All doubts erased, Saints are for real

NEW ORLEANS – The Saints are for real.

Period.

Let’s have no more talk of rebuilding. Let’s stop talking about the Saints surprising people.

With a third of the NFL season behind us, the Saints are 5-1. They lead the NFC South, and show no signs of fading away.

Sunday’s 27-24 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at the Superdome was a loud announcement that this team is making a run at the playoffs.

Right now.

“We beat a pretty good football team today,” said Saints first-year coach Sean Payton. “And I think we’re a pretty good team.”

The Saints had every excuse to fold Sunday. They got off to a quick start and led 17-3 at one point before the Eagles score three straight touchdowns to take a 24-17 fourth-quarter lead.

Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb and receiver Reggie Brown shredded the Saints defense in the third quarter, connecting on three passes for 93 yards, including a 60-yard TD pass.

The momentum had shifted.

The Saints were doomed.

Everyone knows that’s their history.

Payton knows that, too. Half of the players on the Saints’ roster are new. That is not an accident. What was good enough in the past simply won’t cut it now. That’s why half of the players on the Saints’ roster are new to the team this year.

“There is no quit in this team,” said Saints kicker John Carney, who kicked the winning field goal as time ran out Sunday. “We have a bunch of guys with character on this team. They are not stopping until the final whistle.”

Quarterback Drew Brees led them through it Sunday, first connecting with Joe Horn on a 48-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at 24 with 12:52 left.

On their next offensive series, Brees, starting at the Saints 15-yard line, marched the Saints down the field in 12 plays to the Eagles 9-yard line, then took a knee three times to run the clock down to three seconds.

That brought out Carney, who kicked the winning field goal.

“If we can’t kick a 31-yard field goal, then we’re just not good enough,” Payton said.