Despite trailing at halftime, the Saints rolled to a 45-28 victory over the Lions on Saturday night to advance to the Divisional round of the 2012 NFL Playoffs. Here are quick-hit reactions from this Wildcard shootout.

- What Drew Brees does is almost surgical. If he has time to survey the field, he always goes vertical. I’m talking 9, 20, 40-yard strikes down the field. If he feels pressure, he has a trio of backs at his disposal that are elusive, powerful, and can create yards after contact when they slip out of the backfield. If he sees that a blitz is coming, he knows exactly where to go with the ball at all times. (Although it makes it easier when the defense leaves your 6’6” tight end wide open at the goal line. I mean, he’s 6’6” – the Lions couldn’t find him?) Granted, Brees has a ton of help. Marques Colston made a huge mistake in the first quarter when he fumbled the ball to kill a potential New Orleans scoring drive, but he’s as good as them come. Pierre Thomas ran tonight like he did back in the ’09 postseason and somewhere Chargers GM A.J. Smith is kicking himself for letting Darren Sproles leave San Diego. Jimmy Graham is a freak of nature and when all of those weapons aren’t available, Brees still has Devery Henderson, Robert Meachem (when he’s not dropping wide-open passes) and Lance Moore (when healthy) in his back pocket. This is a well-oiled machine New Orleans has here, and Brees is the absolute perfect captain to be at the controls.

- Want to know how the Saints score 40-plus points at home every week? Try 7-of-11 on third down and 3-of-4 on fourth down. When an offense constantly picks up third downs, it absolutely deflates a defense and that leads to points. Detroit clearly didn’t believe it could stop Brees tonight and it didn’t.

- That said, it’ll be interesting to see how the Saints fare now that they have to go on the road for one, and possibly two games over these next couple of weeks. There’s no question they’re a different team away from the Superdome, as Sean Payton has a tendency to get less aggressive and the defense doesn’t perform as well. San Francisco owns the best defense in the NFC playoff pool this year, so we’re about to find out how good this New Orleans offense is on the road. What a great matchup next weekend in San Fran.

- Lions fans will note that several calls didn’t go their way tonight, and they have every right to. But it’s hard to win when your defense can’t get off the field on third and fourth down, when your players don’t wrap up, when you turn two first-half turnovers into zero points, and when two of your defensive backs drop sure interceptions. There’s no question that Detroit got the short end of the stick when it came to penalties. No question. There were several missed holding calls on the Saints’ Pro Bowl linemen throughout the night, a bad spot on third-and-11 in the third quarter that gave New Orleans a first down (which led to a score), and of course, a blown whistle that most likely would have led to a Lions’ touchdown on Brees’ fumble in the first half. But the Lions failed to do the basics tonight and it cost them. Bad officiating or not, when you can’t tackle and take advantage of potential turnovers then you’re not going to win most games.

- One thing the Lions did do a great job of in the first half was get pressure on Brees with just their front four. Outside of the two Saints’ turnovers, that’s the main reason they held a lead heading into halftime. But about midway through the third quarter that pass rush dropped off and Detroit’s overmatched secondary was exposed. It’s unfair to play the defensive line for how things unraveled in the second half, because the bottom line is that the Lions’ defensive backfield made zero plays tonight. But the difference between the two quarters is that Brees was under duress in the first, and had time to find open receivers int he second. (And I mean wide open receivers.)

- As long as Matthew Stafford stays healthy Detroit fans won’t have to go another 11 years before they see their Lions play in another postseason game. That dude is for real. That 42-yard rainbow that he dropped perfectly into the hands of Calvin Johnson in the third quarter was beautiful and he had a handful of other passes that were right on the money. It’s not that he has a big arm: he has a big, accurate arm. He’s going to be an elite quarterback one day. (Again, if he can stay healthy.)

- I don’t know how defenses are supposed to cover Calvin Johnson. He’s obviously going to make plays when he’s open but there were several times when two New Orleans defenders were draped all over him and he still came down with the football. And if you make a mistake in coverage like the Saints’ corner did while playing Cover 2 on Johnson’s corner route in the second quarter, it’s almost a guaranteed touchdown (which it was). It’s amazing to think that one of the knocks on him coming out of college was that he sometimes lost focus. The guy has transformed into one of the best players in the game – focus on that.

- I thought Scott Linehan called a very good game until things got out of hand in the fourth quarter. He stayed aggressive throughout, which is something that most opponents won’t do when facing the Saints because they’re petrified to give the ball back to Brees and that offense, and constantly had New Orleans’ defense guessing. But at some point the Lions will need to find more offensive balance. Granted, they did lose starting running back Jahvid Best earlier this season due to a concussion, but 32 rushing yards on 10 carries isn’t going to cut it. Not against the Saints, not against anyone. When a defense doesn’t have to worry about stopping the run, they can drop extra defenders back or blitz effectively off the edge. New Orleans had to worry about one thing tonight: Stopping Calvin Johnson. (Uh, which they didn’t, but at least their offense scored 45 points to make up for it.)

