Fluke??????????? Saints 27 Eagles 24

John Carney kicks the game winner.

He's 13 of 14 on the season.

Now, what are they going to say? Besides "It was a letdown game for Eagles after beating the Cowboys."

Screw that. The Saints are 5 and freaking 1. And your team probably isn't.

And the Eagles should have won that game. They had the game won. The Saints were dead in the 4th quarter. And the Eagles blew it. The Saints took the game from them in the 4th quarter. Just like the Panthers did to the Saints 2 weeks ago. I said 2 weeks ago that the good teams know how to finish in the 4th quarter.

Since I said that, the Saints have overcome two straight 4th quarter deficits and won games that average teams would have lost. I don't know how to make it any clearer than that.

5-1 at the break. I don't care who you are. You didn't predict that. And if you did, you deserved to be called a "squirrel," as Buddy used to say.

Now comes the fun, and harder, part of the schedule. But now the team has a couple of extra wins to play with.

THE GOOD

• The Saints got the ball with 8:26 left to go in the game, and the Eagles never got the ball back.
• On that drive, they overcame a holding call against Jammal Brown. That's usually a back-breaker for average teams.
  
• The Saints outscored the Eagles 10-0 after falling behind for the first time.
• Drew Brees in the 4th quarter: 10 of 11 with a huge touchdown to Joe Horn. That's what you call clutch.
  
• Joe Horn had his first big day with Brees. 6-110-2
• Deuce had 12 carries for 64 yards in spite of missing time due to injury.
  
• The defense played well and put pressure on Donovan McNabb and the Eagles the entire first half.
• Scott Fujita had his 2nd interception of the season. He also had a big sack on McNabb.
  
• Hollis Thomas had 6 tackles and a sack. He had his best game as a Saint, against his old team.
• Omar Stoutmire knocked away what could have been a touchdown pass in the first quarter.
• The Saints held the Eagles under 100 yards rushing (99 to be exact).
• The special teams was directly or indirectly responsible for 13 points this week. The special teams has been incredible so far. I say they were the turning point in 4 of the 5 wins this season. Kudos to Gleason, Melton, Stecker, Bush, Copper, Houser, and everyone else responsible for their play.
  
• John Carney got the game winner at the end of regulation. He's missed one field goal in the first 6 games this season.

THE BAD

• The third quarter and the first play of the fourth quarter were bad. 2005 Saints bad. And everyone was responsible on both sides of the ball.
• Reggie Brown had 7 touches for 136 yards and two touchdowns. His 60 yard touchdown was an embarrassment. 6 guys had a chance to tackle him, and he outran them all.
• Drew Brees threw two interceptions.
• The Saints have trouble running the football when Deuce isn't in the game.
• Why is somebody always in Reggie Bush's face when he gets the handoff? Does the offensive line not block when they know he's getting the ball? It's just an observation.
• There was probably more pressure on Drew Brees today than there has been since the first quarter of the Packers game. He did respond well to it, though. It should also be noted that there were no sacks in spite of the pressure.
  
• The Saints weren't able to convert a key 3rd and 1 at the 2 minute warning in the first half. However, the Eagles had a turnover on the punt on the very next play. The Saints got a touchdown out of it.

THE UGLY

• I thought that Drew Brees's 2nd interception was a really dumb play call. The dumbest of the year. The Saints were fading. The Eagles were fired up. It was 3rd and 15, and based on what I saw, the Saints weren't converting right there the way they were playing at the moment. But they call a pass in coverage, which is deflected and turns into an interception. The Saints were just fortunate that it wasn't the difference between a win and a loss. I would have been happy there with a run and a punt.
• Whomever told Sean Payton to challenge L.J. Smith's reception should not be allowed to make those decisions anymore. Or if Payton didn't consult with the booth, he should have. Actually, I thought they should have challenged the spot of the ball on Reggie Bush's 2nd down run near the end of the game. Fortunately, it didn't make a difference.
• Forget that Omar Stoutmire's penalty on a deflected pass was a lame-ass call. On the exact same play, they missed what appeared to me to be an obvious hold on Will Smith--who was about to sack Donovan McNabb.
• How's that Donte' Stallworth trade treating you so far? Right now it's a toss-up on whether Stallworth will have more catches or Mark Simoneau will have more tackles. Oh yeah, and thanks for the 3rd or 4th round pick too.

Now, off to the bye week.