I'm here to tell ya it was middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma in the second quarter who shut down the Wildcat -- "We gonna make it into a pussycat offense, we gonna make it purr," as Bobby Hebert said last week -- and gave us some three-and-outs and changed the tone of the game.

Vilma finished with 10 tackles.

Courtney Roby came up big on special teams with a big return in the first quarter -- and a great tackle on punt coverage -- that set up our first score, a John Carney field goal of 46 yards! That old man's still got legs, I tell ya, even though he missed another field goal and an extra point later on.

And then of course Darren my-main-mofoing-man Sharper picked off his sixth interception and third pick-six of the season to close it 24-17. Unreal.

Ricky Williams certainly has got a lot left in the tank. The 32-year-old ran a career-long 68-yard touchdown in the first half.

Hells yeah for adversity. Big-time sportswriters and Baton Rouge poo pooers, the naysayers, the unBelievers who in the first half quit watching after saying "Same 'ol Saints", are assured a warm seat on the bandwagon after this game. You now have a team that overcame four turnovers on the road and readjusted in the second half to kick ass.

It wasn't easy. The same offensive line that kept Brees upright against the Giants all day gave up five sacks to the Dolphins, most of those in the first half. And No. 99 Jason Taylor had jshox cursing as he sacked Brees and forced a turnover, making me wonder again why the Saints signed Jeremy Shockey instead of Taylor in 2008.

But jshox showed up with four catches for 105 yards. And that 65-yard-pass, the one where I proved to The U and the 305 that I still got it after breaking a tackle and pushing Gibril Wilson for 30 yards with a stiff-arm, was my old-school kickass self. Wilson got Shockeyed!

Mark Brunell and Carney discuss early bird options for dining after the game.

You know, I had a funny thought while we were getting whipped in the first half: Miami is winning with Nick Saban's players.

Get it, you looney and ungrateful LSU fans? Yeah, jshox saw thousands of you leave early Saturday night after beating down Auburn after crying for seven weeks about the Tigers not beating anyone down.

Ya'll got some warm seats saved right here.

In the fourth quarter the NFL's fourth-best rushing attack, yeah, that's us, and you don't have to be told we can throw it, too, leaned on Mike Bell, who rocked chinstraps on 12 carries for 80 yards.

Fullback Heath Evans also played big but got rocked on one catch-and-run; we're confident he's alright, if not immediately.

'Breesus' blesses his battering ram.

Congratulations also to Porter for returning his first pick-six at the end to give us 47 points. I wanted another touchdown on the board and I know we wouldn't have put another one up there, running the clock out and satisfied with 40 points instead, because coach doesn't believe in running the score up like ogre Bill Belicheck.

It's too bad I don't have any photos of Porter or Sharper or even of myself, but I rely on the AP for photos and those plays took place between the thirties. I guess AP photogs just park behind the end zones all game.

Now jshox vlogging columnist Deezzy on New Orleans' win.

And Reggie still flies. Who Dat my True Dats!