The Catch III

Well, that was the best damn contest I have seen in a long time.  In case you missed it, the 49ers just defeated the Saints 36-32.  The game winning play was loaded with types and shadows of playoff victories past for the 49ers.

With 9 seconds left on the clock and the 49ers trailing 32-30, Alex Smith took a quick drop and nailed Vernon Davis over the middle, at the goal-line.  Davis was hit immediately, but held onto the football, falling forward into the endzone for the game-winning touchdown.

It looked almost exactly like the play Steve Young & Terrel Owens executed to defeat Brett Favre and the Packers once upon a time in the playoffs.  Vernon Davis came off the field crying, almost exactly as Terrel Owens did.  They called Young & Owns play "The Catch II".  This was named after the famous Joe Montana to Dwight Clark play that won the 1981/82 NFC Championship game for the 49ers.

If that is the case, then this Smith to Davis play should become known as "The Catch III".

By simply taking you through the winning play, I have short-changed the drama of the game.  34 points scored in the 4th quarter.  Four lead changes in the final four minutes.  Multiple 2-minute drives executed well by both QBs.  It was a struggle all the way. This was one hell of a battle.  I am sure we will be seeing it on the NFL Network this Monday night.  It's already a classic; an instant classic.  The fans are currently ranking this game a 96 on scale of 1 to 100.  That score may go up.

So the 49ers go on to the NFC Championship Game, presumably in Green Bay, but we better not count our chickens before they're hatched.  This game, in itself, was a shocking upset.  Most of us did not believe the 49ers could score enough to win.  A very similar doubt hangs over the Giants.  They may prove us wrong also.  If so, these 49ers will host the NFC Championship game at Candlestick next week.

For me the most amazing moment came before the 49ers first 2-minute drive.  My buddy Colin was sweating bullets, saying "I wish we had Tebow."  I told him, "Maybe it's better that you don't.  With four minutes to grind down, you need to run this drive slow."

The 49ers did not run slow.  The 49ers went down the field based on two big plays.  Alex Smith nailed Vernon Davis on the bomb.  Then, showing shades of the Zone-Read Spread-Option he and Tebow both ran in college, Alex Smith ran the QB Sweep to his left out an empty-backfield shotgun formation.  He went 28 yards for the touchdown.

What was that about Tim Tebow?  Let's remember, Alex Smith was doing the ZRSO thing before Tebow was.

What is this world coming too?  QB's running the football out of the spread for playoff winning scores in the NFL.  Dogs and cats living together in sin!  It must be the end of the world.  The Maya were right, weren't they?

The Seahawks terminate the reign of the champion Saints

It is the best times. It is the worst of times. The Saints have lost their title defense, and in a most ignominious way. The Seahawks of the lowly NFC West, surely the worst team ever to make it into the playoffs, did the blade-job on them. They are calling it the biggest upset since the Patriots beat my Rams all those years ago.

It would appear that Virgo Pete Carroll out-coached Capricorn Sean Payton. Yeah, well let's just see him win the Super Bowl this year...

I can't tell you I'm not disappointed. I hoped that the Saints would repeat this year. Forget about it. There will be a new champion in 2011.

On the other hand, I am laughing at the experts. I heard a heck of a lot about how the NFC West was the worst division in any sport. I heard a heck of a lot of slams on my Rams, asking how we lost to a paltry pussy football team like the Seahawks. Each time they declared the Seahawks to be the worst team ever in the history of the playoffs, how do you think that made Ram-fans feel? In a certain perverse way, it is funny to watch the Seahawks suck it up and stick one right back in their faces. I do enjoy a certain degree of malicious glee over this victory.

However, I am mostly disappointed for the city of New Orleans and the Saints fan. The Falcons better be ready. They are getting closer and closer to being the flag-bearer for the NFC. We'll see if the Pack can stop them.

Fire the kicker! Fire the Kicker! Fire the Kicker!

I understand Texas Longhorn kicker Hunter Lawrence is available, should the Saints should want him. If I were you, I would get him. You don't want to suffer Seminole-Colt syndrome on the way to your second championship. Rumor has it that Garrett Hartley is safe, even if after missing two field goals last night. I would cut him and get Hunter.

Other than that, would say that the Saints had a pretty damn good outing last night. The game was a tad bit boring; a mixture of a defensive struggle, a little bit of the Vikings just plain struggling. The score would not have been so close had the Saints made either of their two field goal attempts.

