Easy Breesy

The New Orleans Saints had a few things they needed to prove in their Sunday night matchup against the Carolina Panthers. It was incumbent upon Sean Payton’s team to establish that Monday’s 34-7 loss to the Seahawks in Seattle was a freak occurrence. The Saints had to gain some separation from a Panthers team that had won eight straight games, and was tied with New Orleans for the NFC South’s best record (and the NFC’s second-best record) at 9-3. And Rob Ryan’s defense wanted to show that despite being riddled by Russell Wilson in the air and on the ground, his charges knew how to handle dual-threat quarterbacks.

In their 31-13 win over the Panthers at the Superdome, it was a hearty “Mission accomplished” on all counts. Quarterback Drew Brees came back from his 147-yard debacle in the Pacific Northwest and rebounded to the tune of 30 completions in 42 attempts for 313 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions against one of the NFL’s best defenses. Brees also became the fastest quarterback ever to reach the 50,000 yard mark (in 183 games to Peyton Manning’s 191), and set a league record by exceeding 30 touchdown passes for his sixth straight season.

“We knew the challenge, especially on a short week,” Brees told NBC’s Michele Tafoya after the game. “Playing a great divisional opponent in the Carolina Panthers — they’d won eight in a row, so they were rolling. But he wanted to hit our stride and get our swagger back, and no better way than to come into the dome and do that. All three phases played exceptionally well tonight, and we got a team win.”

Carolina’s defense had allowed two first-half touchdowns during the entire season, but the Saints put up three in the second quarter alone. It was a bit of a slow start, as Carolina played its usual game of keep-away in the first quarter, possessing the ball for 11:30 to the Saints’ 3:30. But the Panthers sputtered in the red zone and managed just two field goals in all that time, and that won’t generally get it done against Brees when his offense is humming.