QB Drew Brees

High-Flying Saints Torch Jags
Brees throws for 445 yards, McKenzie caps win with TD, 41-24

posted November 4, 2007 - print me!
neworleansprofootball.com
by neworleanssaints.com

In one of the most prolific offensive displays in team history the New Orleans Saints ripped open what had been a seven-point lead and downed the visiting Jaguars, 41-24.

The Saints racked up 539 yards of total offense, led by quarterback Drew Brees’s 445 yards passing and Marques Colston’s 159 yards receiving and turned in a key defensive play in the third quarter when CB Mike McKenzie intercepted a Quinn Gray pass and returned it 75 yards for a score. The Saints also tied a team record by managing to pick up 32 first downs on the day.

“I guess when you look at last week and this week and what we have been able to do offensively this is as crisp as we have been in a long time,” Brees said. “We are really focused on just keeping it as a one week at a time situation. That focus has helped us to win four in a row.”

Focused is one word to describe Brees’s day, although “on fire” or “in the zone” would probably be more appropriate. The seven-year veteran posted the second most yards of career, bettered only the 510 yards he passes for against the Bengals last season.

“We got into a rhythm and wanted to take the fight to them,” said Brees. “Jacksonville is a big, strong and fast defense and we wanted to throw the first punch and just keep going after them. They have a lot of guys that can make plays, but so do we and we were up to the challenge.”

Were they ever!

When it was all was said and done, New Orleans had hammered one of the NFL’s most physical and opportune defenses and did so in a display that was as impressive as the Black-and-Gold has had in years. Brees hit nine different receivers en route to his 445 yard passing day and shredded the Jacksonville secondary with all types of passes, including three passing scores.

“That was an unbelievable game to play in,” said LB Scott Fujita. “It was a lot of fun to play in that game and it was mind-boggling to be on the sideline watching our offense operate. I was amazed at what I was watching from our offense.”
Reggie Bush scored 2 TDs in the 1st quarter

Reggie Bush scored 2 TDs in the 1st quarter

RB Reggie Bush had two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving, while David Patten and Lance Moore recorded the other offensive scores and Mike McKenzie tallied his first touchdown since 2003, then as a member of the Green Bay Packers.

“Reggie is playing at a different speed right now,” said Fujita.

“We are making plays,” said Bush after the game. “We are doing all the little things that help you to win. Coach Payton splits the season into four quarters. We are 0-0 right now. We need to pay attention to St. Louis, it’s our biggest game of the season.”

The 538 yards the Saints racked up were the most ever surrendered by Jacksonville and Brees’s 445 were also the most yards ever allowed by the Jaguars. In addition, the Saints held the dangerous Jacksonville rushing tandem of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew to 82 yards, the seventh straight game the Saints have kept opposing teams under 100-yards rushing in a game.

The Saints accepted the opening kickoff and drove 40 yards in seven plays, highlighted by a 20-yard completion from Brees to Colston and a 12-yard run by Bush. The Saints then caught the Jaguars off guard with a timely on-side kick at the Saints’ 43 when Terrance Copper pounced on the perfect kick without a Jaguar in sight.

The biggest play on the drive came on a short completion from Brees to WR David Patten that Patten turned into a 26-yard gain by breaking several tackles. The Saints also received a timely play when RB Aaron Stecker took a screen pass on a third and eight and powered his way to the sticks and a first down. RB Reggie Bush scored on a one-yard run to put the Saints ahead 10-0 midway through the first quarter.

Jacksonville pulled within three points after they connected on an 80-yard strike from Gray to Williams, which was the second longest play in the history of the Jacksonville Jaguars history.

The Saints were unable to get past midfield on their third possession of the game and pinned the Jaguars at their own 10, but Jacksonville immediately hit a 15 yard run from Fred Taylor and then picked up 38 yards on a screen pass from Gray to RB Maurice Jones Drew. The Jaguars drove to the Saints’ 12 yard-line and were faced with a third-and-three with just over two minutes to go in the first quarter but the Saints buckled and forced an completion, but former Saints K John Carney’s 30-yard field goal tied the game at 10-10.

The Saints then stormed right back with a four play drive that covered 79 yards in 1:49, highlighted by a 20 yard Brees to Colston completion and a 57 yard catch and run from Brees to Billy Miller, the tight end’s longest career reception. On the next play, Brees hit Bush for a two-yard touchdown pass.

Jacksonville answered with a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown when Jones-Drew bolted up the middle of the field and raced for the score that tied the game at 17 on the final play of the first quarter. It was the first time since November 30, 2003 that the Saints had surrendered a kickoff return for a touchdown.

