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Sean Payton and Drew Brees talk often about the eternal quest for a perfect game.

On Sunday, they nearly achieved it.

The New Orleans Saints weren’t perfect in their 51-14 rout of the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. But they were about as close as a team can get to fault-free football for four quarters in an NFL game.

This is what a near-perfect football game looks like:

The Saints scored on their first nine possessions.
They scored touchdowns on all five of their first-half series.
They converted their first seven third-down attempts and did not allow the Bengals to convert any of their six third-down attempts.
The offensive line did not allow a sack for the third consecutive game.
Drew Brees threw as many touchdown passes (three) as incompletions, going 22 of 25 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns.
The Saints committed one penalty, a meaningless 5-yard false start infraction by Josh Hill on the opening drive.
And Thomas Morstead did not punt once in 10 offensive possessions.
“Good thing I signed my contract extension before the season,” Morstead cracked.



Jokes and smiles were plentiful in the Saints’ boisterous postgame locker room. The win was the Saints’ biggest of the season. Their point total was the second highest of any team in the league this season and tied for the fourth-highest total in Saints history. The loss equaled the worst setback in Marvin Lewis’ 16-year coaching tenure in Cincinnati.

“I thought we did a lot of things well today,” Saints Coach Sean Payton said afterward in the understatement of the year.

When Payton was asked if this was as close to a perfect game as a team could play, he refused to eat the cheese.

“No, this was a good game, but it wasn’t a perfect game,” he said while proceeding to list a couple of blown pass coverages and one blown blocking assignment. “Look, I’m sure there will be a lot of things that we like, but there will be a number of things we need to clean up.”

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SmashMouth

OldMaid

True.

K Major

I think the addition of Eli Apple at corner was a solid move.

The secondary looks better & our safeties (see Marcus INT) can play safety. The main goal is to improve every week and they are doing just that.

dam1953

Several comments from the game -

1- Ingram was a beast yesterday.
2- This has to be one of the most balanced offenses in NFL history. Run, Pass, Kick, there are no weaknesses and it all starts with the O line.
3- Ingram's and Kamara's running and receiving skills are a thing of beauty, just not for opposing Ds. Kamara was one step away from long TDs on the jet sweep and punt return.
4- @cantguardmike is fer real. The opposing D knows it coming, but still can't do anything about it.
5- The young receivers are starting to contribute. They looked good against Cinci. Of course, everything we did looked good against Cinci.
6- Other than the 1st drive, the starting D was in control. It seems like it takes the D one or two series before they get into the game.
8- The D line has a solid run D and is starting to develop a consistent pass rush. Pressure on Dalton helped take pressure off our DBs. This will help against Carolina since Dalton and Scam have similar tendencies. Both are easily flustered. Even the Bob & Tom comedy radio station is having a call in to fill in "Cam Newton folds like a ______" after last week's fisaco in Pittsburgh.
7 - Brees is like a great bottle of wine. He just seems to get better with age.
8- Saints's fans made their presence known in Cinci. I met Saint's fans from OH, KY IN, KA, MO and PA. The Who Dat's simply drowned out The Who Dey's. Of course "Dey" didn't have much to cheer about.

”It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin

Thirty3

Philly going down!

jeanpierre

Philadelphia has impressive front seven on defense, but their suspect secondary just took another hit - Ronald Darby, Eagles CB and Jameis Winston's alibi every time Winston's accused of sexual assault to IR...

K Major

They have nothing but back ups playing now.

Barry from MS

Gotta have depth. Doesn't show up until Nov/Dec typically, but no depth means bringing in folks that wouldn't even sniff a 53 in Aug. We got depth everywhere.

Really wish Green would have played just to see how Apple is progressing in the D.

K Major

No one gonna mention the killer instinct Sean Payton has shown ? ...

Circle back to that Andy Dalton INT, subsequent pick by Marcus W. When he was finally tackled, there were only 7 ticks before half. Most teams send out the FG team and take the sure points.

What does Payton call? A slant to Thomas for a TD. That was beautiful.

This team is showing no mercy on opponents. Once they see blood, it's over. Saints are sharks in water.