New Orleans Saints vs Minnesota Vikings Recap

The Saints opened the season against their 2009 NFCCG opponent, Minnesota Vikings. The Saints offense got off to a quick start, with an opening drive that ended in a 29-yard touchdown caught by Devery Henderson, the drive looked very similar to how the Saints played in 2009, which was great to see as a Saints fan.

The Saints defense did a good job stopping the Viking's all-star RB Adrian Peterson most of the night, holding him to 87-yards, with no rushes for more than 15-yards, and no touchdowns. The Saints held Future Hall of Fame QB Brett Favre to less than 175-yards passing and 1 touchdown. Favre also threw one interception while completing only 56% of his passes. Favre finished the game with a passer rating of 71.7. To put that in perspective, Favre had a similar rating to Bills QB, Trent Edwards.

The Saints looked just as impressive on the offensive side of the ball. Brees finished the game with 237- yards and a touchdown. Brees didn't throw any interceptions while completing 75% of his passes. Reggie Bush didn't get much action this game, which was disappointing to say the least. Bush had 2 carries for 14-yards and 5 catches for 33-yards. Pierre Thomas carried the ball 19 times for 71-yards, and a leaping, 1-yard TD run; he also caught the ball 3 times for 15-yards.

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Brees did a great job spreading the ball around, as usual, and got it out to 9 different Saints. Marques Colston, Robert Meachem, and Lance Moore were Brees' favorite receivers, making 11 combined catches for nearly 120-yards. However, Henderson was the only Saint to have a receiving touchdown.

Game Grades-

Passing: A, would be an A+ if it weren't for a couple overthrown passes.

Rushing: B-, could have done better here, the Saints had 79 rushing yards, but with Reggie hot like he was, it could have been a lot better.

Receiving: B, Not bad here, a couple of drops brought this down, including Meachem's dropped pass in the endzone.

Run-D: B+, holding Adrian Peterson to 87-yards is great for a team that has a suspect front 7.

Pass-D: B+, other than one drive in which Shiancoe tore apart the secondary, the pass-D looked
excellent.

By Tyler Douglass
ProFootball-fans.com New Orleans Saints Correspondent