Who dat? Nobody: Saints playing above, beyond rest of league

NEW ORLEANS -- You could sit there and read the politically correct thing, that the NFL has two great teams, the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, and that it's impossible to say which is better based on their identical 11-0 records.

Or you could sit there and read some common sense, which is this:

Marques Colston is just one of several weapons Drew Brees (right) has on his offense. (US Presswire)

New Orleans is better than the Colts. Possibly a lot better. If we're lucky, we'll find out for sure on Feb. 7. That's the date of Super Bowl XLIV.

In the meantime we have the case study offered by New England, which has played both teams in the last 15 days -- but belonged on the same field with only one of them.

And it wasn't New Orleans.

New Orleans skunked the Patriots 38-17 Monday night, breaking their defense and then their offense and finally their will to win. With 5½ minutes left, Patriots coach Bill Belichick raised a white flag and removed quarterback Tom Brady from the game.

"We wanted to get [backup] Brian Hoyer some work," Belichick said, but he was lying. Truth is, he didn't want to get Hoyer some work. He wanted to get Brady the hell out of there, because the first 54½ minutes had shown beyond question that New England couldn't compete with New Orleans at New Orleans.

If you'll recall Nov. 15, the Patriots competed fairly well with Indianapolis at Indianapolis -- leading the Colts by 17 in the fourth quarter, and infamously going for it on fourth-and-2 from their own 28 with 2:08 left, a gamble that failed spectacularly and allowed the Colts to rally for a 35-34 victory. Indianapolis had the better record, but New England had the better team. That game, basically, was an upset.

This game, inarguably, was a blowout.

"They're a lot better than us," Belichick said.

Not one-point better, like Indianapolis was on Nov. 15. Not "a freak comeback thanks to an enormous coaching mistake" better. New Orleans is a lot better than New England, and not just because Belichick says so. New Orleans is a lot better than the Patriots because, frankly, New Orleans is a lot better than the Patriots.

With 480 yards on 50 plays from scrimmage, the Saints averaged roughly 10 yards per snap. And they averaged those 10 yards per play against the NFL's second-best defensive team and its leading defensive coach.

"Pretty ridiculous," Drew Brees said.

According to NFL statistics, Brees was perfect -- and perfect doesn't do him justice. He finished the game with the maximum NFL passer rating possible of 158.3, but again, that's merely the maximum passer rating possible. Brees was better than that. How do I know? Watch this:

Brees went into the second half with that unsurpassable 158.3 rating. And then he completed his first three passes of the third quarter for 82 more yards and another touchdown. And his passer rating didn't go up. It couldn't. It stayed 158.3. He ended up 18 for 23 for 371 yards and five touchdowns to five different receivers.

What he did to New England, what his team did to New England ...

"People are going to blow it out of proportion a little bit," Brees said.

Maybe so. On the other hand, how do you blow 11-0 out of proportion? How do you blow perfection out of proportion? Look, let's not blow it out of proportion. Let's do the opposite -- let's try to put this thing into perspective:

Indianapolis is 11-0, and to get there the Colts have won six games by four points or less.

New Orleans is 11-0 and hasn't let anyone within four points. Only one team has been within a touchdown. Only two teams have been within 10 points. The average score of a Saints game is 37-20, and they've been at their best in the biggest games.

There was Monday night against the mighty Patriots. And there was Oct. 18. The New York Giants were undefeated at 5-0. That was the biggest game of the season, to date, and the Saints blew them away. It was 48-27. Seven different Saints scored a touchdown.

That's the biggest reason, but not the only reason, this New Orleans team dominated New England and would, if you ask me, beat the Colts -- all those weapons. Devery Henderson caught a 75-yard touchdown pass against New England. Marques Colston caught a 68-yarder. Robert Meachem scored from 38 yards out. They give New Orleans three of the top seven receivers in the NFC in yards per catch.

The Colts don't have any receivers with that sort of explosion -- look at their stats -- and the Patriots have just one, Randy Moss. With Saints safety enforcer Darren Sharper picking off his eighth pass and destroying Moss every time they crossed paths, the Saints took Moss out of the game. Plan B for the Patriots? Plan B was a big, fat loss. Brady had to throw underneath to Wes Welker and over the top to Sam Aiken, and that won't beat a New Orleans team led by Brees and all his targets. And we haven't even mentioned tight end Jeremy Shockey. Or Reggie Bush.

The New Orleans offensive pressure broke the Patriots secondary time and again, leading Belichick to admit, "We obviously blew it. Mental mistakes."

Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather was asked, word for word, "What happened on the long touchdown?"

Said Meriweather: "Which long touchdown?"

Exactly.