Saints' kicking game improves

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Sep 21, 2009

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In Philadelphia, the New Orleans Saints, who struggled covering kicks in a season-opening win over the Detroit Lions last week, did a much better job Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles — with one exception.

The Saints special teams forced a huge break on the second-half kickoff, which helped break open a tight game and led to a 48-22 victory over the Eagles in Lincoln Financial Field.

Coming out of the locker room with a tenuous 17-13 lead, rookie cornerback Malcolm Jenkins stripped Eagles kick returner Ellis Hobbs of the ball, and Chris Reis recovered for the Saints.

That set the Saints’ offense up with a short field at the Eagles’ 22, which they quickly turned into a touchdown on Drew Brees’ 11-yard pass to fullback Heath Evans for a 24-13 advantage.

The Saints’ one bad play came later in the third quarter when Hobbs got loose for a 63-yard kickoff return to the New Orleans 35, which eventually led to an Eagles’ touchdown.

But all told, the Saints were much improved as they allowed just 17.6 yards on the Eagles’ other seven kickoff returns and held the dangerous DeSean Jackson to an average of just 2.5 yards on two punt returns.

Playing takeaway

Minutes after Jenkins and Reis combined for the first takeaway of the game for the Saints, weakside linebacker Scott Shanle intercepted a Kevin Kolb pass on the second play from scrimmage after Evans’ touchdown.

Shanle returned the pick, his second of the young season, to the Eagles’ 24 to set up a 7-yard touchdown run by Mike Bell just four plays later.

Late in the contest, free safety Darren Sharper returned an interception 97 yards for a touchdown, tying the club record set by Tommy Myers in 1978, and cornerback Tracy Porter ended the game with another interception off Kolb.

With their four takeaways, the Saints now have seven in just two games.

High-scoring outfit

With a second straight scoring explosion, the Saints became the first team since the 2001 Indianapolis Colts to light up the scoreboard for 40 or more points in its first two games of a season.