Here come the Quarterbacks. Eight teams left, and they have one thing in common – some pretty fair slingers. Too young, too old, too green, too black and blue. It's showtime.
It will be Kurt Warner and his Flying Arizona Circus coming to the dome Saturday to try to slow Drew Brees and the Magical Mystery Tour. Let’s hope the turf isn’t flammable.
For only the third time in their history, the Saints get to play in the second round of the NFL playoffs.
What to watch for?
For the Saints, I’ll be watching Pierre Thomas and Lance Moore, to see if they add a little extra dimension to the offense, and Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter on defense to see if they can return to their pre-injury early season form. Mostly, I’ll be watching the pass rush. It’s the pass rush that wins in the playoffs, and it will be up to Gregg Williams to dial up some pressure.
The schedule has set up nicely for the Saints. The Cardinals, who won their thriller over the Packers, must do the fastest turnaround possible – from the late game Sunday to the early game Saturday. Not really fair. Somehow, I don’t think Kurt Warner cares. I’ve seen his magic on the carpet of the Superdome enough for one lifetime.
I still don’t think the Saints finished as cold as everyone else thinks. They finished injured. Injuries mounted and they bore little resemblance to the team that blew through the first 2 months of the season. Are they rested, healthy, and sharp? We’ll see.
What about the other teams? The Ravens resurrected their old defensive domination in pushing the Patriots out of the playoffs. Dallas embarrassed the Eagles, who only 3 weeks ago looked like they could cruise to another Super Bowl.
The Jets shut up the Ocho’s. I was really hoping that the Colts would have to play the Jets, who are in the playoffs only because of the famous Colt capitulation of week 15. Instead the Colts get the Ravens while the Jets will try to slow down the Chargers.
Meanwhile, the hot Cowboys are the talk of the town.
To which I say not so fast – let’s make them win 3 games instead of handing them the Lombardi. They still have to go to Minnesota. Let’s remember that the Vikings are undefeated at home. How old will Favre play? He’s looked pretty young lately. There are still a lot of tests the Cowboys haven’t passed. They haven’t had to come from way behind to win. Remember that they came into the dome, totally dominated the Saints in every phase of the game, and only won by 7. That’s right, the pundits make it sound like the final score was 42 – 7, not 24 -17.
Think I'll stay on the Saints bandwagon awhile longer.
Meanwhile, a late observation on the College season:
Could the BCS Championship have been any more anti-climactic? A month off is a good idea? Image if after the Basketball Final Four Saturday, the final game was played a month later. I’d have been asleep. It’s bad enough that this illegal BCS cartel excludes so many Division One teams, are you telling me that with that final game being played 30 days after the Conference Championships, they couldn’t have squeezed in a couple of playoff rounds? Are you telling me Boise State shouldn’t have at least had the chance to be stopped by another team, instead of a bureaucracy?
I will say this about college football. Their replay system blows the NFL’s away.
In college, the decision maker sitting upstairs is looking at plays immediately. A mistake is gone in 60 seconds. In the NFL the coaches are looking. Right before the next play is snapped, the coach throws the red flag. The Referee comes over, and the coach explains what he thinks needs to be looked at. The Ref walks over to the great hooded monitor. Five minutes has passed already. Now if the ref is so inclined, he must overturn a call he or his crew missed. The officials confer. They talk about the post-game meal. You could time all this with an hourglass. The droning and guessing by the announcers only makes it more painful.
Had to rant. I’m done droning – time to see how far the best Saints team ever can go now that it really counts. We’ll know soon.
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