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On a night when the city was in an uproar, a concert was rocking Jackson Square, the Superdome roof was about to be blown off, and a championship banner was unveiled...two teams known for their offensive prowess showed that sometimes it is defense that wins games.

Thursday night marked the opening of the 2010 NFL season and the first game saw the New Orleans Saints defeat the Minnesota Vikings 14-9. In what ended up being a rematch of last year's NFC Championship Game; the offensive firepower just wasn't there for either team but the defenses showed up big time and proved that they can play too.

Drew Brees led the Saints 77 yards on the opening drive of the game for a touchdown and a 7-0 nothing lead. It was simply a beautiful offensive display where Brees put on a passing clinic that saw him complete 3 of 4 passes for 69 yards finishing with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Devery Henderson. After that though, the offense would virtually stall out for the rest of the first half.

The Vikings came into New Orleans with Brett Favre returning for a twentieth NFL season which truly showed in tonight's game. While there were moments when Favre looked like he has for most of his career, most of the night showed his age and severe amounts of fatigue. The entire second half of the game appeared as if Favre was merely going through the motions of the game without a bit of enthusiasm whatsoever.

Favre did lead the Vikings to all 9 of their points in the second quarter which culminated with a beautiful two-minute drive to end the first half. Without Sidney Rice, his primary target from last season, Favre relied on tight end Visanthe Shiancoe to pick up the slack and he did just that. The final drive of the half for the Vikings took only 45 seconds for them to go 64 yards ending on a 20-yard touchdown pass to Shiancoe.

Remi Ayodele busted through the line and blocked Ryan Longwell's extra point attempt.

Minnesota got the ball to start the second half and the Saints forced a punt after just four plays. The opening drive of the second half for New Orleans proved to be the game winner for them and just as clinical as their opening drive of the game.

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