The last time I blogged the Saints season had come crashing down like the Metrodome Roof on a frigid December morn. The debacle in Seattle still prevents me from enjoying the playoffs and the Super Bowl. I'm sorry, while most NFL fans are celebrating a super bowl stand off featuring two of the most storied franchises in history, I could carre less. Let me restate that, I could give a ____!
As I watched the rest of the playoffs, all I could think was "that Seattle loss was worse than I thought, Chicago has no O, Atlanta was a fraud and Green Bay in the Superdome for all the NFC marbles would have been epic".
In the AFC, after Payton Manning was eliminated(I can't help pulling for him), my only other team of interest was the Jets. Love him or hate him, you can't ignore their big talkin foot smoochin compuslive cussin head football coach. Rex Ryan has stormed onto NFL scene like a nor'easter sized breathe of fresh air, smelling of pork fat no less, but fresh indeed. He has coached the Jets from cellar dwelling squatters to two AFC championship games in his first two seasons. Name a coach who can say the same.
Well, they lost to the Steelers, a team I could not loathe more. From the Immaculate reception against Snake's Raiders to beating my childhood beloved Cowboys in two Super Bowls to their date rapin QB. Not to mention THE most overrated and overcreditted head coach in sports. I just can't stomach 'em.
So now I'm stuck in no football land. I'll watch the bowl, half heartedly pull for the Pack since they are NFC and their fans remind me of Saints fans. And, of course, Lombardi will be home again.
My attention now turns to the streaking Hornets. Ten straight wins as of this blog. Monty Williams seems to have found his voice and is now ahead of the curve in his growth as a head coach. CP3 is back to the MVP type point gaurd we're used to seeing. David Wext and Omeka Okafor are playing like all-stars and Trevor Ariza has stepped up his game. What's also encouraging is the emergence of former LSU gaurd Marcus Thorthon and the play of the bench. Watching the Hornets play is fun again. Their poise when down, their grit in close games and now blowing out three of their last four opponents, including San Antonio, makes them a force in the West. Never in my wildest dreams did I see this coming after the off season, pre-season then crash after the fast start. As a fan, I don't want the all-star break to come as I fear it will break the momentum the Bees have built over the last few weeks. One fan wrote it best, BeeDat!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Defenseless in Seattle
After Saturdays's embarrassingly humiliating loss to the worst team ever to host a playoff game, all Drew Brees could say to the world was"it's hard to win a playoff game". Really? Really, Drew? Gee why didn't I think of that. Afterall it was just a year ago that it looked pretty easy winning a playoff game. You did it against the Arizona Cardinals, a team one year removed from losing Super Bowl XLIII in aganizing fashion to the Pittsburg Steelers. You must remember the 45-14 skulling that day. That wasn't so difficult. So what was the difference between those Saints and the Saints of January 8, 2011?
Two words.
"DEEE Fense!" boom boom "DEEE Fense!" boom boom
In January, 2010 the Saints defense beat down and suffocated a 10-6 NFC West winning Arizonna offense featuring a hall of fame QB, pro bowl WR's and a solid staple of RBs averaging well over 4 yards per carry. In other words, the offense that gave the Steelers fits in the Super Bowl and came within seconds of winning it. Remember , it was an TD interception return of 95+ yards just before haltime that flipped that scoreboard in the Steelers' favor. Otherwise, it would have been the "defending champs" getting that beatdown last January. In that game the Saints defense was intense, opportunistic and brutal. So brutal that Kurt Warner called it a career after being knocked out by a variety of "remember me" body shots culminated by the kill shot by Saints DE Rodney McCrae on an interception return.
The very next week, the Saints defense pounded Viking's QB Brett Favre so bad that instead of running for positive yards and getting his team into field goal position in the wanning minutes of a tied NFC championship game, he threw the interception heard around the world. Earlier, Favre had been so badly beaten up, his family couldn't bare to watch as he lay on the field in agony. That interception, which ended Favre's season and for all practical purposes his carrer, was a result of the relentless assault from Greg Williams' defense.
Where was that defense last Saturday? Certainly not in Seattle. No intensity! No guys flying to the ball. No remember me shots to the QB. No turnovers created. No big stops. NO. NO.NO.NO!
