Ratings for last night's regular season opener were gi-normous. Re-Tweeting by Greg Aiello at the NFL:
RT @darrenrovell1: Last night's NO-Minny game RT @NBCSportsPR Best NFL regular season primetime (rating) in 13 years
While the Saints certainly did not score with the same frequency as they did in the second half of the Super Bowl, it seems their offense picked up right where it left off. Drew Brees completed 75% of his passes in the game. The reason? No pressure from Minnesota's defense. None.
No pressure on Brees = Conceding the game.
Seriously, why even put the defense on the field?
Despite both Brett Favre and Adrian Peterson having decent games, the Vikings defense (which is their strength) simply could not slow down Brees. In fact, the Vikes are lucky the score wasn't even more lop-sided. Robert Meachum flat out dropped that gimme TD in the fourth quarter. The game should have ended there with a 21-9 Saints romp.
Also, unlike my good friend John Bena at MHR, I thought the gesture of union solidarity was effective for the players last night. John called it 'classless,' but John is over-reacting (and coming from someone with a rep for over-reacting to EVERYTHING, I'm an authority on the subject). The gesture was lead by Drew Brees, hardly a classless man. It was a smart and savvy way to, in front of gazillions of people, show that the Player's Union is one. Had it been done DURING the National Anthem, I could see people calling that 'classless.' Afterward, with the cameras all on the players, it was a powerful symbol of unity. It conveyed the message the union wanted to convey.
Score one for the players.