National Football League

12-0 Saints find a little luck to beat 'Skins in OT

Published Dec. 7, 2009 2:58 a.m. ET

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The New Orleans Saints had no business winning. Two of their biggest plays were unbelievable flukes, bad mistakes that somehow morphed into positive results. Then they needed the other team's kicker to miss a 23-yard field goal just to stay alive, and a freeze-frame replay reversal to get the ball in overtime.

But the Saints are living a charmed life these days, and the Washington Redskins are as snakebit as can be. New Orleans trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter Sunday and played more than four quarters without holding a lead — until Garrett Hartley kicked an 18-yard field goal 6:29 into the extra period for a 33-30 win.

"I don't know about the voodoo, but I definitely believe in destiny," said Drew Brees, who led a no-timeout, 80-yard drive in just 33 seconds to tie the game late in regulation. "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."

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Catching the breaks? That sure explains how the Saints are now 12-0 with the NFC South title in hand. How else to explain a badly shanked punt that turns into a 29-yard gain, or an interception by Brees that somehow becomes a touchdown for teammate Robert Meachem?

"Crazy plays," linebacker Jonathan Vilma said. "When you're hot, you're hot. And sometimes it's better to be lucky than good."

New Orleans also showed it can brave the cold, winning a sub-40 degree game for the first time since 1995. Well, maybe. The defense, led by former Redskins defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, offered minimal resistance, allowing Washington to pile up 455 yards and score 30 points for the first time in Jim Zorn's 28 games as coach.

"When we do this long enough," Saints coach Sean Payton said, "you find yourself on the end of wins maybe sometimes that you feel fortunate to have."

The biggest number for Washington (3-9) was three - as in the number of consecutive losses in which they've blown a fourth-quarter lead.