MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / October 18, 2000

What a difference a bye week makes.

Heading into its off week three weeks ago, the New Orleans Saints were limping around with a 1-3 record. The defense was doing its job, being rankedthe best in the league, but the offense had sustained only one really productive drive. The special teams had broken down, allowing three returnsfor touchdowns.

But since that bye week, the Saints have been in a Michael Johnson-like sprint, winning back-to-back games by two or more touchdowns for the first time since 1991. The defense has continued to shut down opponents and theoffense, while not exactly comparable to the St. Louis Rams, has found waysto move the ball. The special teams has cut down on its mistakes and playeda key role in Sunday’s win over Carolina.

Ricky Williams is running harder and better than he has at any other time in his short NFL career. He gained 144 yards Sunday, his team-record fourthstraight game over the century mark. In each of the last two weeks, he hasnot be denied inside the 5-yard line, scoring on runs on which he was stopped last season. And his diving catch on the right sidelines in the fourth quarterset up the clinching touchdown against Carolina.

Williams is a workhorse back who needs to get the ball repeatedly to be effective. He has been getting that this season. Credit should also go to themuch-maligned offensive line that has been opening holes for Williams, allowing him to wear down defenses. The Panthers game was the secondstraight in which the Saints enjoyed a distinct advantage in time of possession.

With the running game as effective as it has been since the Dalton Hilliard- Reuben Mayes days of the late 1980s, there is little pressure on Jeff Blake to win games throwing the ball. Blake will never remind anybody of KurtWarner but for the last two weeks, he has done exactly what the Saints have needed him to do. The game plan has helped, calling for Blake to roll out ofthe pocket and giving him more options. So, too, has the emergence of JoeHorn as one of the top steals in free agency.

One of the most impressive attributes the Saints have shown over the last two weeks is their ability to put teams away in the fourth quarter. Unlike inthe past when the team would sit on the ball and try to run out the clock, Haslett and his staff have gone for the jugular. Two weeks ago, it was a passto tight end Andrew Glover that put away the Bears. Against Carolina, it wasFred McAfee’s 40-yard run off a fake punt that did in the Panthers. Thatwas the type of call seldom seen in the past.

The defense has also played aggressively throughout. No more of theprevent defense that all too often cost the team games in the past. Andeight sacks, like the Saints collected Sunday, is an impressive feat, no matter who you play.

With the two wins, the Saints have played themselves right into the hunt in a NFC that has only two dominating teams – Minnesota and St. Louis. But thereis still a long way to go. The Saints have shown themselves to be pretty goodsprinters over the last two weeks. Only time will tell if they can also run amarathon.

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