The Saints completely destroyed the Raiders at the Black Hole on Saturday Night.  Drew Brees was incredible completing 14 of 17 passes for 179 yards with 2 TD passes.  Mark Brunell looked pretty awful in this game following Brees as he completed 4 of 13 passes for 86 yards with 2 interceptions.  Joey Harrington finished up the game in solid form completing 4 of 6 passes for 46 yards with 1 TD pass.  RB Lynell Hamilton led the way on the ground for the Saints in this game with 95 yards rushing on 16 carries (5.9 ypc).  He also added 2 catches for 16 yards (8.0 avg) on Saturday.  Undrafted rookie RB P.J. Hill had another outstanding game with 83 yards rushing on 12 carries (6.9 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  WR Robert Meachem only caught 1 pass in this game but it went for 71 yards.  Devery Henderson was also outstanding in this game with 3 catches for 69 yards (23.0 avg) with 1 TD.  Lance Moore was busy too in this game catching 4 passes for 29 yards (7.3 avg) with a TD.  The Saints controlled the clock for a stunning 39:27 of this game rolling up 536 total yards on offense (232 rushing, 304 passing). 

The defense was led by LBs Troy Evans (5 tackles, sack) and Marvin Mitchell (5 tackles).  The Raiders finished up with only 289 total yards on offense (52 rushing, 237 passing) as they were dominated in all three phases of this game by the Saints.

The Saints simply dominated this football game from the opening kick until the final whistle.  Drew Brees started this game and he was 9 of 14 for 87 yards with 1 TD pass.  Mark Brunell followed Brees and he was razor sharp completing 5 of 6 passes for 96 yards.  Joey Harrington finished up this game by completing 8 of 15 passes for 69 yards.  RB Mike Bell was outstanding in this game as he rushed for 100 yards on only 10 carries (10.0 ypc).  One of Bell’s carries went for a 46-yard TD run.  Undrafted rookie RB P.J. Hill pitched in with 8 carries for 26 yards (3.3 ypc) with a TD.  WRs Adrian Arrington (3 rec, 77 yards) and Marques Colston (6 rec, 66 yards) led the way in the passing game for the Saints in this game.  The Saints finished up with 420 total yards on offense (173 rushing, 247 passing) in this game.

CBs Tracy Porter (7 tackles) and Randall Gay (5 tackles, interception) led the way for the Saints on defense in this game.  The Texans finished up with 325 yards of total offense in this game (70 rushing, 255 passing) but a lot of the passing yards came in garbage time.  The special teams also made a mark in this game for the Saints as WR Rod Harper returned a punt 79 yards for a TD.

The Saints have lost linebacker Mark Simoneau for the season due to a torn triceps muscle.  The 32-year old Simoneau played in all 16 games for the Saints last season making 70 tackles, defensing 1 pass and sacking the opposing QB twice.  Simoneau has played two seasons for the Saints appearing in all 32 games and he has made 131 tackles, defensed 2 passes, has 3 sacks and 1 interception.  The Saints will miss Simoneau as he is a tough player.

The Saints have signed 25-year old TE Martrez Milner to a 1-year deal.  Milner did not play in any games last season in the NFL.  Milner did played in 8 games as a rookie for the Falcons in 2007 in which he caught 9 passes for 50 yards (5.6 avg).  Milner will likely be far down on the depth chart if he even makes the team.

The Saints have signed 45-year old kicker John Carney.  Carney played in 15 games for the Giants last season and he nailed 35 of 38 field goals (92.1%) and all 38 of his extra points.  Carney has now played in 289 games in his NFL career and he has made 460 of 557 field goals (82.6%).  He also has connected on 575 of 583 extra points (98.6%) in his NFL career.  Carney has scored 1,955 points (6.8 per game) in his NFL career.  Look for the Saints to likely only keep Carney around until Garrett Hartley’s suspension is over.

The NFL has suspended 23-year old place kicker Garrett Hartley.  Hartley played in 8 games as a rookie for the Saints last season and he connected on all 13 of his field goal attempts and all 13 of his extra points.  Hartley scored 67 points as a rookie last season for a average of 8.4 points per game.  The Saints like Hartley so they won’t give up on him just because he got suspended.

The Saints have released 27-year old CB Jason David.  David played in 14 games (6 starts) for the Saints last season and he made 23 tackles, defensed 10 passes and he had 5 interceptions.  In his two years with the Saints, David played in 27 games (18 starts) in which he made 74 tackles, defensed 21 passes and had 8 interceptions.  Don’t let his solid numbers cover the fact that he got burned so often that he almost got put on I.R. because of third degree burns.

The Saints looked good throwing the football in this game but the running game appears to need some work.  Drew Brees was solid as usual completing 6 of 9 passes for 88 yards with a TD pass.  Old timer Mark Brunell was even better than Brees completing 9 of 13 passes for 128 yards with 1 TD pass.  Joey Harrington finished up the game completing 1 of 3 passes for 14 yards.  Lynell Hamilton led the Saints in rushing in this game with 48 yards on 15 carries (3.2 ypc).  WR Robert Meachem (3 rec, 77 yards) and TE Jeremy Shockey (3 rec, 61 yards) each caught a TD pass.  The Saints finished up with 316 total yards on offense but they only averaged 2.9 yards per carry in the running game.

The Saints’ defense was in bend but don’t break mode as they allowed 379 total yards to the Bengals but only 7 points.  Linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar led the way for the Saints in this game with 8 tackles.  Safety Pierson Prioleau pitched in with six tackles.  The bottom line in this game is that the Saints won the game.

The Saints have placed 33-year old TE Dan Campbell on the Injured Reserve List due to a knee injury ending his season.  Campbell played in 1 game for the Lions last season and he caught 1 pass for 21 yards.  He has played nine years in the NFL covering 102 games in which he has caught 91 passes for 934 yards (10.3 avg) with 11 TD grabs.  This is not much of a loss for the Saints as Campbell wasn’t projected to have a big role on the offense this season.