Saints swamp Brady, Belichick

Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady must have been nostalgic Monday night as he watched his team close out its fourth road loss of the season sitting on the bench. After his second interception of the game midway through the fourth quarter, Brady was sidelined and left to think of the last time he played in the Louisiana Superdome: during the Patriots’ incredible 2002 Super Bowl victory over the then-powerhouse St. Louis Rams. That game came down to a last-second field goal by Adam Vinatieri. Monday night’s meeting was much more lopsided.

Anticipated as the matchup of the year, the Saints ( 11 - 0 ) continued their pursuit of perfection as they hosted the dynastic Patriots ( 7 - 4 ) and their coaching genius, Bill Belichick. It was the Saints, though, who looked like the powerhouse as they manhandled New England on both sides of the ball, coasting to a dominating 38-17 win.

“There’s a reason why they are 11 - 0,” said Brady. “They played really well and we didn’t play up to their level.”

Brady was 21 for 36 for 237 yards and no touchdowns, his first sub-300 yard game in the last six weeks. Brees, on the other hand, was his usual stellar self. Completing 18 out of 23 passes for a season-high 371 yards, Brees recorded a perfect 158.3 passer rating. His five touchdown passes — the most ever recorded against a Belichick defense — were spread out amongst five different receivers. Furthermore, he averaged a record 16 yards per pass attempt; a feat he called “ridiculous.”

The Saints’ offense was simply unstoppable, averaging an unheard of 10 yards per play.

“There’s obviously a big gap between us,” Brady said. “It wasn’t nearly as competitive as we all were expecting.”

On the other side of the ball, the Saints’ defense showed the inspired play that has come to be expected of them this season. Led by stalwart safety Darren Sharper, New Orleans held New England to only 4 of 13 on third down attempts and had a crucial fourth down stop in its own red zone in the third quarter.

Newly acquired defensive backs Chris McAlister and Mike McKenzie made an instant impact filling in for the Saints’ depleted secondary. McKenzie’s return to the Saints — the team that cut him two seasons ago — was marked by his first interception in more than a year. Sharper’s interception in the fourth quarter ended Brady’s night along with any comeback hopes held for Patriots.

The MVP of the match, though, may have been the raucous home crowd. The sold-out crowd was at its most rowdy levels in recent history, recording a sound level of almost 120 decibels, breaking the previous record of 117 decibels from the Saints’ 2007 playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Saints take on the Washington Redskins ( 3 - 8 ) next week at FedEx Field in Landover, Md. This is the Saints’ second consecutive matchup in two years against the Redskins, last year’s resulting in a 29- 24 loss. The game marks the return to D.C. for defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who was replaced as Washington’s defensive coordinator two years ago by Greg Blache. The last team to go 12 - 0 was the 2007 Patriots team, the only team to go undefeated in the regular season since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.