Last week my picks were awful and I’d like to thank all 27 of you who e-mailed after the Saints won Monday to remind me, especially Bobby who had some thoughts on where my head was when I picked against the Saints. It wasn’t pretty. I’ll try to remove my head from that location for you Bobby.
No fancy intro this week as my water heater exploded and I’m tearing out sheet rock. Even that can’t wipe the smile off my face after Monday night. Greatest regular season win ever. EVER, and yes Monday topped the Falcon game after Katrina.
Last Week:1-4
Season:31-29
New Orleans (-9.5) at Washington: Every talking head on your TV this week has been screaming, “Trap Game!” Does this mean our heroes might fall down a well and need Lassie to save them? Not likely.
The Washington Redskins play hard and have a top ten defense don’t you know?
The Redskins have the NFL’s top-rated pass defense but only because why throw when you can run right through them.
Washington ranks 25th in run defense giving up 127 yards a game.
Do you know the last time the Redskins scored more than 27 points in a game? It was Week 2 in 2008 against you guessed it the Saints.
The Saints began what was a season-long trend of having the secondary get torched in the fourth quarter.
But that was so last year. This year they sign corners off the street and those players play at a Pro-Bowl level.
The Saints called season ticket holders this week about playoff tickets and Gregg Williams told my mom if the Saints have another injury at corner she’ll be the nickel back against Atlanta.
She’s real excited because she hates the Falcons. At this point if the Saints did it I wouldn’t even question it.
If you want a reason to fear the Redskins look back to 2006 when the Saints went to Dallas on a Sunday night and crushed the Cowboys. The next week the Saints laid an absolute stink bomb in the Dome and lost 16-0 to the Redskins.
For the Saints to lose to Washington they’d need to have four turnovers, six penalties, and Drew Brees to skip the game and tour the Washington Monument.
The Saints will have to pull out a game with some fourth quarter magic if they want to go 16-0 but this is not that week.
The final nail biting hurdle to 16-0 will come when we least expect it. I nominate the Tampa Bay game but that’s just a guess.
You know who hasn’t had a big game in a while? Jeremy Shockey.
The tattooed one will score twice and then twitter all about it.
Saints 31-13
Tennessee (+6.5) at Indianapolis: Bill Simmons summed up Vince Young on his podcast this week when he said, “When Vince Young is good the NFL is more fun.”
I don’t think Young is a franchise QB and I think he’ll crumble when he has a bad game.
But watching him and Chris Johnson is fantastic. Tell me you wouldn’t be incredibly excited about a Tennessee/Patriots first round playoff game? Of course you would.
And I want the Saints to be the only undefeated team. I’m selfish.
Titans 27-24
Oakland (+14.5) at Pittsburgh: I hate the Steelers. Mostly, I hate bandwagon fans in general and the Steelers have the most it seems.
I always wonder if the guy who is a Steelers fan from Kenner enjoys the Steelers winning as much as say people who are actually from Pittsburgh?
The best part of the Saints winning is the shared experience. The post game calls from friends and the whole shared joy of, “My God it’s actually happening! The Saints just beat the team of the decade like they owed them money.” We’ve all waited for this moment and it might be cheesy but the fact all fans are experiencing the Saints dominate for the first time together makes the moment even cooler. What do bandwagon fans do when their team wins? Does Patriot fan from the North Shore high five his Tom Brady fat head after a big New England win?
Bandwagon Steelers fan probably started liking Pittsburgh after they got one or two titles and he’s never experienced what it’s like to see his team win for the first time.
Yeah, you got to make fun of us while the Saints were awful and the Steelers won Super Bowls but you also never get to see your team win for the first time because by the time you became a fan they already had won.
You have no idea what you missed. Oh and the Steelers are in a free fall. Maybe you should pick a new team.
Raiders 23-17
Cincinnati (-13.5) vs. Detroit: Is America ready for a possible Bengals-Saints Super Bowl? That thought both delights and horrifies me. Not because I fear the Bengals but I would hate for the world to end and that game would be a sure sign of it.
Bengals 38-17
Green Bay (-3) vs. Baltimore: I was wrong about the Packers. They are now my number one team to spoil the Saints-Vikings NFC Title game. Can’t you just see them going to Minnesota and beating Favre? The Packers blowing up the Vikings great year seems almost too perfect.
Packers 31-13
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
