Spreading the ball around

• By LES EAST
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Oct 19, 2009

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NEW ORLEANS — The Saints’ offense put together a fantasy football team owner’s dream game during New Orleans’ 48-27 victory against the New York Giants on Sunday at the Superdome.

Seven different players scored touchdowns and only two skill players that touched the football — wide receiver Devery Henderson and running back Pierre Thomas — failed to reach the end zone, though Thomas rushed for a game-high 72 yards on 15 carries.

Among the touchdown-scorers, Marques Colston had eight catches for 166 yards, Lance Moore six for 78, Jeremy Shockey four for 37 and Robert Meachem two for 70. Mike Bell carried 15 times for 34 yards, Reggie Bush six for 17, and Heath Evans one for two.

That’s the most number of players on one team scoring touchdowns in the same game since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, matching a feat done nine times previously during that span.

“We’re stacked at a lot of positions,” Bell said. “They really keyed in on the run because we had beaten teams with the running game the last two weeks, but we have an explosive passing game. We’re hard to stop when we have the kind of balance we had today.”

New Orleans ran the ball 39 times for 133 yards and threw it 30 times, completing 23, for 369 yards.

The Saints got the NFL’s top-rated defense back on its heels from the start, driving 70 yards for a touchdown on the opening possession of the game. They converted three third downs and a fourth down when Bell scored on a 2-yard run. Their next three possessions also ended in the Giants end zone.

“We wanted to start out fast and get after this team,” Thomas said. “We believed we could control the game if we went after their defense.”

Brees surpassed the Giants’ league-leading average passing yards allowed for a game by throwing for 123 in the first quarter. At one point during the first half, he completed 15 consecutive passes.

“We were definitely rolling today from the opening kickoff,” Colston said. “We went in with a great game plan and the offensive line held up great.”

Coach Sean Payton said one of the keys to the performance was the line’s ability to protect Brees against one of the better pass rushes in the league, one that can consistently pressure a quarterback with its front four.

“They have a very talented group,” tackle Jon Stinchcomb said. “We did a good job of staying in situations that we could manage. We came in with a good scheme and we mixed it up with a lot of looks.”

The Giants didn’t sack Brees, though they did sack backup Mark Brunell once after Brees had been taken out of the game. Brees left after ending a two-game touchdown-pass drought and throwing for more yards than he had in the last two games combined.