ESPN Box score story line

[BananaRepublican]

1. Saints' third down efficiency held to 5/15. Seems like a reasonable goal? Pats stunk at 5/17.

2. Edleman led all Patriots receivers with four catches/36 yards.

3. Total drives for the Pats was 13 while Saints' total drive count was 0. I guess box scores aren't bullet proof.

4. Rushing 126/4.1, not great but better than the Saints 92/3.2. Hey, look, we held them to under 100 and 5/15 third downs. Give 'em a hand.

5. Time of possession virtually even. Must be a misprint. Har.

6. Vereen and Ridley averaged 5.4 between them. The dropoff came with Bolden and Woodhead. Otherwise the top two guys were on their way to a very good night.

7. Two INTs and both by safeties. On the NE Patriots even.

8. QB hits: Hightower 1, Bequette 1, Scott 3. Saints only got 1. Surprised no Jonesin' hits recorded.

9. Solo Tackles: Mayo 3, Scott 3, Jones and Hightower each had one. Looks like Scott distinguished himself very quietly.

10. Passes defended - 6 total: Mayo 2, and 1 each for Chung, Gregory, Moore, Dowling. The Saints only had 2. Nice spread there.

11. Sacks: Patriots 2, Saints 1. I don't see where the OL got beaten so badly if they only allowed 1 sack and 1 QB hit. I guess the sack was one of the uglier variety.

 

[Ian]

3. Total drives for the Pats was 13 while Saints' total drive count was 0. I guess box scores aren't bullet proof.

I logged 13 drives for New Orleans last night (84 plays including penalties - Patriots also had 13 possessions [although the 13th consisted of Mallett's kneeldowns] and 91 plays). Definitely wasn't the best performance by either team offensively, especially considering they ran 170+ plays for a combined 13 points.