But yes, there was Roman Harper being fooled not once, not twice but three times by an offense boasting the 28th ranked QB in the NFL with a 73.2 rating. Yes, there was Darren Sharper, who's been seen more in the TV studio than in the film room this season, taking a bad angle on a seam route to get burned by a WR cast to the NFL scrap heep two seasons ago. Then, yes, there was Scott Shanle filling the hole, hitting then losing Seattle RB Marshawn Lynch, the 35 ranked RB with a 3.5 average to make a key stop on second and 10, forcing Seattle to either throw and risk stopping the clock or a turnover or run then punt to Drew Brees with time and time outs. Instead, Lynch broke seven more tackles in route to a 65 yard back breaking TD run. A play that will be shown over and over and over and over again on every sports highlights reel across the universe. A play that will win an ESPY for best run of the season. A play that will win an ESPY for worst effort and takling of the century. A play that will haunt Saints fans forever!
Silly me, I thought it would have been the offense that suffered due to their rash of injuries. I figured the 4th ranked defense in the NFL would shut down Seatte's 28th ranked offense and the Saints 3rd ranked passing offense would score enough to pull off a workman like two score victory. I was thinking 21-10, 24-14.
Well Brees and comany more than did their part. Scoring 36 points which could have easily been 50 by a one legged offense with zero running threat would have sent a message throughout the NFL that the Super bowl champs are here and pissed and ready to repeat. They displayed the heart of a champion.
Little did we know the defense was making plans for the offseason.
Two words.
"DEEE Fense!" boom boom "DEEE Fense!" boom boom
In January, 2010 the Saints defense beat down and suffocated a 10-6 NFC West winning Arizonna offense featuring a hall of fame QB, pro bowl WR's and a solid staple of RBs averaging well over 4 yards per carry. In other words, the offense that gave the Steelers fits in the Super Bowl and came within seconds of winning it. Remember , it was an TD interception return of 95+ yards just before haltime that flipped that scoreboard in the Steelers' favor. Otherwise, it would have been the "defending champs" getting that beatdown last January. In that game the Saints defense was intense, opportunistic and brutal. So brutal that Kurt Warner called it a career after being knocked out by a variety of "remember me" body shots culminated by the kill shot by Saints DE Rodney McCrae on an interception return.
The very next week, the Saints defense pounded Viking's QB Brett Favre so bad that instead of running for positive yards and getting his team into field goal position in the wanning minutes of a tied NFC championship game, he threw the interception heard around the world. Earlier, Favre had been so badly beaten up, his family couldn't bare to watch as he lay on the field in agony. That interception, which ended Favre's season and for all practical purposes his carrer, was a result of the relentless assault from Greg Williams' defense.
Where was that defense last Saturday? Certainly not in Seattle. No intensity! No guys flying to the ball. No remember me shots to the QB. No turnovers created. No big stops. NO. NO.NO.NO!
But yes, there was Roman Harper being fooled not once, not twice but three times by an offense boasting the 28th ranked QB in the NFL with a 73.2 rating. Yes, there was Darren Sharper, who's been seen more in the TV studio than in the film room this season, taking a bad angle on a seam route to get burned by a WR cast to the NFL scrap heep two seasons ago. Then, yes, there was Scott Shanle filling the hole, hitting then losing Seattle RB Marshawn Lynch, the 35 ranked RB with a 3.5 average to make a key stop on second and 10, forcing Seattle to either throw and risk stopping the clock or a turnover or run then punt to Drew Brees with time and time outs. Instead, Lynch broke seven more tackles in route to a 65 yard back breaking TD run. A play that will be shown over and over and over and over again on every sports highlights reel across the universe. A play that will win an ESPY for best run of the season. A play that will win an ESPY for worst effort and takling of the century. A play that will haunt Saints fans forever!
Silly me, I thought it would have been the offense that suffered due to their rash of injuries. I figured the 4th ranked defense in the NFL would shut down Seatte's 28th ranked offense and the Saints 3rd ranked passing offense would score enough to pull off a workman like two score victory. I was thinking 21-10, 24-14.
Well Brees and comany more than did their part. Scoring 36 points which could have easily been 50 by a one legged offense with zero running threat would have sent a message throughout the NFL that the Super bowl champs are here and pissed and ready to repeat. They displayed the heart of a champion.