There were some surprises. I did not expect to see the Saint line maul and manhandle the Viking defensive line so brutally. The Saints were able to shove the football down the throat of the Viking defense without benefit of a power back like Steven Jackson, and Vikings seemed powerless to stop them. Jahri Evans and Carl Nicks just hammered the Viking tackles and blew them right off the line of scrimmage. That is a harbinger of bad times for the rest of the league. If the Saints can do that to the Vikings, the rest of the league, save maybe the Ravens, are going to get pummeled.

Now I have the world's biggest case of guard envy. Envy, envy, envy, envy, envy! Carl Nicks looked a hell of a lot like Barry Allen. Further, he looked even better than Jahri Evans, the NFL's All-Pro right guard. At 6-5 and 343, he is about the biggest damn guard I have ever seen.

Speaking exclusively for myself, I really wonder about the Vikings at this point. Chris Collinsworth commented several times about how much Favre appeared to be missing Sidney Rice. I couldn't agree more. However, I would add the following line: Favre appeared to be a beat up and tired old man at the end of the game, and he looked very disappointed in himself. Believe it or not, I understand totally. I am a couple of years older than Brett and I know all about bone-on-bone grind contact. I have advanced osteoarthritis in my knees.

Personally, I don't know how he is doing it. Further, I wonder if he can do for the entire season. After watching the post game, I wondered if we might be hearing of Brett's retirement again very soon. I know Brett has never been a quitter, and when he is in, he's all the way in. Still, he did not look good last night. With all three rivals in the North improving considerably, I think the Vikings have tough sledding ahead.

What's up on Blu-Ray?

Is it just me, or does the Blu-Ray market seems slow and sluggish lately? There really haven't been many good releases lately.

We've had two Tuesday releases so far in June. What have netted? On week one we got the following things:

1. The Wolfman
2. A shitload of Clint Eastwood oldies.
3. Life: A BBC Documentary
4. Band of Brothers.
5. Bad Boys
6. Alice in Wonderland
7. The New Orleans Saint: Road to Super Bowl 44
8. The Red Barron

I am very pleased to announce that the Blu-Ray of The Wolfman does indeed contain the theatrical release. I already own my copy. It's terrific. I can ignore the bad stuff.

Many old-timers will be utterly thrilled by the arrival of so many Clint Eastwood goldies. I used to be a big-time Eastwood fan in my angry youth. My temperament has changed. So has my education level. While there is still an entertainment level to many of Clint's oldies, I am slumming it when I check these out. The directors and writers were aiming low. We know that now.

If you discount the Eastwood collection what is left? What are the sure-fire crowd pleasers?

1. The Wolfman
2. The Saints

That's it. There are some "maybes" on this list.

1. The Red Barron might be good
2. Life might be good.

I have to call bullshit on a few of these other releases:

1. Alice in Wonderland was straight-up bad. It's one of Burton's worst movies. It's basically a lesbian romance without the sex. You see, the White Queen is afraid to handle the Vorpal sword. Ergo, her femme girlfriend (Alice) must take on the masculine 'knight and shinning armor' roll and slay the Jabberwocky to prove her love. I must say, Anne Hathaway was perfectly cast in this roll. She didn't even have to act. She was just being herself.
2. Bad Boys sucks. This is a stupid buddy flick conceived by Bruckheimer and Bay. When those two guys get together, your first question is "who cut the cheese?"
3. Band of Brothers is over-rates. I might feel different if I was a Nam vet, but I am not.

So what do we have this week? You know what we have? We have exactly one release this week: Shutter Island. As you know, I liked this movie quite a bit. I blogged about it several times. Good flick! The rest of it this week is rubbish.

1. Caddyshack is one of the dumbest comedies of all time. The Snickers bar floating in the pool tells you everything you need to know about the level of this film. This is the absolute quintessential stoner movie. People laugh because they smoked weed, not because the jokes are funny.
2. The Illusionist is a very over-rated romance, that is very popular among teen-girls. It's basically a darker version of a Harlequin romance. That is the audience demographic: Teen girls. It was okay, but the movie irritated me by wasting the talents of some of my favorite actors. Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Rufus Sewell, not to mention the luscious Jessica Biel.
3. From Paris with Love was almost a total cinematic catastrophe. This was awful stuff, far worse than Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. This one insulted my intelligence 25 times.

