Welcome back, NFL

And now fall can begin in earnest, as the NFL season is underway, thanks to the Saints' 14-9 win over the Vikings.

The Saints were a bit befuddling last night. On the opening possession of the game, their offense threw the ball all the way down the field and scored. Then they didn't score for the rest of the half, going into halftime trailing 9-7. On their opening possession of the 2nd half, they ran the ball all the way down the field, then didn't score for the rest of the half.

Then we come to their defense. Last year in the NFC title game, the Saints blitzed Favre every way possible, battering him to the point where he threw an INT across his body instead of running 5 yards to set up a makeable field goal at the end of regulation. In last night's game, the Saints spent most of the night rushing 3 or 4. In the first half, I'm not sure they blitzed once. They brought some pressure in the 2nd half, but nothing close to what they were doing last year. Can't argue with the results, but it was very interesting to watch.

Maybe training camp means something after all. Minnesota was clearly trying to protect Favre with their running game, but he just wasn't on the same page with enough of his receivers. Collinsworth made a good point during the broadcast when he questioned why Greg Camarillo wasn't on the field more. As soon as he came on the field, Favre hit him for a big 3rd down conversion.

For all of the press the kicking game has gotten recently (ovetime rules need to be changed as kickers are too accurate from long distances, field goal percentages are so high, etc.) last night was not a good one for kickers. NFC title game hero Garrett Hartley missed 2 field goals (one from under 40 yards) and Ryan Longwell had an extra point blocked. To be fair, Longwell already performed his most important task of the season when he helped convince Favre to come back and save the Vikings from following Tarvaris Jackson off the edge of the cliff.

This wasn't at all the game we were expecting to see, but it shows a) how hard it is having the bullseye on your back from day 1 and b) Minnesota isn't as good as they were last year. The OLine, especially, didn't look near the unit that has drawn so much praise opening holes for Peterson and protecting Favre.