Saints Stumble to 12-0

By Todd Stauffer Monday, December 7, 2009 12:23 p.m. CST

The Saints lost the coin toss going into overtime against the Washington Redskins, a team that had arguably beat them on everything except voodoo, karma and the "luck of the call." But, in the end, a fumble recovery and a field goal from the one yard line left the Saints with a perfect 12-0 record and a lot of people -- Redskins fans among them -- shaking their heads.

Throughout most of the game, the Redskins shut down the Saints running game, stifling the efforts of running backs Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell and Reggie Bush. That forced Brees to pass, relying on a combination of screens, quick passes and big plays to keep the Saints in the game. (And pass he did, racking up nearly 420 yards through the air.)

Trailing 17-10 late in the second quarter, the first of the voodoo plays commenced; held to three-and-out in their own territory, Saints punter Thomas Morestead shanked a 31-yard punt that landed on the leg of the Redskins' Kevin Barnes, making it a live ball that Saints' safety Usama Young recovered, giving the Saints possession in Redskins territory.

The ensuing plays didn't go well and, after a sack, the Saints Drew Brees was facing a 3rd-and-26 when he threw an interception to Kareen Moore. Moore stood up and ran back the interception until he was met by Saints wide receiver Robert Meachem, who physically stripped Moore of the ball, caught it in mid-air and ran to the endzone for a touchdown. After a lengthy replay review, the call on the field stood -- interception, runback, strip, runback, touchdown.

Result: 17-17 at half time.

The Redskins got another touchdown in the third quarter, the teams traded field goals and the score was 30-20 when the Saints marched down the field early in the fourth quarter, but, stopped in the red zone, were forced to kick a field goal. Leading 30-23, the Redskins then went on their own march down the field, burning up the clock and setting up a chip-shot field goal to put the game nearly out of reach for the Saints. The Redskins kicker, Shawn Suisham (who has not yet described anything to make the experience sound as if, perhaps, a doll of his image was poked by a voodoo needle) missed the 23-yard kick wide to the right, giving the ball back to the Saints with a little under two minutes to go.

They only needed about 30 seconds.

At 1:19 on the game clock, Robert Meachem marched into the endzone, the recipient of a 52-yard touchdown pass by Brees. Tie game.

With time left on the clock, the Redskins began driving when the Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma came up with an interception; after a 58-yard field goal miss, time expired.

Result: 30-30 at the end of regulation.

After the aforementioned (and relatively un-voodoo-ish) coin toss, the Saints got the ball back on the third play from scrimmage by the Redskins when running back Mike Sellers coughed up the ball. Initially ruled down-by-contact, a time out by Saints coach Sean Peyton (who was without official replay "challenges" as dictated by overtime rules) allowed the replay officials to take a look and overturn the call on the field, giving the Saints the ball. A few plays later and kicker Garrett Hartley was putting the winner through the uprights.

Result: 12-0.

Highlights:

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