Let us remember that in literary circles, the Harlequin is a wooden clown who is often an emissary of the Devil. This theory forcefully applies to the Canadian publisher.

The list doesn't get much stronger next week. The solid goldie is Flash Gordon (1980). This is the comedy with the great European actors and the amazing Queen sound track. That is one of the most under-rated movies of all time. I thought it was very funny.

Other than that, we get the Book of Eli, Darkman, and a new box for Enter the Dragon. Bouy...

There really seems to be no rhyme or reason to Hollywood's choice of Blu-Ray releases. There are so many great titles in their back-log. Yet, they continue to focus on releasing bad comedy on Blu-Ray. Stop me if I am wrong, but what do you gain by putting bad comedy on Blu-Ray? Money? I doubt it. Show me the proof on the bottom line. I don't believe you.

I think this release schedule proves several things:

1. Piracy is hurting the release schedule for Blu-Ray. Since the bottom line is lower than it might otherwise be, studios have less incentives to invest in the upgrade process. This is why we get fewer releases.
2. It would seem the recession is still hurting the uptake of Blu-Ray. When I look down this long list of bad comedy and Rom-Com (which is terrible by definition), I see release schedule which is mom-friendly and kid friendly. This suggests to me that there is just one Blu-Ray player in the house, and that is in the family room.
3. Right now, studios do not see a profit margin in releasing some of their better titles. They are holding them out for a better climate. With a W shaped recession on tap, we may be waiting for sometime.

What would l like to see released? Let me give you a new top 11 release list:

1. The Incredibles
2. Star Wars (the original)
3. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc
4. Apocalypse Now!
5. Alien
6. Aliens
7. The Exorcist
8. Monte Python and the Holy Grail
9. Blue Velvet
10. Princess Mononoke
11. Barry Lyndon

I gave you an odd number just because I didn't want to leave Barry Lyndon off the list. I just can't believe that some of these all-time classics didn't lead the way into the Blu-Ray era.

The #1 pick on my list--The Incredibles--was a runaway smash hit in 2004. Everybody loved it. It is one of my favorite movies of all time... Maybe even my absolute favorite. Why this movie wasn't at the head of the class in 2006 is beyond me. Why Pixar has delayed a release is beyond me.

Star Wars and Aliens have both been shown many times in glorious HD on cable TV. HBO used to show Star Wars all the time. The SciFi channel shows Aliens every couple of weeks. Why they haven't released the Blu-Ray is utterly beyond me.

Every other film on that list is a classic in one way or another, and should be released.

What went wrong...?

This morning, one of my coworkers approached me with a distressed look on his face. He said it was a shitty game yesterday, and he anxiously wanted to know what went wrong?

I quickly realized that I was speaking to a guy who didn't listen to anything I said last week. He lost some money to Vegas. Of this much I have no doubt.

"Nothing went wrong, the best team won. This was as the Madden 2010 simulator predicted; plus a little added margin for the pick-6."

"But all the Las Vegas lines favored the Colts", he said.

"Oh you mean they lied to you?" I asked, "You know they collect money when you lose, right?"

"But how could Peyton Manning play like shit on Super Sunday? How could this happen?", he rhetorically asked in distress.

"Did you know Manning's QB efficiency rating was 115.3% before he threw the pick-6? He played amazing football with the exception of that 1 pass."

"Yeah, but that pass killed the Colts!" He said in distress.

"Remember, a touchdown there only ties the game. The Saints would still have two options for victory; one in regulation; one in overtime." I reminded him.

"Yeah, but that put the Saints up by 14!" He said in distress.

"You lost money didn't you?" I asked.

He did not reply. The looser gamblers are in a recriminating, back-biting state of denial this lovely morning. This is because the gambling bill is going to come due soon. 68.5% of all the dollars bet on the Super Bowl were won by the sports books in Vegas. Did you ever have any doubt that Vegas would make money on this deal?

The best team won folks, and Vegas knows that. They played you for a fool. Nothing went wrong. The best team in the NFL won the game. It basically went as expected. Everybody on the NFL Network (except Moochie) picked the Saints to win it yesterday. They knew the Saints were the better football team. The stats will tell you that, if you know how to read stats.

Never bet money as Vegas wants you too. If you bet the Vegas line straight up and down each week during the regular season, you will lose money on most weeks.

I told you... damn it!

