While I have been wrong about several things this season (Miami, Green Bay, Titans) I have been proven totally right about New Orleans and New England. As far back as preseason, I told you the Saints were Loaded for Bear. I'm talking 3 inch magnum shotgun shells with 10 pellets of #000 buckshot. By week 2 I had the Saints at the #1 spot on my power rankings. They have stayed there ever since.
I stuck my thumb in the eye of the east coast bias machine called ESPN for continuing to speak of the Patriots as the reigning dynasty of the moment. I showed you a slew of pictures of all-pro players no longer with the Patriots. Most of them were defenders. I told you they were a defensive dynasty, as most dynasties are, not an offensive dynasty. I told you those defenders were no longer with the team. You poody boys insisted that Tom Brady and Wes Welker were enough to sustain the dynasty.
Evidently not. The Patriots sure missed all those defenders last night, didn't they? The Saints went through them like a rhino running through wet toilet paper. They looked pretty stupid on that corner blitz didn't they? Didn't Brady look like the greatest QB of all time when he threw it straight to Darren Sharper?
Truth be told, 38-17 looks better in the books than it was on the field. The Patriots lost that game early. If Ellis doesn't fumble the fumble, and if shankroid doesn't miss the field goal, the score could have been worse than 41-17. Maybe 48-17.
Now I hear Jim Rome on the radio saying "We knew New Orleans was good, but we didn't think they were Super Bowl good." What? Come again? Why? What the fuck is wrong with you sports writers? What were the Saints lacking? Why would you have doubted them.
I heard Jim Rome say all manner of things this morning all adding up to the quizzical question "How could this have happened to the Patriots?" What? Come again? Why? What the fuck is wrong with you sports writers? Why were you such believers in the Patriots in the first place? You drank deeply of the Cool Aid when you joined ESPN, didn't you? You used to be a West Coast guy here in Sherman Oaks. I used to live 6 blocks from your studio. My brother used to deliver Pizza to your team. What happened to you Jimmie boy?
Let's have some proper perspective on things. The Patriots are on the down-slope of rebuilding. Their key defenders are no longer with the team. They have not won the Super Bowl in 5 years. They have never had an undefeated season. They went 11-5 without Brady last year, and it looks like they might go 10-6 with Brady this year. Oooooppssss... Did I just commit heresy against the Madison Avenue hype machine? It also looks like their most talented assistant coach of all time is now in Denver. Why did you believe they would do something? Is it because you have roots in Boston? I guess that must be it.
On the other hand, the Saints have shown us a hurricane passing attack. I have said many times how much they remind me of The Greatest Show on Turf an Air Coryall. They have a ballhawking defense that gets take-aways. Of course, they are not Super Bowl material because they don't play near Bristol Connecticut. Now isn't that right?
I am establishing a new maxim and imperative: Anytime anybody refers to the Patriots as the reigning dynasty of this moment, I am immediately going to berate and upbraid you for your stinkin' East Coast bias.
The Saints are going to the Super Bowl. The Patriots are not.
