Wow. I can’t think of a poly-syllabic synonym to better express my reaction to that game Sunday in Miami. Just that one monosyllabic word will suffice.
Wow. Even spelled backward, it still sounds nice.
Wow
That was as bad as it's been in the second quarter. As good as it gets in the fourth. But who's to say it won't get even better there in February. There in South Florida, the land of stone crabs and silicone where it doesn't look like they'll run out of either any time soon despite an insatiable demand for both.
When it was 24 - 3 Dolphins in the second quarter, I'm thinking about what I'm going to say in this space at this time.
Something about how this is what reality looks like. This is what reality feels like. Something about how even though this loss hurts, it doesn't hurt nearly as much thanks to other losses suffered by the Falcons, Vikings, and Giants.
When it was over and the Saints had emphatically answered affirmatively the only remaining question about this team -- could it overcome adversity -- I'm thinking about how grateful I feel to be saying this: that this is the best team in the NFC - maybe in the NFL.
In the worst of times an embattled coach can only acknowledge his critics by saying -- as Bill Parcells and his protegees have often had to say -- "you are what your record says you are."
In these...the best of times...it's the last thing that Sean Payton wants to hear. "You are what your record says you are." The record says the Saints are the best team in the NFC. The record says you are one of the three best undefeated teams in the NFL.
These are the best of times. These are the worst of times. The best of times to be a fan of the Saints. The worst of times to be their coach, trying to perpetuate the "one game at a time" mind-set that got you to this point.
But that's a pretty good problem to have.
In Land Shark stadium where Jimmy Buffet's song "Fins to the left, Fins to the right" was played over and over in the first half, life was a beach for the first 30 minutes.
In the last 30 minutes for Dolfans, life was a ______________, well it wasn't a beach. During the remarkable second half Saints fans were probably composing, their own lyrics to another Buffet song:
"Come Monday it'll be all right.
Come monday, we're gonna party all night.
We've spent two lovely days while catching your rays and we plan to stop back on this ride."
In February, at Super Bowl 44.
