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Esiason On Toucher & Rich: Defense Taking Away Saints Offensive Weapons

The Saints got on track in the second half and took the lead from the Patriots, but New England wasn't going to lose two weeks in a row.

As the game neared the final seconds Tom Brady and the offense got one more chance. Brady connected with rookie wide receiver Kenbrell Thompkins in the end zone for the score. The Pats improve to 5-1 thanks to the 30-27 win.

NFL analyst and radio show host Boomer Esiason joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich to discuss the big win by New England, Saints head coach Sean Payton's decisions at the end of the game and Rob Gronkowski.

It was a big exciting win for the Patriots, but the spectacular ending may now overshadow the great job New England's defense did stopping New Orleans on offense. The defense was able to hold Saints tight end Jimmy Graham to zeros across the board on Sunday.

"It's kind of interesting knowing Bill Belichick and watching him coach over the years and watching him frustrate guys like Peyton Manning, who have come into that building with great offensive weapons and all of a sudden figure out a defensive gameplan to take certain guys away."

"The fact that he put Aqib Talib pretty much predominantly, until Aqib got hurt, on Jimmy Graham and took him completely out of the game was brilliant and one of the reasons they end up winning the game is because Jimmy Graham is a none factor."

They also discussed the decisions that Saints head coach Sean Peyton made at the end of the game to trust in his defense. Should he have put the ball in Drew Brees' hands to try and drive the offense down the field and run time off the clock?

They also talked about Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski missing yet another game. What's the deal with Gronk? When could we see him return and is there more going on than we actually know?

Esiason On Toucher & Rich: Defense Taking Away Saints Offensive Weapons

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