Little did we know the defense was making plans for the offseason.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Saints Battled Super Bowl Hangover Well in 2010
As most know, the hardest thing to do in sports is to defend a Super Bowl championship. Especially your first. Your team is asked to do that which is completely foreign to them. After receiving enormous adjulation from fans, media and contemporaries, they must battle complaceny, apathy, injuries and if that's not enough, every team's best shot. Every week.
In short, the Super Bowl hangover.
Now in New Orleans we know all about hangovers. They can range from mild (1 Advil) to severe (5 Advils) on the K&B Hangover Rx Scale.
Ask the Baltimore Ravens(4) and Tampa Bay Bucs(5), teams that failed to qualify for the playoffs after winning their Super Bowls then bounced around never to return and the Bucs sinking to a 3-13 season. Ask New England and Pittsburg (3) who after winning their Super Bowls, failed to qualify for the playoffs but rebounded to win the big game again. Then there's Peyton Manning's Colts (1), who won their division but lost the their playoff opener the year after their Super Bowl win. It's just tough.
So the New Orleans Saints finished their first post Super Bowl regular season a respectful 11-5 and qualified for a wildcard berth. 11 wins and playoffs automatically eliminates five Advil status. However a look at the losses revealed a lingering hangover looming early in the season which might have doomed a lesser team.
Let's take a look.
In week 3, crucial turnovers by Drew Brees and a hungover Garrett Hartley missed a gimme 29 yard field goal attempt in overtime ending Sean Payton's mastery of Atlanta. A miss that would prove monumental as the season played out. 3 Advils
Week 5 was perhaps the worst in the Payton era. Losing to a very bad Phoenix Cardinals team featurng a first time wristband reading starting quarterback named Max Hall. A team who would go on to lose 11 games and become cellar dwellers of the woefull NFC West. 5 Advils and an Alka Seltzer
Week 7 came after a 31-7 beat down of division rival Tampa Bay. The floundering 1-5 Cleveland Browns came to town wanting a piece of the Super Bowl champs. They got more than a piece as they befuddled SB MVP Drew Brees into his worst performance as a Saint. Brees threw two pic6's to a DL bearing a name earily close to that of his newborn son. They were preceeded by a costly drive killing INT to cast off LB and former NO fan fave Scott Fajita. All to a team that would close 2010 with 11 losses. Hangover?! This looked more like an overdose! 5 Advils and 4 drops of Visine.
The metal of the champions were indeed being tested.
Displayng the heart of champions, though, they responded. Ripping off six straight wins including a Sunday night home win against Pittsburg and a Monday Night Footbal win on the road in Atlanta which positioned them for a shot at the #1 seed in the playoffs.
Losing to the Ravens in Baltimore in December ended that dream of repeating as #1 seed in the NFC playoffs. 4 Advils and a heating pad.
Losing a meaningless regular season finally to Tampa normally wouldn't mean much, but with three starters going down to injuries, this could spell doom in the playoffs. 4 1/2 Advils and 2 Vicadin.
Struggling with a once reliable receiving corps that dropped more passes than Wil I Am drops beats, an offensive line that averaged mutilple holding penaties per game and provided Brees with little time, injuries to runninng backs Lionel Hamilton, Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush, and Chris Ivory, Drew Brees threw a career high 22 interceptions but also a miraculous NFC high 34 td passes. The offense finished 2010 ranked 6th total and 3rd passing. 2 1/2 Advils
Defensively, the Saints ranked a Sean Payton alltime high 5th in the league going into the season finally, however failed to muster up the game changing turnovers created during their run to the Super Bowl. Nowhere was this more dramatic than interceptions. The Saints were 3rd in the NFL in 2009 with 26 int's, returning 5 for touchdowns compared to 9 pics and 2 for td's in 2010. OUCH! That's a 4 Advil by itself! The defense did however see the emergence of second year DB Malcom Jenkins into a legit NFL safety but perhaps the fading of all time great Darren Sharper. 2 Advils
As the playoffs loom, the Saints face a new challenge, no home playoff games. However, the Saints played better on the road this season at 6-2, including a huge victory in the Georgia Dome.
