Early in Monday night’s game between the Patriots and the Saints, it appeared that New England was heading toward a 14-3 lead.
Mike McKenzie put a stop to that.
And then Drew Brees took it from there.
Three touchdown passes later, the Saints seem to be cruising to their 11th win, 24-10.
The first score came on a short pass to Pierre Thomas, followed by an impressive scamper and dive into the end zone.
Next came one of the worst blown coverages of all time, resulting in a 75-yard catch-and-run by Devery Henderson that prompted me to wonder aloud, Twitter style, whether that was a real play, or whether my kid was playing Madden against the dog, again.
Then, after a field goal from the Pats cut the score to 17-10, Brees found previously underachieving first-round wideout Robert Meachem for a 38-yard score.
For the first half, Brees has completed 11 of 13 passes for 229 yards and three touchdowns.
The Pats had a chance to cut the lead to 13 before intermission, but Steve Gostkowski missed a 50-yard field goal to the left.
We’re not writing off New England, but the Saints look as good as any team we’ve seen since the 1985 Bears -- including the 2007 Patriots, the 1999 Rams, the 1998 Vikings, and the 49ers of the Walsh-Montana-Young heyday.