They’re coming.
The Genius Coach, the Rock Star QB, the perfect season, and the three Lombardi trophies arrive next Monday in the biggest, most anticipated regular season game in Saints history. (The reopening of the Superdome post Katrina was more emotional event than any football game)
Next Monday is all football.
Darren Sharper says the atmosphere will be wild because, “The fans will have 10 hours to tailgate.” Oh contraire mon frère, I think Saints fans will start getting ready for this game as soon as we finish Thanksgiving dessert. Truthfully, we fans have kind of been on autopilot since the Falcons game.
The comeback against Carolina was nice and Sunday’s beat down of Tampa was really fun but neither had the big game feel. Teams that are 10-0 stop having many big games during the regular season. It’s a perk that comes with a five game lead in the division with six games left.
Welcome to probably the last big game until January, unless the Saints are 15-0 looking to close out a perfect season in Carolina.
Even though the Pittsburgh Steelers are the defending champion, it’s the Patriots who are the NFL gold standard. New England is the measuring stick by which any aspiring title contender judges themselves.
I personally haven’t been this excited for a Saints regular season game since Jim Mora’s 1990 Saints opened the season against the two-time defending Super Bowl Champion San Francisco 49ers. In 1990, before the Internet, 600 cable channels, and 24-hour sports coverage Monday night was a huge deal and opening the season on Monday night was even bigger. Maybe my memory is going, but I remember The Times-Picayune doing a countdown in the summer until the game. During training camp it’s all the players and coaches talked about. Teams always talk about the opening week opponent during camp, but with the 49ers it seemed like they were talking about slaying Godzilla. As if they better be ready or they might get embarrassed on national TV, which back then, the Saints were known to do on Monday night.
Maybe the ensuing 19 years have clouded my mind with nostalgia but on that night the Dome seemed to explode. In my memory it roared non-stop for 60 minutes until Joe Montana broke our hearts with a late field goal drive to beat the Saints 13-12. The Saints sacked Montana six times but turned the ball over five times. The Dome Patrol couldn’t overcome John Fourcade’s horrible play.
The atmosphere is stamped in my mind forever. Fans got yellow ‘Who Dat’ towels as they came into the stadium and if I close my eyes I can still see a sea of yellow and feel the stadium shake as the game kicked off.
Monday’s game against the Patriots will blow that out of the water. In the greatest of Saints seasons, this will be one of the games that will be burned in our memories whether the Saints win or lose.
In a famous NFL Films clip Bill Parcels is yelling at his offensive linemen on the bench, “This is it. This is why you lift all those weights.” He might as well have been talking to Saints fans.
When we suffered with Archie, wore bags, endured Ditka, and swallowed one painful, soul questioning loss after another and sometimes wondered why we cared so much about this football team that always seemed to ruin our Sunday’s more often then not…well next Monday is one reason why we care.
As a fan, besides winning the Super Bowl, the thing I most wanted was the Saints to matter. I wanted them to be in all those great games like the Cowboys and 49ers played in early 1990’s. Or the Colts-Patriots games this decade. Oh to be on center stage of the NFL universe with everyone watching and not be a side note but the main attraction.
Monday night the curtain drops and all football eyes will be on the Saints.
A team that has won three Super bowls this decade is coming to town and is wondering how they will measure up against our high-powered heroes.
The Saints are facing the team of the decade and are viewed as every bit their equal. This has never happened to the Saints. If you don’t know why that is awesome then you haven’t spent your whole life with the Saints as your favorite team.
All that’s left is to play the game. I can not wait for Monday night.
It’s Thanksgiving week so my picks come early.
Last week: 2-3
Season: 30-25
New England (+3) at New Orleans: America loves to hate the Patriots. You can hate them for so many things. Bill Belichick is a cheater and he spreads imitation Belichicks (Eric Mangini, Josh McDaniels, Romeo Crennel, Charlie Weiss) to other football teams around our fine country. With imitation Belichick you get the arrogance, sweatshirt, and lack of personality but none of the winning. You can hate Tom Brady and his perfect life and the fact the NFL created the ‘Brady Bubble’ in which defenses are not allowed to touch Tom, tussle his hair, or even so much as frown at him. Or you can hate Patriots fans who deep down didn’t even know Boston had a football team until they won two Super Bowls. Deep down New England fans would trade all three Super Bowls for another Red Sox victory over the Yankees. They just never admit it.
Hey I’d trade all six LSU baseball titles, the two football crowns, and a kidney for a Saints Super Bowl win. Honesty, I give it too you.
If you don’t believe me about Patriot fans why do they compare everything to something that happened to the Red Sox? At least Patriot fans haven’t gone nationwide so we don’t have to deal with a guy from Mandeville who gives us the whole “I loved Tom Brady at Michigan and Bellichick in Cleveland” speech.
As for the actual game, how are the Saints going to cover all those Patriot receivers with guys who weren’t even on the team last week (Chris McAlister and Mike McKenzie)?
I’m reading the biography of Belichick, ‘The Education of a Coach’, and it’s a pretty fawning look at him but it is a thorough look at the man. Did you know he worked for free as an assistant for the Baltimore Colts and in college snuck down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras? Somehow I can’t see Coach Mumbles with a hand grenade on Bourbon soaking in Carnival time.
The thing about Belichick is instead of focusing on a team's weaknesses, he tries to take away their strengths and make them do what they don’t want to do.
He’ll probably focus on neutralizing the Saints blitz and make them cover which means running the ball except the Patriots aren’t very good on the ground (15th in the NFL). He’ll probably try to make the Saints flip their formula for winning on offense.
The Saints usually throw to get ahead then run to finish a team off. Just a guess but I’m thinking Belichick tries to see if the Saints can run the ball against a defense ready to stop the pass. The Pats won’t.
The key is will the Saints defense be able to use emotion, duck tape, trickery, and maybe a McKenzie miracle to slow down Brady?
I’m guessing not. I just can’t see the Saints going undefeated, although I dream of the ‘Undefeated Bowl’ between the Colts and Saints.
Brady makes one more play than Brees and the national media flocks to the Brett Favre bandwagon.
Patriots 38-35
Pittsburgh (+2.5) at Baltimore: Note to the National Media: Ray Lewis is old, slow and not anything more than average. Same goes for the rest of the Ravens defense.
Steelers 27-17
Minnesota (-10.5) vs. Chicago: The Vikings look awesome don’t they? Let’s see them play Cincy and go to Arizona before we hand them the George Halas Trophy. By the way can I take Lovie Smith in the ‘Coach the media is shocked when they get fired’ pool?
Vikings 34-7
Cincinnati (-14) vs. Cleveland: The Bengals did a very Bengal-like thing and gave away a game to Oakland. If they are going to collapse, they would lose here. Instead they are going to take out their frustration on the Browns.
Bengals 42-17
Detroit (+11) vs. Green Bay: I don’t believe in the Packers and isn’t it about time the Lions entertain America on Turkey day? I say yes. Daunte Culpepper is alive!
Lions 33-27
Ralph Malbrough is a Saints fan living in Houston. Email him at ralphmalbrough@hotmail.com, find him on facebook, or listen to his Saints podcast at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/forecastradio
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