By Jim Mashek
NEW ORLEANS " The New Orleans Saints are the NFL's highest scoring team. Drew Brees is the NFC starter in the Pro Bowl. Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell have become an effective tandem at tailback. And few players have had the kind of impact Marques Colston has shown in his first four seasons as the Saints' leading wide receiver.
In other words, the Saints can light up the scoreboard.
They certainly did that in last week's 45-14 thumping of the overwhelmed Arizona Cardinals in the Louisiana Superdome. Reggie Bush had a breakout game, accumulating 269 all-purpose yards and scoring on a 47-yard run in the second quarter. Thomas carried the ball 13 times for 52 tough yards between the tackles. Brees, meanwhile, completed 23 of 32 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns.
Much to the home crowd's approval.
"It was a good team effort," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "We knew we were playing a good team coming in here, with postseason experience. I was real encouraged with the overall effort."
The Saints figure to need another complete game to make franchise history in The Dome. The Saints (14-3) play host to Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings (13-4) on Sunday in the NFC championship game. The winner goes to the Super Bowl. The loser will have to live with coming so close to the big game and not quite making it.
"We're not holding anybody back," Payton said.
Payton was a bit deliberate, however, with Bush, who was on the mend from microfracture surgery on his knee over the offseason. The 2005 Heisman Trophy winner from Southern California responded with the game of a lifetime, certainly his pro career, against the Cardinals. Now the stakes increase for Sunday's game with the Vikings. Minnesota has one of the NFL's premier running backs in Adrian Peterson.
Bush, Bell and Thomas will try to counter Peterson's influence with a solid running game. The Saints had 171 yards rushing against the Cardinals.
"Reggie's a guy who has worked very hard," Payton said. "Each year (in the NFL), he has matured. He's very competitive and looks forward to these big moments, and is someone who rises to these opportunities. He had a real good grasp of the overall game plan."
That's always been one of Brees' greatest strengths, the ability to absorb the nuances of a game plan and make it work in competitive situations. And it's something that has set apart Favre from many of his contemporaries over the course of his amazing 19-year career in pro football.
The Saints are gearing up for Jared Allen and the Vikings' fierce pass rush, which helped Minnesota bury the Dallas Cowboys, 34-3, on Sunday in the Twin Cities.
"When you get to this point in the playoffs," Payton said, "you're going to see not only real good pass rushers, you're going to see real good quarterbacks. You're going to see the best teams in football.
"That's part of the game plan."
And a big part of the backdrop for Sunday's game in the Superdome.