Right now I am pretty euphoric. I am overjoyed that the Saints have won it. I am NFC guy. The Saints used to be in West with the Rams. I alway felt bad for them back in the days when they were the Aints. I like the underdog. I also like Dome teams that play aggressive and spectacular offense. This precept qualified both competitors in this Super Bowl, in my book, but the Saints had an advantage.

Just to be clear: I was never against the Colts. I have a ton of respect for them, and greatly admire their great style of play. I would have been okay with it if the Colts had won. I just really wanted New Orleans to win. I would have felt terrible for them if they had lost. I feel bad for the Colts, but they very well could come back and win it next season. Just remember: They get Anthony Gonzalez back next season. Do you want to talk about having way too many weapons on the field? Jesus!

Congrats to the Saints. I am savoring it. I wish I had some vacation time and some money. I would love to travel down there for the party and enjoy it with you.

So the PredictionMachine.com 10% scenario came to pass. The Saints won it by 14 points. A little known corner intercepted Manning and returned it for the TD on what should have been the game tying score. I think I mentioned that as a possible Squirek Factor. Coach Dungy hyper-extended one point of data and broke his neck. Las Vegas will now collect 68.5% of all the money bet on the Super Bowl. They only need to pay out 31.5% of the shares. I told you the Vegas lines were fucking lying to you, you dumb bastards!

I did pretty well, personally. Although I did not bet on the game, I called this matchup in preseason and I've been declaring a Super Bowl victory for the Saints for the past 9 weeks. This should have been obvious to anybody who evaluates teams, and isn't overly awed by mystique. It was obvious to me that the Saints were a beautiful and very well put together football team. They played great team ball all season long. If you dynastanalingus commentators weren't so obsessed with the Saints' history of futility, you would have recognized that 2009 was their year also.

One thing I want to cuss the media out for: This game did not change my opinion of Peyton Manning at all. He is still the same great Peyton Manning he was before the game, and he may well go down in history as the greatest QB of all time, regardless of this game. This loss does not change his status in my estimation. Far too much weight is laid on these Super Bowl victories. Don't hyper-extend one point of data and break your neck.

In the meanwhile, I am very very happy that the Saints won. In my mind, I am partying with you guys in New Orleans. Wish I could be there with yah!

The Madden 2010 Similator predicts a 35-31 victory for the Saints in SB44

Each year since 2004, EA sports has simulated the results of the Super Bowl using their marvelous John Madden Football software. The set the system in CPU vs CPU combat mode, and they give the system a fresh load of the very latest statistical facts about team and player performance.

How good is the result? The Madden simulator has accurately predicted the outcome each and every year since 2004 with the sole exception of 2007. This was the year that the Giants upset the Patriots. Nobody called that one, and that's why we still play the games.

With the ever increasing sophistication of the software, the growing power of the CPUs, and every improving statistics, the simulator has been getting more and more accurate each year. In the past two seasons the accuracy of results of the simulator have been astounding

1. The simulator accurately predicted a 4 point victory for the Steelers over the Cardinals last year, missing the final score by only 1 point for each team.
2. The simulator predicted a 31-17 victory for the Colts over the Jets in the AFC Championship. It missed by just 1 point. The final was 30-17.
3. The simulator predicted a 34-31 victory for the Saints over the Vikings in the NFC Championship. Further, the simulator called for a last second field goal by the Saints. It turns out the Saints won 31-28 by a field goal in sudden death overtime.

Now Madden says the Saints prevail 35-31. Tomorrow, I intend to show you a simple spreadsheet of team statistics which demonstrates why that prediction is:

1. Totally reasonable and plausible
2. Exactly what we should expect from an unbiased simulation based on stats.

As I said to you once before: If you would like a friendly piece of betting advice, you should take the Saints and the points. Either the Saints will win it straight-up, or the Colts won't cover the 4.5 point spread. Either way, you will win money.

Justice has been served

The match-up for Super Bowl 44 has been set. As expected the Colts will play the Saints in a true #1 vs #2 match up. It's justice. As John Madden used to say, you could see this match up coming all year long. These were the two best teams all season long. They both walked in and out of week 13 undefeated. Now we have it: The dream match up of 2009. Frankly I would have been tremendously disappointed with anything else.

Long suffering Jet fans will be upset with me for saying this, but this just wasn't there time. They just weren't good enough this year to get there. Congrats on making epic improvements. You do have a bright future.