The Saints then drove all the way down to the Jacksonville 20 but Brees was sacked and had the football stripped by Jacksonville DE Paul Spicer at the Jacksonville 31. Spicer’s sack was the first sack allowed by the Saints in four games, having last lost a fumble in the contest against the Tennessee Titans on September 24.

The Saints’ defense then tightened at stopped the Jaguars at midfield. On a third-and-long, Will Smith and a blitzing Roman Harper drilled Gray in the pocket and the quarterback was slow to leave the field under assistance from the Jacksonville trainers. The quarterback had his right ankle taped after the Saints began at their own 25 with 9:49 left in the first quarter.

The Saints continued to roll up the yardage against the vaunted Jacksonville defense and ripped off 75 yards in nine plays in 4:18, capped off by a Brees to Lance Moore eight-yard touchdown pass. On the drive, Brees was 7-of-7 for 65 yards. Mare’s extra point gave the Saints a 24-17 lead.

Jason Craft then turned in a big play in a third down when he knocked down a pass intended for Dennis Northcutt. The pass defensed resulted in Jacksonville punting the ball away to the Saints, who then began a drive at their own 27-yard line. The Saints however could only muster three yards and were forced to punt from there own 31. LB Troy Evans made a beautiful open field tackle on Jones Drew at the Jacksonville 20.

Jacksonville then was flagged for a holding infraction that pushed them back 10 yards to their own 10 just before the two minute warning. The Saints quickly called a timeout and stopped the clock just before the two minute warning and then stuffed a Jacksonville rush for no gain as the clock stopped at the two minute warning and the Jaguars facing a 3rd and 16 from their own 14. Jones-Drew then went off right tackle but stepped out of bounds with 1:54 left in the half. Jacksonville punt away and the Saints started at their own 35.

David Patten snared a Brees offering across the middle of the field and bolted 36 yards. Brees and Bush then hooked up for a short completion. Brees then dropped back and pumped faked twice, and was stripped of the ball by Reggie Heyward. Jacksonville recovered the ball, but after an officials review, the play was ruled an incompletion and the Saints faced a third-and-10 and Bush scampered for five yards to the Jacksonville 24 with :43 left.

K Olindo Mare then attempted a 43-yard field goal but the kick sailed wide right at the last instance, thus thwarting a potential 10-point lead.

CB Jason David then intercepted a Gray offering at the Saints’ 24. Brees hit TE Eric Johnson for 10 yard gain, then connected on a 30-yard completion to Colston to the Jacksonville 36 with :15 remaining and Brees hit Bush for a two yard gain to the 34, setting up a 52-yard field goal missed wide to the left.

Jacksonville took possession of the opening kick of the second half and started at their own 21 and recorded big plays with a 14-yard reception from WR Ernest Wilfork, and a 21-yard pass to TE Marcedes Lewis. The Jaguars then went for it on a fourth-and-four from the Saints’ 34. CB Mike McKenzie jumped Gray’s throw along the sideline and bolted 75 yards untouched for a score, giving the Saints a 31-17 lead with 8:47 left in the third quarter.

Saints defensive end Will Smith tracked down Gray on a third down scramble and stopped him after a one-yard gain at the Jaguars’ 28. Jacksonville punter Adam Podlesh hit a wobbling 38-yard punt that gave the Saints possession of the football with 6:56 left in the third quarter. It marked the first time the Saints’ offense had been on the field in the second half.

The Saints offense continued to rack up yardage, ripping off a 9 play, 67 yard drive in 4:54 that ended with a four-yard TD pass from Brees to Patten. It was Patten’s first touchdown as a Saint and put the Saints ahead 38-17 with 2:02 left in the third quarter.

The Saints’ defense once again thwarted the Jaguars’ offense, as former Jaguars first round pick Renaldo Wynn collected his first sack as a Saint early in the fourth quarter, forcing the Jaguars to punt as the Saints set up at their own 27.

After an Aaron Stecker run that picked up 10 yards, the Saints couldn’t manage another first down and punted the ball away to the Jaguars with just over 11 minutes to play. Jacksonville abandoned the run game and Gray struck with a 56-yard completion down the middle of the field to WR John Broussard. On the next play, Gray hit veteran receiver Dennis Northcutt for a 15-yard scoring play that closed the Saints’ lead to 38-24 with 9:32 remaining in the game.

The Saints then 6:31 off the clock on a 12-play drive that ended with a Mare 34-yard field goal that gave the Saints a 41-24 lead late in the fourth quarter.

CB Jason Craft turned in the last of the Saints’ three interceptions when he intercepted a Gray pass in the end zone with less than a minute remaining in the game.

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