(Photo by Bill Feig/AP)
By Chuck Culpepper | Washington Post
NEW ORLEANS — An NFL season that has brimmed with a smorgasbord of sparkle found itself a capstone Sunday in the Superdome. If the NFL product has come into question for various reasons, here came a hilt of product development. The Los Angeles Rams and the New Orleans Saints got together and lent a slew of treats with their highbrow skills. Eyeballs luxuriated.
Punters barely played, which is nothing against punters. Possibilities abounded, including one where Drew Brees went out to catch a pass — he didn’t get open — and one where a punter lumbered on a Rams fake field goal attempt. (He didn’t make it, and he also didn’t punt until the fourth quarter.) By the time the Saints had gone to 7-1 and left the Rams at 8-1 with New Orleans’s 45-35 win, some realities had hardened: The Saints really have stormed forth from when Tampa Bay ruined their opener so alarmingly at the time, the Rams possess the stomach to reach 35-35 after they have trailed 35-14, as happened Sunday, and the participants had a goose bump of a time.
“My upbringing, where I came from, those are the games you live for,” said Michael Thomas, the New Orleans wide receiver whose 72-yard touchdown catch with 3:52 left made the place literally shake. “That’s how I like. I like the big stage. I don’t like the quiet games where you’re expected to win. I like being the underdog and going and taking stock. It makes the game more fun, makes it more intense, adds more flavor to it and makes everybody honest.” ...
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