New Orleans started off 2009 innocently enough with a rout of the hapless Detroit Lions. Afterwards, they traveled to Philadelphia and beat an Eagles team that was missing its starting quarterback, Donovan McNabb, due to an injury. They accumulated further easy wins over the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets in the next two games. After the bye week, they handily defeated the New York Giants and then beat the Miami Dolphins in a high-scoring affair at Landshark Stadium. With this impressive win, which featured a second-half rally, the Saints moved to 6–0. The next four opponents were comparatively weak ones, and the Saints soon found themselves at 10–0 along with the Colts.