Don’t call it a comeback
I been here for years
Rockin’ my peers and puttin’ suckas in fear
…
Explosion, overpowerin’
Over the competition, I’m towerin’
…
Don’t you dare stare, you betta move
Don’t ever compare
Me to the rest that’ll all get sliced and diced
Competition’s payin’ the price

Cha ching! Come on, Drew, no 360? And when did Don Shula get a gig as an NFL official?

Want to know how good this team and their godlike quarterback are? They kick ass even when they suck.

First things first though. In my preview of this game, I pretty much disrespected the shit out of the Dolphins, and I feel like I owe them an apology. For all the talking they were doing in the week leading up to the game though, I’m not gonna give it to them. Hey Crowder, how do Drew’s balls smell?

But I will say this… they’re a hell of a lot tougher than I thought they would be. And I honestly think it’s a damn shame that they had to lose that game. Wouldn’t surprise me a bit if they end up going from 2-4 to a wild card berth. They definitely opened my eyes, that’s for sure.

But with that being said, ultimately, they were just another victim. 36-10 in the second half. 22-0 in the fourth quarter. 43-10 in the final 30:02. Ho. Lee. Shit. You mess with the bull, young man…

So is it beginning to feel like THE YEAR yet?

Just when you think this thing couldn’t get any more unfathomable, yesterday happens. I have to be honest, I didn’t think the 2009 Saints had it in ‘em to stink up the joint like they did for the first 29 minutes. The good news? I don’t think they have it in ‘em to do it again. I think that’s about as bad as it gets for these Saints.

And yet, they won. On the road. By two scores. Again.

While coming back from a 21 point 2nd quarter deficit and a 10 point 4th quarter deficit. That’s both sublime and ridiculous. But at this point, how could you expect anything else? This whole damn season has been both sublime and ridiculous.

And while I’m admitting how ridiculously wrong I’ve been about various things, let’s throw this one onto the pile. I had dismissed the very idea of this game as a "trap game" out of hand as yet another Message Board Guy platitude. Oh, I don’t deny that it’s an actual thing, I just didn’t think it was applicable to this game. "Trap games are for the weak" is what I’d have told you before yesterday.

Egg, meet face. Aside from some really good football being played by the opponent in the first half, it seems pretty clear that the trap game syndrome was definitely a factor. It was pretty obvious that the Saints weren’t nearly as up for this game going in as Miami was. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there was any overt overconfidence or looking past the Dolphins or anything like that.

It’s just that when things have been coming so easily… all damn season… it can take a little while to realize that you’re gonna have to shift up a gear or two right now today, or you’re gonna lose. Badly.

And shift into (yet) another gear, they did. To say the least. Again.

I mean, for the love of fuck. In the second half, they were running at a pace for SEVENTY TWO POINTS over a full game. If not for the missed PAT and a subsequent failure on a two point conversion to make up for it, it would have been a pace for 76. And if NFL games were 60 minutes and 4 seconds long, it would have been a pace for 86.

And all that after falling behind by a margin that would have any previous Saints team (and 99% of all NFL teams) coming to grips with getting their asses kicked and looking to next week. And who’d have blamed them? I sure wouldn’t have. Sometimes there comes a time when you just have to accept it and be thankful that you’ll live to fight another day.

Not this team. Not this year. No sir.

Not this quarterback. Not this defense. Not this head coach. (We’ll forgive him for the initial decision to take the 3 and regroup at Red Lobster during halftime.) Not bloody fucking likely. This team smells greatness. And greatness does not smell like a chip shot field goal from the 8 to close out the half down by two touchdowns.

Greatness smells like Drew Brees’ testicles. If you don’t believe me, just ask Channing Crowder. He’ll testify.

But while Drew might have been the catalyst for perhaps the single most impressive comeback victory in the whole damn history of this franchise (and, really, who else would it have been?) once again, as has been the case all year, it wasn’t just Drew. Not by a long shot.

Hey, here’s something else I couldn’t have been more wrong about. The decision to trade for Poochie. I’m not a big "intangibles" guy, especially when the intangibles don’t come with an equal or greater amount of production which is 100% tangible. But the Shockmeister has been bringing both by the metric shitload this year.

Oh, we’re not about to stop indulging in all manner of internet jackassery at his expense, not even close. Perish the thought. It’s way too much fun. But if he isn’t in 3rd place for the 2009 Saints MVP behind Drew and Sharper, who is? I don’t think there’s any argument anymore that he hasn’t completely justified the move to acquire him. And then some.

There’s a swagger. The likes of which we haven’t seen since Rickey Jackson and Pat Swilling. A killer instinct. A never say die (EVER!) attitude.

A lot of it, especially yesterday, is due to Drew. Of course. Hey, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s having a firm grasp of the obvious. But Drew, quintessential leader that he is, and the pregame hype chants notwithstanding, is usually more of the businesslike, calm, cool, collected, methodical, surgical type of leader. Ditto Sean Payton for the most part. And that’s fine. Hell, it’s great. You need that kind of impeccable professionalism.

But Shockey? Shockey’s the guy who will walk up to a random douchebag in a bar and punch him in the fucking throat for no other reason than he knows you’ll get a kick out of it. And he’ll turn around and flash you a smile and a thumbs up, knowing damn well that he’s about to get clocked at the base of his skull by a beer bottle, and that he deserves it. Why? Because that’s just the Shockmeister. And he knows he’ll be able to handle whatever comes next, and he knows you’ve got each other’s back.

And this team needed that too. I didn’t think they did, but they did. It’s making all the difference.

Gregg Williams. I’m pretty sure that the Saints’ defensive performance in the second half was no more about winning the game than it was about staying in GW’s good graces. Because, well, fuck being in that guy’s doghouse. No thank you, I’ll pass if you don’t mind.

This team needed that too.

Thankfully, they’ve finally got it. All of it.

If yesterday didn’t convince you, then what will?