Fear me, you lords and lady preachers
I descend upon your Earth from the skies
I command your very souls, you unbelievers
Bring before me what is mine…

Cha ching! So much for the notion that the league was beginning to figure out how to keep Drew from eating them whole, eh?

By most accounts, this was the perfect storm. Drew was at his surgical best, shitting gold like only he can. In fact, everything the Saints did Sunday came up aces. The Giants were victimized by the Saints at their very best, while the Giants themselves had one of those days, and thus never stood a chance. We here at moosedenied hate to be contrarian, but I’m gonna have to go ahead and beg to differ. Oh, it was lovely, don’t get me wrong. But you know what? After careful consideration and multiple re-watches, I’m not so sure that the Saints aren’t even better than that.

Opposing coaching staffs all over the league must be maxing out their expense accounts on cases of clean Sansabelts this week.

Because, for as gaudy as Drew’s stats were, haven’t we all seen this numerous times before? I’d assert that we’ve seen better out of Drew before. Sure, it seems counterintuitive to call 23 of 30 for 369 and 4 touchdowns "just another day at the office." But, really, isn’t there a reason that that kind of performance is what we’ve come to expect?

Reasonable people can disagree on this, of course, but as good as Drew was Sunday, I don’t think he was at the top of his game. A number of times, in my opinion, it was more about some ridiculous plays being made by his receivers.

If Lance Moore is Bob Snagit, then clearly Marques Colston is Hands Christian Andersen.

Speaking of Lance, I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize for ever suggesting that he might be battling to avoid irrelevance. Mea maxima culpa. Never again. Never again will I take that guy for granted.

So much for the Saints’ wideouts being just a bunch of guys basking in the reflected glow of Drew’s greatness. The nearly-intercepted tipped ball to Lance? Not many guys make that catch. Colston’s catch at the 1 yard line? Beautiful pass, but one that most guys aren’t capable of holding onto. Meachem’s touchdown? Shockey’s touchdown? Well-defended and extremely difficult plays to make.

It’s days like Sunday when it slaps you upside the head that this insane passing game isn’t all about Drew. I’ve been as guilty as the next guy of forgetting that. Next time somebody suggests ditching one of these guys to "make room on the depth chart" for Adrian Arrington or some other flavor of the week, because Drew can turn any chump off the street into a Pro Bowl wideout, tell him to shove it up his ass. Especially if the person suggesting that is yours truly.

And this offensive line officially kicks ass. All of them, including Bushrod, Strief and Nesbit. Drew was doing his taxes in the pocket. And this was against Umenyiora, Tuck and Kiwanuka. That’s just not supposed to happen.

133 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. Hell, even Reggie Bush got into the action, which these days speaks volumes. Oh sure, it was only 7 touches for 24 yards. But boy did he SET THE WORLD ON FIRE with that 7 yard touchdown run. Dude’s a playmaker, I tells ya.

Incidentally, just something to chew on. With the lone exception of week 17, 2006 vs. Carolina, when Payton pulled his starters after one possession, Reggie’s 7 touches from scrimmage Sunday were a career low. Not that I’m complaining or anything. Just sayin’ is all. Oh, and 2 punt returns for 0 yards, and no, they weren’t fair catches. High five!

Keith Olbermann on Football Night in America, describing Reggie’s touchdown run:
WE HAVE A REGGIE BUSH SIGHTING!!!!

‘Bout sums it up, eh? Reggie’s touches from scrimmage this year: 12, 13, 16, 9, 7. Juuuust sayin’.

And then there’s the defense. Best set of corners EVER.

And Sharper? This might have been his best game yet. Aside from YET ANOTHER pick six (I don’t care that it didn’t count on the scoreboard, he still made the play) he narrowly missed on two other picks as well. That’s the kind of playmaking which doesn’t show up on the stat sheet that Message Board Guy loves to point to when the object of his affection is statistically insignificant and he’s grasping at anything at all to justify his love. Only, in this case, it’s not complete bullshit.

You want perhaps the single most compelling example of what Gregg Williams has brought to the table this year? Feel these nipples whenever Roman Harper eases himself up to the line of scrimmage right before the snap. They could cut glass.