- There’s no doubt that fans will be disappointed after this game. But the Lions made the playoffs this season. That’s fantastic. You won’t find a more loyal fan base than the one up in Detroit, so hats off to you Lions fans – your team finally made the top 12 again. Hopefully it’ll be a regular occurrence moving forward…

Here are five quick-hit observations from the Saints’ 33-30 overtime win over the Redskins in Week 13.

1. Team of destiny? Uh, yeah – maybe.
Up 30-23 with just over two minutes remaining, the Redskins could have iced the game with a 23-yard field goal by Shaun Suisham. But he missed the chip-shot and not surprisingly, the Saints took the gift 80-yards for the game-tying score. To win in the NFL, teams have to be a mixture of good and lucky. Well, New Orleans is better than good – they’re great. And after today, it appears that they have quite a bit of luck on their side as well. Sometimes, teams are just destined to win and it looks like it’s the Saints year.

2. The Saints better get healthy.
They may be a team of destiny, but injuries on the defensive side of the ball are starting to mount for the Saints. They were absolutely shredded for 367 passing yards by an offense that has been anemic all season and they better get healthy before they face the likes of the Vikings, Cardinals, Cowboys or whomever come January.

3. How does any defense stop this Saints’ receiving corps?
Marques Colston caught two passes for 46 yards and a touchdown today and he was about the third or fourth most productive receiver for the Saints. Robert Meachem (8 receptions, 142 yards, 1 TD) is finally starting to cash in on his first-round ability and Devery Henderson (6 receptions, 61 yards) turned in his best game of the season. Washington’s secondary is one of the best in the league and it still couldn’t figure out how to defense the New Orleans’ receiving crops. Defenses just have to pick their poison with this bunch.

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I didn’t think the Eagles would win on Sunday without Donovan McNabb, I just didn’t think they would get embarrassed on their home turf by the greatest offensive team known to man.

Okay, so I’m exaggerating a little with that last statement, although the Saints are playing like a video game version of itself set on the “rookie” level.

New Orleans improved to 2-0 on the young season thanks to another outstanding day by quarterback Drew Brees, who threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns on 25 of 34 passing. He found Marques Colston (8 receptions, 98 yards, 2 TDs) early and often as the Saints routed the Eagles 48-22 at Lincoln Financial Field.

The Saints are playing like they’re angry at the scoreboard. And it’s not like they hung 40-plus points on a hapless Detroit team today either – they made a pretty good Philadelphia defense look like a flag football squad. Perhaps what’s most surprising about the Saints’ start is that their running game is featuring Mike Bell. Mike Bell! On 45 carries so far this season, Bell’s rushed for 229 yards and one touchdown. That’s 5.0 YPC for you math majors. Mike Bell!

It’s only been two games, but I’m having a tough time believing that any defense will be able to slow down the Saints this season, or at least not in a dome or in good weather. If opposing teams don’t start generating a pass rush, Brees is going to continue his MVP-like season and the Saints are going to roll throughout the year.

There’s a secret that most good fantasy football owners don’t want you to know: Knowing how good (or how bad) an offensive line is could be the difference between you making the playoffs in your league, and winning the whole damn thing.

The bottom line is that the offensive line is the key to whether or not an offense is going to be successful in any given season. They’re the reason why guys like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brews are able to rack up terrific passing yards year in and year out, and why Brandon Jacobs, Michael Turner and Adrian Peterson continue to be solid fantasy backs. So knowing which O-lines are quality and which act like revolving doors to their team’s backfield will give you an edge on draft day.

Below is a ranking of the top five best lines, the top five most improved lines and the top five worst lines in the NFL heading into the ’09 season. Use these rankings as a tool to help you make better decisions on draft day and to also aid you when you’re stuck between a couple of players in later rounds.

Granted, we’re not advocating bumping certain players to the top of your pre-draft rankings just based on these rankings. The Lions offensive line is the worst in football, but if Kevin Smith is there for the taking in the 5th round, by all means jump on him. This article is purely meant to be a helpful aid; obviously you still have to use solid judgment on draft day.

