Barely Coherent Thoughts On Last Weekend's Games

It's a good thing I'm not a gambler, huh? Those were some poor picks on my part.

I'm most disappointed by Arizona's loss, as you might expect. I really thought they could do better, but half their defense seemed to be injured, and the other half wasn't nearly good enough to stop the Saints. Not sure why they didn't try to run more, especially as the defense fell apart. Keeps Brees off the field, tones down the number of hits Warner takes. Oh well, something for them to keep in mind for next season.

As for the rest, the Jets defense must be even better than I thought. I guess I'll root for them next week. Not that I'm a Jets fan or anything, I'm mostly annoyed with the Colts and their unwillingness to go for the perfect season. I understand they want to keep their best guys healthy, but this is football, a guy can get knocked out at any moment. Remember when the Bengals made the playoffs a few years ago, and Carson Palmer's knee got blown out on his first pass of their first playoff game? The Bengals had managed to keep him upright all season and just like that, he's gone. You can try to protect guys as much as you want, but you never know. Heck, peyton Manning might doze off in a recliner this week, wake up to get a snack, forget to set aside a blanket he's sleeping under, only to trip over it and fracture his pelvis.

OK, that was my grandmother that happened to, and Peyton's hopefully more aware of his surroundings than she is, but there's no telling, so trying to protect them could all be for naught. I think a perfect season is so rare, and so impressive, that if you have the chance, you have to go for it. Then again, I don't have to answer to anyone if that blows up in the team's face.

As for Saints/Vikings, on the one hand, I don't want to root for the Saints, because they knocked Arizona out emphatically, and I tend to hold grudges. On the other hand, you Favre, and I'm not sure I could deal with the hosannas that would be sung for him if he leads this team to a Super Bowl. Certainly Jason Whitlock would never shut up about, and probably use it to call the Packers' GM Ted Thompson a moron for the next 7 years or so. Or until Thompson is shown to have made the right decision, at which point Whitlock will reverse course and pretend he knew Thompson was right all along*. Where was I? Oh yeah, Favre. That's not Favre's fault, but it's still not something I'd be looking forward to having to avoid for several months.

Although, if New Orleans wins, then you have the inevitable stories about the Saints saving New Orleans or something to that effect. I guess I'll root for a Saints/Jets Super Bowl. The Saints, when they're on, are the best offense in the league, and the Jets are the best defense. Immovable object versus irresistible force and all that. Plus, neither of those teams has experienced real playoff success in a long time (or ever, in the Saints' case). I know the Vikings haven't been to a Super Bowl since the 1970s, but that's still better than New Orleans.

* When he still wrote for ESPN, Whitlock penned a column blasting Doug Flutie** and Marty Schottenheimer when they were both in San Diego. He went after Marty for starting Flutie over Brees, and talked about how Marty had made a similar mistake in choosing his QB when he picked Elvis Grbac and let Rich Gannon walk after the '98 season. Except, Whitlock didn't have a problem with that choice back then, going so far as to describe Grbac as a bigger, younger, stronger, faster version of Gannon after the first time Gannon's Raiders played Grbac's Chiefs. But then, five years later, Whitlock's hammering Marty for it, without admitting he was wrong as well? I call bullshit.

** Whitlock's shot at Flutie was that he submarined Rob Johnson's career in Buffalo. See, I thought it was Johnson's inability to stay healthy for more than five minutes that cost him his job. Rob Johnson was the J.D. Drew of NFL QBs. he could be real good when he was on the field, he was just never on the field. Also, if Flutie was the problem in Buffalo, what happened to Rob Johnson in Tampa Bay? Flutie was thousands of miles away, and Jon Gruden was trying to hand the starting job to anyone that wasn't Brad Johnson***, and Rob couldn't even beat out Shaun King. Is that Flutie's fault too, Whitlock?

*** When all Johnson did was QB the team to a Super Bowl. Yeah, their defense deserves most credit, but the run game was 27th in the league, while the passing game was 15th, so the offense fell to Johnson's arm, and all he did was stand in there until the last second, before completing passes and getting leveled.