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Robert Meachem & Saints strip ‘Skins of seemingly sure superiority

By ArtieFufkin

The Washington Redskins once again managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yesterday, losing to the New Orleans Saints 33-30 in OT.  The Redskins jumped out to an early lead, and were up 30-20 early in the 4th quarter before the wheels fell off.  Just when you thought the Saints undefeated streak was going to come to an end, Redskins K Shane Suisham shanked a 23-yard FG with under 2 minutes remaining — a FG that would have given the ‘skins a two posession lead.  That miss allowed New Orleans to tie the game in regulation with a 42-yd TD pass to WR Robert Meachem, and go on to win in OT.

But earlier in the game, Meachem made an incredible play that might have given us a hint that things weren’t going to go the Redskins way on this day.  With less than a minute remaining in the first half, the Saints had the ball in Washington territory, trailing 17-10.  On 3rd and 26, Drew Brees threw an ill-advised pass that was intercepted by Kareem Moore. It seemed like a spectacular momentum-shifter, one that would allow the Redskins to head into the locker room ahead, and to believe that the impossible was possible.

And then, this happened:

You’ve gotta hand it to Meachem on this one … he didn’t give up on the play, and made a spectacular individual effort.  But this, along with the missed FG and a few other balls that bounced New Orleans’ way, had some people wondering if the Saints hadn’t employed some hometown voodoo on the proceedings:

“I don’t know about the voodoo, but I definitely believe in destiny,” said Drew Brees. “I believe in karma, and what goes around comes around. We’ve been on the other side of this deal probably too many times, and maybe it’s our time, that we start catching some of the breaks.”