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Last week we looked at the top 10 fantasy quarterbacks from 2008 with a look toward 2009. This week, it’s about those who catch passes. Wide receivers have become almost as valuable as running backs, so it’s important not to overlook that when you’re preparing for your fantasy draft. And you are preparing, right? Or will you cram on Labor Day weekend? If you’re like me, you’re reading this stuff now because these long months without football suck. So, about those receivers….and keep in mind this Top 10 is based on scoring from one of my own fantasy leagues, and stats may differ from league to league:

1. Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals—There should be no question remaining as to who has the best hands in football. In fact, I’ll just say it — that Larry Fitzgerald is the best receiver in football, and one of the best since the days of (dare I say it) Jerry Rice, or Lynn Swann. Yeah, he’s that good, and he’s just getting started. In ’08, Fitzgerald had 96 catches for 1431 yards and 12 touchdowns….and that’s with Kurt Warner having two other legitimate targets in Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston.

2. Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions—This poor bastard put up huge numbers last year for an 0-16 team—78 receptions for 1331 yards and 12 scores. It’s difficult to draft anyone on the Lions, though.

3. Andre Johnson, Houston Texans—This guy is just a beast. I mean, a freaking beast. Johnson had SIX games of over 130 receiving yards, and wound up with 115 catches for 1575 yards and 8 TDs…all usually with two guys covering him. Like I said, a beast. Now what would he do with a real QB?

4. Anquan Boldin, Arizona Cardinals—Q wants the ball, and he may not get it in Arizona this season. But his numbers and skills have every other GM salivating. Last year, despite missing four games with injuries, Boldin caught 89 passes for 1038 yards and 11 scores. He even rushed 9 times for 67 yards.

5. Greg Jennings, Green Bay Packers—Jennings has been on the verge of fantasy superstardom for a few years now, and I think the next two seasons may be peak years for him — especially with Aaron Rodgers coming into his own and Donald Driver losing a step or two. His 2008 numbers? 80 catches for 1292 yards and 8 touchdowns. This year, I’m saying 100-1500-12.

6. Randy Moss, New England Patriots—The fact that Moss still had a 1000-yard season catching passes from the yet-unproven Matt Cassel says a lot about Moss. Dude is a sick receiver. He had just four 100-yard games, but was consistent over the season with 69 receptions for 1008 yards and 11 TDs. He gets his boy Brady back in 2009, so look for 2007-ish numbers again.

7. Terrell Owens, Dallas Cowboys—He had one game over 200 yards, one more over 100, and every other game below 100. Owens managed 1052 yards on 69 catches with 10 scores, but by his standards the season was a bust. In Buffalo, I can’t imagine his numbers will be much better.

8. Lance Moore, New Orleans Saints—Marques Colston was never quite right after coming back from an injury, but Drew Brees kept throwing the ball to this guy, to the tune of 79 catches for 928 yards and 10 touchdowns—with three 100-yard games.

9. Steve Smith, Carolina Panthers—He was suspended for the first two games in 2008, but still racked up 1421 yards on 78 catches with 6 scores…and a whopping eight 100-yard games. Steve Smith is just money, and he should be a Top 5 receiver in every fantasy league.

10. Antonio Bryant, Tampa Bay Bucs—Bryant had his best season as a pro last year after missing the entire 2007 campaign, catching 83 passes for 1248 yards and 7 TDs…and he gets bonus points for doing it with the Tampa Bay Bucs!

Listen in as Anthony Stalter and I discuss Week 1 and how it affects fantasy owners going forward. Among the topics we discuss are Tom Brady’s injury, Vince Young’s strange night, Marques Colston’s thumb and Aaron Rodgers’ terrific debut.

(The opening and closing music is Cymande’s “Bra” – my favorite funk song of all time.)

Click to hear the podcast.

Bad news for the Saints…

The Saints have lost their top receiving weapon, Marques Colston, to a torn ligament in his left thumb, FOXSports.com has learned. Colston, in fact, quietly had surgery on Tuesday to reattach the ligament and will miss the next month to six weeks.

The team will be counting on Deverey Henderson and David Patten to step up their production with its leading receiver shelved for the time being. It’s unclear when the Saints will announce his injury but they are scheduled to practice this afternoon, with Colston obviously slated to miss the workout

The article didn’t mention Robert Meachem, who had a nice preseason. Many thought that he’d work his way into the WR2 role in New Orleans, but he was a healthy scratch in Week 1.

My money is on David Patten being the best of the bunch, especially in PPR leagues. He has produced when given the opportunity, and he should have plenty of chances over the next few weeks. Henderson is more of a go-route type, so he may have a few 1-47 or 2-85-1 stat lines, but he could just as easily put up a goose egg. The wild card is Meachem. He definitely has the tools to be a breakout candidate, but it’s just not clear how much Sean Payton trusts him at this point.

Whoever emerges as the WR1 while Colston is out will probably be the third option in the passing game after Reggie Bush and Jeremy Shockey, so don’t give up a good player to grab one of these guys. I’d rather have Eddie Royal or DeSean Jackson on my roster. They should be good all season.