Brett Favre fans, whoever they are, will also be mad at me for saying this, but the Viks were always ice-skating up hill in 2009. Congratulations on defying gravity and time so well, but I doubted you the entire way. Congrats on smashing and unexpected playoff victory over the Cowboys.

I just need to file one complaint with the NFL. The Commish needs to investigate whether the Refs were oiling down the footballs for the NFC Championship game with WD40. I have never seen so many slipups, juggles, fumbles, muffs, jars, botched snaps, and double clutches. I think WD40 is about the only logical explanation for it.

I hate to boast, but if you look way back at my August 2009 blog, you're going to see that I called Saint vs. Colts all the way back there. Not bad for an ordinary guy, eh?

Game 14 2009

All 32 teams in the NFL played their 14th game this week. It was a hard week for my anointed teams. As you recall I picked the following teams in the preseason:

1. Colts (won--barely)
2. Dolphins (lost to the Titans)
3. Saints (lost to the Cowboys)
4. Packers (lost to the Steelers)

This wasn't the end of the struggles. The Cardinals had to fight to beat the Lions. It looked like they were going to crush them early, but then the Lions came back. The Vikings, a team I have never bandwaggoned with in 2009, dropped an ugly stinker in Carolina. Of the solid playoff teams, only the Eagles made a solid effort and won well.

Worst of all, my Rams got up on their hind legs and fought the good fight against the Texans, but they failed to win. Maybe my Rams were offended by my suggestion that they have packed it in for the year. They decided to fight before finally packing it in. Once again, I am extremely pleased with our outstanding defense. Once again, I am utterly horrified by our pathetic offense, and our inability to score points. We need a serious offensive overhaul, just like the one we did between 1998 and 1999.

You could make an argument that this weekend was only kind to 3 playoff teams:

1. The Chargers (they won, and the Broncos lost)
2. The Cardinals (they won, and the 49ers lost)
3. The Colts (they won again, and they are the only undefeated team in the league)

I would tend to agree with Jamie Dukes, regarding the New Orleans Saints: This loss is a blessing in disguise. The Saints have been winning thrillers lately, instead of delivering all-out beat-downs, the way they once were. Now they took a beating at the hands of Dallas. I do agree with the notion that this will give them a renewed and refreshed focus in practice. They now know that they are not immortals. They know they can be beaten They know they need to improve during these two weeks before entering the playoffs.

A friend of mine, who is a 49er fan expressed a similar thought when he said: "I agree with Bill Walsh's philosophy: Let them loose 1 and only 1." This can have a focal effect on a championship caliber team.

Also, the loss really didn't hurt the Saints at all. The Vikings turned right around and dropped an ugly game to the Panthers. One more victory locks up home-field advantage through the NFC tournament.

Why the Saints won't be stopped shy

In the 2008 NFL season, the top three defenses were, in order:

1. Steelers
2. Ravens
3. Eagles

None of those were legendary defenses. All three of those defenses have fallen down the board in 2009. In week 12 of 2009, the top 5 defenses are:

1. Packers 281
2. Jets 283.9
3. Steelers 288.4
4. Giants 290.5
5. Broncos 295.0

Shocking isn't it? I would never have guessed that the NFL.com would tell me that the Packers are #1 in total defense. Although the Jets have been good defensively... well... you know the rest of the story. I thought the Steelers would be a lot lower than #3. It should be noted that this is the yardage list. That is not very significant. As Dick Vermeil used to say: This game is about scoring points. Points are how you win and loose the game. If we look at the points allowed list, what does that look like?

1. Bengals 174 (15.8)
2. Cowboys 182 (16.5)
3. Colts 184 (16.7)
4. Ravens 188 (17.1)
5. Broncos 189 (17.2)

On a quick side track: Did you notice that the Patriots are not found in either of these groups? Neither is Minnesota.

A close look at this figures shows nothing all that impressive. We do not have any legendary defenses in the NFL this 2009 season. Truth be told, these figures are considerably worse than they where they were last season. The top yardage figures are all much higher than normal (lower is better). The top defenses by points are considerably higher than single figures (lower is better). All of the teams with top statistical defenses have proven beatable, except for the Colts. Several will not make the playoffs (pick 2 from the Giants, Packers, Jets, Broncos). The Eagles, Jets, and Giants have already been smashed by the Saints.

