Reggie Bush goes off as Saints crush Cardinals 45-14

After Tim Hightower took the opening hand-off 70 yards for a touchdown, all I could think of was how awful the Saints fans would feel if their team lost in their playoff opener. Luckily for them Reggie Bush showed up with his bird-killing cleats on, leading the Saints to a 45-14 thrashing of the Arizona Cardinals to kick-off the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

Responding to the quick score, the New Orleans Saints proved why they were the number one seed on the NFC by scoring touchdowns on three straight possessions to give them a 21-7 lead before the end of the first quarter. Bush lowered the hammer on two early carries to set the tone early: these Saints would not be denied. A Beanie Wells score early in the second brought the Cardinals back into striking distance, but that would be the last time the Cardinals would hit the scoreboard. Their two turnovers killed drives and gave the Saints 14 points.

Even though Drew Brees had a stellar performance, completing 23/32 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns, it was Bush who stole the spotlight. His early physical play set up his lateral moves as the game continued, especially on a 46-yard run where he stopped and started no less than three times before breaking it past the Cardinal secondary. An 83-yard punt return in the third gave Bush his second TD and his most significant games as a pro. It could not have come at a better time. 

The Saints played like the team flirting with an unbeaten season rather than the team that dropped three to close it out. They ran the ball effectively with Bush, Pierre Thomas and Lynell Hamilton. With a flea-flicker in the second quarter, they pushed the ball downfield through the air. Simply put, Sean Payton's offense was unstoppable. They will be a scary match-up for whoever wins tomorrow's Dallas/Minnesota contest.

Kurt Warner got beat up all day for Arizona. On an interception in the second quarter, Warner was planted trying to go for the Saint ball-carrier and needed to be taken to the locker-room. Matt Leinart came out and led the Cardinals on a quick drive to set up Neil Rackers with a 51-yard field goal. Rackers actually missed it twice, thanks to a last-second Saints time-out. The Cardinal defense gave up 90 points in their two playoff games, eventually putting too much pressure on Warner and the offense. While Warner returned to the field to start the second half, you could tell he was unable to throw the ball deep due to his chest injury. It will be interesting to see if this sour note causes Warner to retire or to come back for one last run. 

Playoff predictions against the spread so far: 3-2. I thought the Cardinals would come out better than this, but they were obviously out of gas after the Green Bay game. 

On to Indianapolis and Baltimore! Keep up with my in-game tweets on Twitter: @JoeAnello  

 
Reggie drop-kicks a teammate in the junk after his score.