Wow! Where has this kind of defense been all year?? 
If you take the 3+ minutes of OT out of the equation, N.O. had a 13 minute advantage in time of possession (36:32 to 23:28). How did the D manage to hold up? Huge KUDOS to all of them!!!! The same effort (and gameplan) next week will wipe out Green Bay and keep hope alive (if the Vikes lose this week). But the offense has to keep the ball a lot longer. I’ve got to put that on Ron Turner (more on that later).
Obvious game balls to:
Danieal Manning – doing his best to make Hester a full-time receiver
D-line – If they put in this kind of effort all year we’d be talking about home field throughout the playoffs.
Maynard – OK, the pass in the fourth quarter was boneheaded, though it was a hell of a throw…and I still say that IS a catch…but the punting for the third week in a row was huge in the field position battle. That’s something we didn’t get in the losses to GB and Minny.
Orton – Yeah, he stared down a receiver and then threw straight to a LB he didn’t see, but the Davis INT wasn’t his fault. Plus Clark drops a TD and Olsen gets mugged in the 
end zone with no call. If (and I love using that word) Davis and Clark make those catches, and Olsen doesn’t get tackled with the ball in the air, we’re talking about a huge game and QB rating. That’s without ‘iffing’ the two Hester interference calls into catches. The opening missed bomb to 23 (left) was a huge play. The Saints had that in their heads the rest of the night and it cost them 77 yards of penalties.
Questions:
Why can’t Ron Turner call plays in the second half of games?
Twin sons of different mothers?
I love that photo, and it does explain a lot. Like “Let’s run a screen pass which is a timing pattern requiring lots of practice and we’ll throw it to our special teams ace instead of a guy that’s had reps on it.” Sure he dropped the same ball last week, but he’s due!”
And why did we not run more? Collinsworth gets a Game Mic for seeing that N.O. is in a “soft umbrella coverage” and saying that the Bears should be able to run all day on that. So Turner decides to pass.
Where was the no huddle? It worked all year so let’s just put it on the shelf for the most important game to date.
Why do we have no pass plays set up for Riddeau, Bennett, or for fan fave Hass?? We have a lot of guys who have proven they can’t get open, and when they do they can’t catch. Can those three guys on the bench and practice squad be worse? No. Can they be better? Don’t know. Let’s see them.
Bottom Line: Excellent defense against a great offense, stellar special teams and the offense did come back to tie and then win the game (mostly on the shoulders of Orton). Lots of good things happened. But Turner has got to get his head out of the tundra and call a better game. Hopefully in time for the Packers!
Great picture of Turner and his (mental) twin!