Moore, Thomas lead Saints offense in win

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 17, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With all the star power the New Orleans Saints possess with the NFL’s top-ranked offense, you would hardly imagine that a pair of undrafted free agents would have the greatest impact on a game — at least on that side of the ball.

But that’s what third-year wide receiver Lance Moore and running back Pierre Thomas, a second-year pro, did on Sunday in the Saints’ important 30-20 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

While they’ve had their moments with the Saints, you would think Drew Brees, Deuce McAllister, Marques Colston, Jeremy Shockey and Devery Henderson would have a better shot at making an impact on the game.

Yet, Moore and Thomas came up big in combining for 246 of the Saints’ 369 total yards and two of their three touchdowns.

Moore, who posted career-highs with eight receptions for 102 yards, pulled in a 47-yard TD pass from Brees on the Saints’ second play of the second half to stretch their lead to 20-10.

Thomas rushed for a game-high 88 yards on 16 carries, including a 1-yard TD late in the third period that pushed the score to 27-13, and caught four passes for 56 yards to finish the game with 144 yards from scrimmage.

Moore’s third-quarter touchdown was a dagger to the Chiefs, who had failed to cut into the Saints’ 13-10 halftime advantage on their first possession of the second half.

The Saints had a running play called on second-and-5, but Brees switched it to a pass after getting to the line of scrimmage. Moore made a nice double-move on cornerback Ricardo Colclough to quickly get free, then had clear sailing down the right sideline after taking the easy throw from Brees.

“It was just a great call with the defense they were playing,” said Moore, who topped his old career-highs of seven catches for 101 yards against San Francisco in Week 4. “The defense gave us the look we wanted pre-snap.

“The offensive line did a great job of holding up, and Drew was Drew. He did the thing he’s done so well in this league for many years. He threw a perfect pass, and I caught it right in stride and I was able to score.”

“Lance did a nice job of selling the slant. The corner bit and the safety stayed low, so there went Lance up the sideline,” said Brees. “It was the second play of the second half and it obviously set the tempo for what we were going to do in the second half of the game.”

Moore shrugged off his career-best numbers, saying he was more happy with the win.

“The offense was moving the ball,” he said. “At the end of the day, if I have career highs then so be it. But we want wins and we were able to do that today. And I’m happy with that.”