Pats Send Saints to First Loss With Late Score
Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are taking command of the AFC East
The New Orleans Saints were already starting to celebrate. they had stopped the New England Patriots on fourth down with less than 2:30 remaining in their own territory. 6-0 was a mere formality at this point. Even if the Pats did pull off the improbable and stopped Drew Brees from putting the Saints in the end zone, they were already in field goal range which would stretch the lead to 27-23, meaning Tom Brady had to get the Pats into the end zone.
When the Saints stopped Brady again, surely the game was over now. Pats jerseys were being removed all over New England to put Red Sox jerseys on. Patriots caps were coming off while Red Sox caps were going on. This game was over. And then somehow the Pats pulled off a miracle rally. Brady got the ball back after the defense forced a three-and-out and with no timeouts and not much time on the clock, he led the team down the field. There were even a couple of passes that would normally have been caught that his young group of receivers could not come up with. But he still managed to sail a ball to the back left corner of the end zone, just out of the reach of the Saints defender and into the hands of Kenbrell Thompkins with :05 left for the 30-27 win.
Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, who had been celebrating just a couple of minutes earlier, looked like he had just lost a winning lottery ticket down a sewer. The Detroit Tigers should have taken this as a bad sign. They too looked to have a win in their hip pocket, taking a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the eighth. But in baseball, you cannot run out the clock. This rally was all the more incredible considering the Saints should have been able to.
The AFC East, which was thought to be evening up a bit, now looks like the Patriots are still the team to beat. The Saints hammered the Miami Dolphins just a couple of weeks ago 38-17. They looked to be the team most likely to unseat the Pats.
So as we have learned many times, the Patriots still rule this division until someone in the East beats them, or Brady retires.
Yesterday, while Miami was on their bye week, the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets both lost. This is about the same time the Pats separated themselves from the pack last year and now it looks to be happening again. New England now has a 5-1 record and lead the East by 1.5 games over Miami and 2.0 on the Jets. The Bills now are 3.0 back.