To stop the Saints you must stop an offense that is on pace to beat the Patriots' scoring record of 2007. That isn't going to be easy. The Patriots themselves gave it a try and, well... you know... Who you gonna call? The Ghost Busters? If you pay attention to the plain figures, it would appear that the Dallas Cowboys would be the best candidate to upset the Saints, but Dallas gives up a lot of yards, especially through the air. They are number 21 again the pass by yardage. They are #14 in total yardage. That is a mismatch.

How about the most likely candidate? The Minnesota Vikings? The Vikings are #8 in total yardage, allowing 303 per game. They are #8 in total points allowed with 18.5. They are #1 in sacks, but they are #19 against the pass. #19 against the pass? That constitutes a mismatch. Riddle me this Batman: How do you rank #1 in sacks and #19 against the pass? The answer is easy: Your line is great and your secondary sucks. This is the truth about about the Vikings defense. If my secondary sucks, I really wouldn't look forward to a match with the Saints. If the DL weren't playing as well as they are, the Vikings would be #30 against the pass.

It should be noted that the Vikings played the Rams in the 1999 tournament. They were #30 against the pass. We were #1 in all passing categories. We smashed them. The 3rd quarter was a massacre. Something similar might happen in the Super Dome in 2009.

This is all a very long winded, reasoned out way of saying that there is nobody out there in the NFC who is going to stop the Saints from making it to the Super Bowl, presuming nothing drastic happens. Drastic is defined as the loss of Drew Brees or Darren Sharper. It will take a legendary defense to stop these guys. That defense does not exist in the year 2009.

In the year 2010, watch out for the Rams. We will have the next legendary defense. Coach Spags has already done magical things with our very slim crew. Just give him this off-season to recruit a few free agents from the Giants.

I got a feeling New Orleans is going to the Super Bowl

About the Saints vs. Patriots last night

I wonder if they are going to stop talking about the Patriots as the reigning dynasty of the moment after last night's game? You'll pardon me whilst I do a bit of crowing for just a moment or two.

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.

A few last thoughts about week 10 of the NFL season

Steven Young made a great point about week 10 of the 2009 NFL season right after Monday Night Football. "Thank God for the Colts and Patriots, otherwise this would have been an absolutely terrible weekend of football."

No shit! As Young stated, the weekend got underway with a pretty dreadful game between two incompetent teams in the 49ers and Bears. It ended with a dreadful mismatch between the Ravens and Browns. The Ravens should have buried the Browns deep and quick. It did not happen. The Ravens played pretty poor football. They did just enough to win. No mas. All night long there were only a few topics of discussion:

1. How deep is a disaster in progress in Cleveland?
2. Why are the Ravens, a supposedly good team, under performing so badly?
3. Man this game is terrible!!!!
4. Man wasn't that Patriots @ Colts game incredible last night?!?!?

After MNF, they took five minutes to revile the disaster in Cleveland, then it was off to Indianapolis for more passionate discourse about that instant classic.

I wonder how Steve Young views the Saints @ Rams? In all seriousness, I am just curious to know. Was that disastrously poor football, typical of the entire weekend? Was that just a great team in funk because they looked past an 'easy' opponent? Was that a game where the Rams got up on their hind legs and demonstrated that we are actually better than the Browns of this world? Was it some of all of the above? What happened in St. Louis?

If you compare and constrast the performance of the Ravens and the Saints, then compare and contrast the performance of the Rams & the Browns, I think you will have your answer. The Saints were vastly superior to the Ravens this weekend. The Rams were vastly superior to the Browns this weekend. That may not be saying a tremendous amount in either case, but the Saints @ Rams was a hell of a lot better football game then what we saw on MFN.

I myself am wondering if the Rams did enough in this game against--arguably--the best team in pro football to gain the confidence necessary to go on winning streak against some of the weaker opponents we have left on our schedule.

We have Arizona next. That will be a tough game. Then we have Seattle. We need to beat them. Then we have Chicago. That is a winable game. Then we have the Titans. That will be tough. A few weeks ago, that looked pretty good. Not now. Also, the Titans hate us for beating them in the Super Bowl. They always get up their dander for the Rams. Next Texas, and then the Cardinals again. Then we close with San Francisco.

I think we should close the season with at least 4 victories. That should put us out of the top 5 in the draft. Perhaps that is a good thing. I don't like the top ranked QBs in this draft. Let them go high.