Drew Brees, facing pressure from the Dolphins' rush in the first half, completed 28-of-38 passes for 298 yards with one touchdown to Maques Colston. He was intercepted 3 times, but he ran for two touchdowns.
The Saints have scored 238 points through six games, two points shy of averaging 40 a game. They are on a pace to 635 this season, which would obliterate New England's 2007 NFL record of 589.
In it's next four games, the Saints play Atlanta (4-2) and Carolina (2-4) at the Superdome, and then travel to winless St. Louis (0-7) and TampaBay (0-7). The Falcons are in second place in the NFC South two games behind the Saints and could give the Saints a tough time. But with all the weapons Brees has, and the Saints ' defense, it's hard to see the Saints losing agaisnt these teams.
In Week 12, the Saints have a Superdome showdown with New England.
Jeremy "Rambo" Shockey ran like a beast after catching a Brees pass and rumbling 66 yards, stiff-arming defenders along the way. Shockey played college football at Miami. He had 4 catches for 104 yards, his most as a Saint.
Darren Sharper's deflected interception return, the 13th interceptions return touchdown of his 13-year career, to start the second half made it 24-17 and the rout was on.
Mike Bell didn't play in the first half, but he wore down the Fins in the second with 80 yards on 12 carries, including a 35-yard run. He ran harder than Pierre Thomas (8-30) and Reggie Bush (3-10).
Ex-Saint Ricky Williams scored three touchdowns for the Dolphins, including a 68-yard dash.
Neither revenge against his former team nor his career-record dash resulted in Williams being talkative.
"I just hit the crease," said Williams. "We didn't play four quarters."
"There was never a doubt that we wouldn't come back," said Brees. "No matter what the score is, we always believe we can come back and win."
This game marked the first time this season had to come from behind and didn't score on their first possession.
This game was a "trap" for the Saints.
They had played one their best games ever against the Giants the week before and took apart New York, 48-27. The Saints might have had trouble "getting up" for Miami with a Monday night game against the division rival Falcons the next weekend.
The Saints have just begun to march. An unbeaten season? The NFL had a winless team last season in Detroit. The odds are very much against it.
MORNING LINE: Saints are 10-point favorites over the Falcons and LSU is 34-point favorites over Tulane.
New Orleans Hornets
Health was a big factor for the Hornets' fall to a 49-33 season and its first-round playoff ouster.
"People don't know the importance of health," said Hornets point guard Chris Paul "You lose a guy for 9 or 10 games at a time, and it kills you."
The Hornets starters missed a total of 62 games last season. The primary starting lineup of Paul, Rasual Butler, David West and Tyson Chandler went more than a month without playing together, starting only 25 games as a full unit all season.
Paul said the team was never ever able to get into a rhythm. "Every time we started to get some momentum, someone went down," said CP3.
The injury that hurt the Hornets the most was the ankle/toe problems of center Tyson Chandler, the human pogo stick who was Paul's favorite pick-and-roll partner on offense. In 2007-08 Paul and Chandler connected on a NBA-high 107 alley-oop dunks. Despite missing 37 games last season, Chandler still threw down 65 of CP3"s lobs, 24 more than the next best duo, Rajon Ronde and Kevin Garnett.
The Hornets questioned Tyson's ability to play a full season because of his recurring injuries and traded him to the Charlotte Bobcats for center Emeka Okafor. Chandler returned to the court in a preseason game last Tuesday night, 16 days ahead of schedule in his recovery spring surgery to repair ankle and toe problems.
Bobcats coach Larry Brown said it's too early for him to know how much he can use Chandler early in the season.
"We have to be really careful with him," said Brown. "Right now it's more a strength issue."
"We're going to miss some of the things Chandler did for us," said Hornets coach Byron Scott. "But we think Okafor can bring a few different dimensions."
Okafor is 5-foot-10 is a more polished offensive player than Chandler and can the low post and score over either shoulder. He
is also a threat to shoot from 15 feet and is one of three players -- Tim Duncan and Dwight Howard being the others --to average at least 10 points and 10 rebounds in each of the last five years. He has played all 82 games the last two seasons.
A top priority for Scott this season is to get some help for Paul and forward David West.
The basic plan is for have either rookie Darren Collison or Bobby Brown to back up Paul and for Darius Songalia or Ike Diogu to fill in for West.
"I'm going to make sure I get Chris and David some more time off," said the coach. "What I mean by time off is having them play less than 39 minutes a game like they had to last season."
Brown has played well in the preseason but expecting him to spell Paul over the course of a season may be a reach. Collison is a rookie, Enough said.
Up front, the issues are pretty much the same. Songaila has a legitimate track record in the NBA, but his rebounding has gotten worse in each of the last three seasons.
Diogu has been an enigma his entire career, and the Hornets are his fifth team. Less than two months into his rookie season, Diogu hit 27 points on the Pistons, including going 13-for-15 from the floor. That was his career high point.
Scott is looking for more consistency from the bench and doesn't want the reserves to lose leads like they did last season.
"It would be great if two or three of the new guys could have career years, said Scott. "That would help our starters."
The Hornets are deeper, but are they better?
Okafor hasn't played in a preseason game because of sprained toe he suffered on the first day of practice. Scott said he may not be ready when the Hornets open the season on Wednesday at San Antonio.
"I;m glad to be with the Hornets," said Okafor."My whole career I'be been on teams trying to become playoff-caliber teams, and now I've joined a team that has been to the playoffs and is looking for a championship. I'm excited."
"Tyson was my guy and I hated to see him go," said Paul. "But Emeka is a great player and he'll make me better. We'll make each other better.Once we start working together we'll be all right.
The Hornets' first home game is on Friday at 7p.m. against Sacramento
SOME HITHER, OTHERS YON: The Saints have scored 238 points through six games, two points shy of averaging 40 a game. They are on a pace to 635 this season, which would obliterate New England's 2007 NFL record of 589.
In it's next four games, the Saints play Atlanta (4-2) and Carolina (2-4) at the Superdome, and then travel to winless St. Louis (0-7) and TampaBay (0-7). The Falcons are in second place in the NFC South two games behind the Saints and could give the Saints a tough time. But with all the weapons Drew Brees has, and the Saints ' defense, it's hard to see the Saints losing against these teams.
No private entity should EVER be given a dime of the taxpayer's money. Let business succeed and fail based on the publics' acceptance of their products. Government should NEVER determine who wins and loses in the marketplace. If we end this practice (direct payments and subsidies) and stop supporting foreign governments with direct payments and troop deployments, then we'll have enough money to pay for "universal health care" and infrastructure upkeep. Written by kpf
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Seeing Bobby Jindal gave the Saints a 85 million dollar welfare check they better be winning. Written by Cry over this
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