Nfl- Saints Win By Luck And A Prayer And Take The South Division Nfc Title

The New Orleans Saints secured their South Division NFC title and kept their unbeaten

season record (12-0) after defeating the Washington Redskins in an overtime victory 33-30, at the FedEx Field. The Saints really have to thank the Redskins for their victory as two of their big plays were either strokes of luck or resulted from screwups by the Redskins. New Orleans trailed by 10 points in the fourth quarter and had never been ahead in the score until the final winning points of the game. Garrett Hartley kicked a field goal of 18 yards with 6:29 remaining in overtime to beat the Redskins.

Starting the first quarter, Fred Davis opened the scoring for the Redskins by catching an eight yard touchdown pass by Jason Campbell and then Shaun Suisham rose to 10-0 with a field goal of 32 yards. After that, Garrett Hartley, the new kicker of New Orleans, discounted with a field goal of 34 yards in the second half and tied the score to 10-10 after a great touchdown catch of 40-yard of Marques Colston from a pass of Drew Brees.

Minutes later, Redskins' player Devin Thomas scored on five-yard pass from Campbell, but in the last moments of the first half, Brees was intercepted by Kareem Moore. Robert Meachem then borrowed the ball away from Moore and took it all the way to end at halftime 17-17.

In the third quarter, Suisham scored another field goal of 28 yards and Campbell passed 13 yards to Devin Thomas to take the advantage of 27-17. However, Hartley came up with a field goal of 27 yards to cut the score 27-20 at the end of the third.

Entering the fourth quarter, again Suisham put Washington ahead 30-20 with a field goal of 21 yards. But then, Hartley responded for the Saints with a field goal of 28 yards to put the score 30-23. However, in the next attack, Suisham missed a field goal attempt of 23 yards that would have given again the 10-point lead to the locals with only 1:56 left in the quarter essentially closing down the game for the Saints.

So in a miraculous two minutes of play, the Saints moved quickly down the field. Maechem scored on a 53-yard pass from Brees to tie the score 30-30 with 1:19 left. After an interception by Jonathan Vilma to Campbell in the final seconds of fourth quarter, Hartley tried without success to score a 58 yard field gold.

In overtime, Washington won the coin toss but in their third play, Mike Sellers was tackled by Chris McAllister. Sellers fumbled the ball and the same McAllister recovered the football on the 37-yard line of Washington. The play was carefully reviewed on instant replay until the referees finally gave possession to the Saints. No luck for the Redskins during this game.

Eight plays later and at Washington's one yard line, Hartley finally converted an 18- yard field goal to give New Orleans its 12th win, with a 33-30 score.

Saints' quarterback, Drew Brees completed 35 of 49 passes for 419 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. On the other hand, the Redskins' quarterback Jason Campbell finished with 30 of 42 passes for 367 yards with three touchdown-passes and an interception.

With this lucky win, New Orleans tied a franchise record in victories and took the division title. As for the Redskins, this defeat assures the Redskins won't make the finals.

by: Ally White

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