It’s the chance dangers that I’m afraid of — the senseless, unpredictable dangers of a world falling apart. Consider the physical risks of complex machinery in the hands of blind fools and fear-crazed cowards. … They’ll reach the stage where no day will pass without a major wreck.

Ain’t that the fuckin’ truth.

What was supposed to be a road trip to Tampa turned into a trip to Bizarro World, as the Saints defense held up their end of the bargain for once. The only thing familiar was the outcome, with the Saints snatching defeat from the jaws of victory yet again. But in Bizarro World, it was Drew Brees who gave the game away. Or at least that seems to be the general postgame consensus.

With all due respect to the thoughtful commentators, columnists, beat writers and bloggers out there who came to similar conclusions, I’m gonna have to go ahead and call bullshit.

Oh sure, on its face, that’s precisely what happened. It’s hard to argue with three interceptions, including two on the Saints’ final two possessions. It’s hard to argue with the defense "holding" the Bucs to 254 total yards and a "mere" 23 points.

But was it really Bizarro World? Or was it a typical Saints performance hiding behind a thin meteorological disguise? I’d argue that it was the latter.

The grim truth with this team is that on any given week, either Drew Brees has a near-perfect, MVP-caliber performance, or the Saints lose. Unfortunately, it’s just that simple. It’s all on Drew all the time. That he’s able to handle that as well as he does is a testament to his supernatural level of competence. It’s why we here at moosedenied refer to him as a god.

But the reality is that he’s not a god, he’s just the best quarterback in the league and inarguably the rightful most valuable player in the league.

Without Drew, this team is Detroit.

There are going to be times when Drew has a day that reminds us that he’s a mere mortal. The Saints are incapable of winning on those days. Without a running game and without a competent defense, the Saints simply don’t stand a chance without the kind of quarterback performance that cannot be reasonably expected every single week.

How spoiled have we become by Drew’s play, that a guy who put up 296 passing yards and two touchdowns in the rain and 20mph winds, to nine different receivers (who at the same time were also "credited" with nine dropped passes), against the 3rd best pass defense in the league, is the goat?

How spoiled are we that many of us continue to trot out the 0-17 when trailing at the end of the 3rd quarter stat, and claim that it shows that Drew isn’t "clutch?" Nevermind that Drew had 12 fourth quarter comeback wins in San Diego. Many of us seem all too eager to use that team stat as an excuse to assert that Drew "comes up small in big situations."

At the same time, only a Saints fan would heap praise on a defense that gave up 23 points, 149 yards on the ground and a 39-yard blown-coverage touchdown pass to a middling offense (16th in the league) in the same rain and 20mph winds. Only Saints fans would cheer such a C+ defensive performance that can be attributed largely to inclement weather. Only Saints fans would dance on the rooftops over the defense holding the Bucs to "THREE STRAIGHT PUNTS!!!"

Warrick Dunn was pushing the pile for an extra 2 yards, for crying out loud. Warrick fuckin’ Dunn! All five foot eight, one hundred sixty pounds of him.

This team has our expectations so out of whack that we’re grounding our A+ student for bringing home a B and buying our D student gifts for bringing home a C.

The reality is that the circumstances of this game, and the nature of both teams, were tailor-made for precisely the result we saw Sunday. It’s exactly what we should have expected. Bizarro World? Not by a long shot. It’s just what happens when a team like the Saints plays a team like the Bucs in a rainstorm. The Bucs are built for it and the Saints aren’t. Drew’s greatness was the main reason the game was close enough for Drew to "blow it" in the first place.

You’ll have to pardon me for not being impressed with giving up 23 points to a team that averages 23 points per game. Forgive me for assuming that had it not been for the rain and 20mph winds, the Bucs probably would have become the 6th opponent this year to score 30+ against this defense (with another scoring 29.) I’m sorry that I’m not exactly in the mood to throw a ticker tape parade over the defense giving up a whopping two fewer points than their 23rd ranked points-allowed average of 25.

Sure, the Saints "held" Fabulous Jeff to about 90 passing yards below his average and only nine completions on the day. Doesn’t that kinda stand to reason in a rainstorm? Isn’t it mitigated to a huge extent by the fact that they still got beat over the top for a 39-yard touchdown? Sure, they sacked Fab Jeff four times. Isn’t that mitigated by allowing him 42 rushing yards, which doubled his previous season-high?

This defense is Jim Taggart. They’re moochers. They take whatever the opponent’s incompetence and circumstances grant them, and then do a little dance and wait for the accolades to roll in on the rare occasion they meet the expectations of them, which rarely go beyond "Just don’t give up 30."

You know why the Saints did such a "great job" against the pass? Because in a rainstorm with 20mph winds, you run the ball. (To the tune of 149 yards, if you’re playing the Saints.)

Run the ball.

That is, unless you can’t.

This just in: the Saints can’t.

You know why the Saints threw the ball 47 times in a monsoon? Because they didn’t have any other choice. As usual.

Look, I’m not saying the Saints shouldn’t ever run the ball. Of course they should. Sure, there have been times when the Saints have been able to effectively run the ball for short periods of time in certain situations. Sure we all love Dulymus and Pierre, and we’d all like to think that the Saints are capable of winning a game on the ground, should Sean Payton ever choose to go that route. You can always point to specific plays where Sean Payton chose to pass, when conventional wisdom combined with our affection for our own backs suggests that running the ball would have been the better call. I’m not attempting to completely absolve Coach Clever Trousers of his pass-happy ways.

What I am saying is the same thing I’ve been saying for two years now. Under normal circumstances, the idea that passing almost 50 times in a monsoon against the league’s 3rd ranked pass defense gives you your best chance to win is sheer lunacy. But for this team, more often than not, it’s not lunacy. It’s the grim reality. They were rushing for 2.76 yards per carry, for crying out loud.

There’s legitimate value in "establishing the run" at the expense of accumulating yardage. I’ve always conceded that. But at what point does establishing the run become banging your head against a wall at the expense of your team’s chance to win? That point, for the Saints, is in a far different place than it is for most other teams. And I still insist that Sean Payton deserves a lot of credit for not letting conventional wisdom and personal fondness for his tailbacks blind him to that unfortunate fact.

It would be one thing if "establishing the run" were a one-step-back-two-steps-forward kind of proposition. But what indication is there that that would be the case for this team on any given week?

If I were an asshole, I’d trot out the following unbelievably annoying platitude: "It is what it is." But then I’d have to kill myself for actually having uttered that particular vapid 21st century catchphrase. So instead, in keeping with the theme, I’ll opt for the original… the one that actually carries meaning: "A is A."

This team is Drew Brees and whoever else he’s capable of carrying to victory on a given day. And the occasional single game where it appears otherwise is little more than the same old same old with a bit of a twist for variety’s sake.

Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.

This loss isn’t on Drew. This loss is on the fact that Drew’s all we’ve got.

Atlas shrugged, and those who remained had just enough in ‘em to draw a little applause for their own accomplishments as it all came crashing down.