The New Orleans Saints (9-3) handed the Detroit Lions (7-5) another tough loss, 31-17, in what turned into a shootout. The two teams combined for over 900 yards of offense, and over 700 yards passing.
The Saints jumped up early and never looked back, scoring three TDs in the second quarter, including a 67-yard TD pass from QB Drew Brees to Robert Meacham. Brees had an exceptional day throwing the ball, as he has all season, completing 26 of 36 passes for 342 yards and 3 TDs with no INTs. Meacham led the way with 3 catches for 119 yards, but Brees also threw TD passes to Darren Sproles and Lance Moore.
Not to be outdone, Matthew Stafford actually threw for over 400 yards – completing 31 of 44 passes for 408 yards, with 1 TD and 1 INT. Stafford completed passes to 10 different receivers, and actually had six different receivers with over 40 yards through the air.
Ultimately, the Lions were hurt by the little things – they weren’t efficient when they needed to be. They were only 2 of 11 on third down (compared with 6 of 12 for the Saints) and they were penalized 11 times for 107 yards. They were also playing without Pro Bowl defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who was serving the first of his two game suspension and not available this week.
Brees remains on record pace for the season. He now has 4,031 yards through the first 12 games, which is an NFL record for 12 games. If he stays on his current pace, he would end the season with 5374 yards, crushing Dan Marino’s 1984 passing yardage record by almost 300 yards (the record is 5,084). The 27-year-old record is one of the oldest in the NFL.
The Saints now have a solid 2 game lead in the NFC South. The Lions fall into a tie for second place in the NFC North, five games behind the still-perfect Green Bay Packers. With the division title out of reach, the Lions have to jockey for one of the Wild Card slots, and with games remaining against Green Bay and Oakland, that is not an easy task.
