By Peter Finney, Times-Picayune
December 06, 2009, 11:59PM
You break a commandment and you go on to win with one miracle after another.
Seriously, this season is getting downright biblical.
When a Saint named Robert Meachem broke a commandment on Sunday in broad daylight -- the one that says "Thou Shalt Not Steal" -- you had a funny feeling.
Meachem took the ball out of the hands of a surprised Redskin by the name of Kareem Moore and ran for a touchdown.
Think about it.
Moore, who was doing his best to run for a touchdown, had just intercepted a pass by Drew Brees, and Brees could look back and say: "Thank God, my only interception of the day helped turn the game around."
What else could happen, you wondered?
Are these the Voodoo Who Dats, you wondered?
Well, there was Brees, later in the afternoon, with the Redskins about to take a 10-point lead with time winding down, wearing the look of a Saint hoping for another miracle.
Suddenly, a short field-goal try by the Redskins drifted wide right, giving the Saints a chance to tie the score with a touchdown.
Who made that happen?
Suddenly, there was Saint Brees, wearing his halo and a smile of contentment, with the goal line 80 yards away and no timeouts.
Suddenly, there he was throwing one sideline strike after another, finally a 53-yard down-the-middle strike to none other than that miracle man Meachem.
Suddenly, the Redskins had the ball and were driving.
Suddenly, Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma stepped up to send a 30-30 game into overtime with a pick.
Exhausted?
Had enough?
Suddenly, Chris McAlister is colliding with Redskins fullback Mike Sellers. The ball comes out.
Down by contact goes the ruling on the field.
Time out calls Sean Payton.
Time out, it turned out, for a ruling.
Ruling reversed. Saints ball.
And there go the Saints, with Brees in charge, to 12-0 on a chip-shot that made the score 33-30, this one from the leg of the recently canonized Garrett Hartley.
Had it all the way, right?
Here's what Sunday proved: It proved a Washington team that has been anything but an offensive whirlwind could eat up the Saints, from start to finish.
The most telling stat: The Redskins punted once.
A week ago, Gregg Williams' defense drove Hall of Famer Tom Brady to distraction.
On Sunday, Jason Campbell, who once pitched for Auburn, drove the Saints batty with an excellent plan that made use of crossing routes and high-percentage throws that kept moving the sticks.
No team this season, over four quarters, did a better job moving the football than a team that clinched a losing season with Sunday's loss.
While Brees, as usual, far more than held his own, he did it with little help from a running game that never got into any kind of rhythm. Had the Saints not managed to find a way to pull this one out, and do it in surreal fashion, they could have looked back on several failures to convert some third-and-shorts, and a fourth-and-short, as the major reasons.
As it turned out, Brees' best friend in the Washington secondary was ex-LSU Tiger LaRon Landry, twice beaten for touchdowns on two classy moves, one by Meachem, another by Marques Colston.
You watch a team like the 3-9 Redskins lose one they had in their hands and you realize what a thin line the best in the NFL are walking. The Redskins played with the kind of passion the Saints have come to expect from also-rans, and this time they had the passion, and the plan, to come within a whisker of pulling it out.
Before the season, who would have thought the Saints would be clinching the top spot in their division with four games remaining.
Proving when you win them all, anything is possible.
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