Drew Brees and New Orleans Saints Clinch Playoff Berth

Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints grounded the high flying Atlanta Falcons with a 17-14 win in the Georgia Dome on Monday Night Football December 27th. Brees had a sloppy fourth quarter, throwing two interceptions, but still won the game on a six yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham with 3 ½ minutes left.  Brees finished with 302 yards passing.  The Falcons eight game winning streak was snapped. Atlanta would have won the NFC South and had home field advantage throughout the playoffs if they had beaten the Saints.  The Falcons still have a good shot at that as they close out the regular season at home against the hapless 2-13 Carolina Panthers on January 2nd.

With the victory, New Orleans clinched a playoff berth. With a week to go in the regular season, the NFC playoff picture looks like this: Philadelphia and Chicago have won their divisions and are in.  New Orleans and Atlanta have also clinched playoff berths. One Wild Card slot remains open, with the Packers, Bears, and Buccaneers fighting for that spot.  And in the NFC West, the winner of the St. Louis vs. Seattle game will determine that division winner.  If Seattle wins, we could have a division winner with a 7-9 record. Yuck!

In the AFC, the Patriots, Jets, Chiefs, Steelers, and Ravens are all in. The last slot will go to the winner of the AFC South.  The Colts are in the driver’s seat there, with a one game lead over the Jaguars.

Meanwhile, Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania declared the postponement from Sunday to Tuesday of the Eagles vs. Vikings game due to the big East Coast blizzard as evidence the U.S. is a “nation of wusses”.  “The Chinese are kicking our butts in everything.  If this was in China, do you think they would have called off the game?” Rendell fumed to a Philadelphia radio station.  The Gov went on to say that the Chinese would have walked to the stadium “and they would have been doing calculus on the way down”. We’re not sure what that calculus part has to do with um, the price of eggs in China, but whatever.  Actually, Philadelphia ended up with about 13 inches of snow, a hefty total, but much less than the New York area received. So the game was probably doable, but the league was erring on the side of caution and called it early. Instead, Philadelphia gets to host the first NFL game on a Tuesday since 1946.

Popularity: 1%

Tags: atlanta falcons, drew, ed, football, new orleans saints, NFL