Amazing how not-long-ago it was when Harper was riding right alongside Kevin Kaesviharn and Josh Bullocks on the Midnight Train to Rob Kelly Town. Isn’t it a beautiful thing when the guy calling the shots has a firm grasp of what guys are good at vs. what they suck at, and sees things as they are rather than what he wishes they were?

Know what’s gonna suck? Scott Shanle not being able to participate in his first Pro Bowl, because he’ll have bigger fish to fry the following weekend. I wonder who’s gonna be the fortunate first-alternate. Dan Morgan? Derrick Brooks? Sedrick Hodge?

This wasn’t supposed to happen. None of it. This is a whole new defense, for crying out loud. Three new starters in the defensive backfield, if you count Porter, who now has a whole nine NFL starts under his belt. A washed up free safety. A washout strong safety. Two fat, overpaid defensive ends who don’t really give a shit. Three castoff linebackers. Remi Ayodele. And the guy overseeing it all? Fired, passed over for Jim fuckin’ Zorn, and told he wasn’t needed by Jack fuckin’ Del Rio.

And that produced this? Immediately? Really? Aren’t these kinds of things supposed to take time to gel? Or jel? Or jell? Or otherwise congeal?

You wanna know when this Saints team officially arrived? It was at the start of the third quarter. The Giants received the kickoff and could have brought it back to within 10. And they damn sure hadn’t given up at that point. The Giants never do. The Saints’ defense produced a 3 & out.

After an all-too-adventurous (and familiar) punt "return" attempt by Reggie, the Saints’ offense goes 3 & out. In the past, this would have been the beginning of an epic collapse. Again. Especially after the Saints’ punt coverage squandered an absolute beauty of a punt by Morstead and allowed a huge return by Hixon.

You could feel it in your bones. Here we go again. The Giants drive into Saints territory, and Brenneman and Aikman point out for the 400th time that we’re gonna have a bonafide barnburner on our hands when the Giants pull back to within 10.

Enter Gregg Williams, Roman Harper and Jabari Greer. Harper comes in untouched, Eli literally closes his eyes and heaves up a wish, right into the hands of Greer.

The ensuing Saints possession comes down to 3rd & 7. No problem, right? False start, David Thomas. 3rd & 12. Yeah, so what? Drew to Colston for about 35 or so.

Illegal touching. Colston had stepped out of bounds before making the catch. 3rd & SEVENTEEN. Fuckin’ lovely.

Oh, wait a minute. This is the 2009 Saints. What, me worry? Not a problem. Drew to Lance for 20. First & 10, red zone. Damn. Just…. damn.

9 plays, 71 yards and 5:11 later, touchdown to Colston. Easiest play of the day. 41-17 with 19 minutes left to play. Game all-but-over.

"Finish." Indeed.

And for lagniappe? Watch the replay and check out Gumbo following the play. High comedy. In slo mo, you can actually pinpoint the exact moment when the Giants, at long last, finally lost their will to live.

But to bring it back to the overarching contrarian point I’m trying to make here… the craziest part of it all is how many plays the Saints didn’t quite make Sunday. Sharper and Vilma both narrowly missed out on 4th quarter INTs in the end zone. Sharper’s pick six was called back on a mistake Vilma never makes.

Stats be damned, Drew’s been better than he was Sunday.

Reggie Bush’s inner playmaker is still curled up in a fetal position somewhere, desperately holding onto the dream of someday having his own reality tee vee show on VH-1.

The left tackle was starting his fourth NFL game, in lieu of an injured two-time Pro Bowler. One of the corners was starting his ninth. The left guard was starting his 21st.

The whole damned defense was in its fifth game under the new head motherfucker in charge. They were missing a starting linebacker (for most of the game) and a presumed starting defensive tackle.

And yet, they beat the Mighty New York Football Giants. By 21. And it wasn’t nearly as close as the score would indicate. A couple of bounces go differently, and it might very well have been more along the lines of New England vs. Tennessee.

So tell me, what kind of chance does the rest of the league have? Because I’ve gotta tell ya, I’m pretty sure that the Saints still haven’t topped out. Just when you think this team is hitting on all cylinders, they install a couple more cylinders.

And they just dropped 48 on the best team they’ll face all year.

What horrors will be unleashed when this team actually hits "midseason form?"