As hangovers go, I'd rate the regular season a 2 out of 5, with 5 being a losing season as the Saints did finish with 11 wins but failed to win their division and lock up home field advantage.
Now it's on to the playoffs and a new beginning. We'll see what the champs are made of.
And if the hangover worsens or fades away...
In short, the Super Bowl hangover.
Now in New Orleans we know all about hangovers. They can range from mild (1 Advil) to severe (5 Advils) on the K&B Hangover Rx Scale.
Ask the Baltimore Ravens(4) and Tampa Bay Bucs(5), teams that failed to qualify for the playoffs after winning their Super Bowls then bounced around never to return and the Bucs sinking to a 3-13 season. Ask New England and Pittsburg (3) who after winning their Super Bowls, failed to qualify for the playoffs but rebounded to win the big game again. Then there's Peyton Manning's Colts (1), who won their division but lost the their playoff opener the year after their Super Bowl win. It's just tough.
So the New Orleans Saints finished their first post Super Bowl regular season a respectful 11-5 and qualified for a wildcard berth. 11 wins and playoffs automatically eliminates five Advil status. However a look at the losses revealed a lingering hangover looming early in the season which might have doomed a lesser team.
Let's take a look.
In week 3, crucial turnovers by Drew Brees and a hungover Garrett Hartley missed a gimme 29 yard field goal attempt in overtime ending Sean Payton's mastery of Atlanta. A miss that would prove monumental as the season played out. 3 Advils
Week 5 was perhaps the worst in the Payton era. Losing to a very bad Phoenix Cardinals team featurng a first time wristband reading starting quarterback named Max Hall. A team who would go on to lose 11 games and become cellar dwellers of the woefull NFC West. 5 Advils and an Alka Seltzer
Week 7 came after a 31-7 beat down of division rival Tampa Bay. The floundering 1-5 Cleveland Browns came to town wanting a piece of the Super Bowl champs. They got more than a piece as they befuddled SB MVP Drew Brees into his worst performance as a Saint. Brees threw two pic6's to a DL bearing a name earily close to that of his newborn son. They were preceeded by a costly drive killing INT to cast off LB and former NO fan fave Scott Fajita. All to a team that would close 2010 with 11 losses. Hangover?! This looked more like an overdose! 5 Advils and 4 drops of Visine.
The metal of the champions were indeed being tested.
Displayng the heart of champions, though, they responded. Ripping off six straight wins including a Sunday night home win against Pittsburg and a Monday Night Footbal win on the road in Atlanta which positioned them for a shot at the #1 seed in the playoffs.
Losing to the Ravens in Baltimore in December ended that dream of repeating as #1 seed in the NFC playoffs. 4 Advils and a heating pad.
Losing a meaningless regular season finally to Tampa normally wouldn't mean much, but with three starters going down to injuries, this could spell doom in the playoffs. 4 1/2 Advils and 2 Vicadin.
Struggling with a once reliable receiving corps that dropped more passes than Wil I Am drops beats, an offensive line that averaged mutilple holding penaties per game and provided Brees with little time, injuries to runninng backs Lionel Hamilton, Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush, and Chris Ivory, Drew Brees threw a career high 22 interceptions but also a miraculous NFC high 34 td passes. The offense finished 2010 ranked 6th total and 3rd passing. 2 1/2 Advils
Defensively, the Saints ranked a Sean Payton alltime high 5th in the league going into the season finally, however failed to muster up the game changing turnovers created during their run to the Super Bowl. Nowhere was this more dramatic than interceptions. The Saints were 3rd in the NFL in 2009 with 26 int's, returning 5 for touchdowns compared to 9 pics and 2 for td's in 2010. OUCH! That's a 4 Advil by itself! The defense did however see the emergence of second year DB Malcom Jenkins into a legit NFL safety but perhaps the fading of all time great Darren Sharper. 2 Advils
As the playoffs loom, the Saints face a new challenge, no home playoff games. However, the Saints played better on the road this season at 6-2, including a huge victory in the Georgia Dome.
As hangovers go, I'd rate the regular season a 2 out of 5, with 5 being a losing season as the Saints did finish with 11 wins but failed to win their division and lock up home field advantage.
Now it's on to the playoffs and a new beginning. We'll see what the champs are made of.
And if the hangover worsens or fades away...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)