WE ARE 67 DAYS AWAY FROM NEW ORLEANS SAINTS WEEK 1!
Robert Meachem takes it 67 yards to the house for the TD vs the Lions in 2011
— Barstool NOLA (@BarstoolNOLA) July 5, 2023
There are only 67 days left on the calendar until the New Orleans Saints open up their 2024 regular season, which makes this highlight our Saints Play of the Day. Robert Meachem and Drew Brees connected on a 67-yard touchdown pass against the Detroit Lions back in 2011 that you could still put against any scoring play in today’s game.
The Saints were red-hot. They had beaten the New York Giants (eventual Super Bowl champions) 49-24 a week earlier on “Monday Night Football” and then were tasked with hosting the Lions on the following “Sunday Night Football” feature. New Orleans had won three in a row going into this matchup, and they didn’t slow down.
Already up with a 10-0 lead midway through the second quarter, Brees took advantage of the time bought by play action to step up in the pocket and read the field. And he found Meachem waiting for him downfield, wide open against single coverage deep inside Detroit territory. Meachem caught the pass in front of Lions defensive back Eric Wright and put him in a tough spot, outmaneuvering the defender and turning him around while sprinting to the end zone. Meachem scored, celebrated with his teammate Pierre Thomas, and a quick John Kasay extra point gave the Saints a 17-0 lead.
And the good times didn’t stop there. The Saints put the Lions away 31-17 in prime time and went on to win their next five games, breaking an assortment of NFL records along the way. Depending on who you ask it was arguably the greatest season in franchise history. It’s just unfortunate how the 2011 year ended, with the Saints coming up short in one of the greatest divisional round playoff games of its generation against the San Francisco 49ers. But we’ll always have these memories.
