Anybody ready to jump off the bandwagon yet? Anybody ready to pull out their trusty brown paper bags? What about those of you struggling to come up with clever 'same ole Saints' sayings? Are you there? Well, let the Chicks be the first to invite you to hit your head on the Super Dome ramp on your way off the bandwagon and choke on that brown paper bag. You see, this is the type of game that separates the die-hards from the fairweathers. So the question remains...are you in or are you out?
As for us, we're more than in! Yeah, we know. The Saints stunk it up more than the pet cemetery in Michael Vick's doggie graveyard. But you know what? We'd rather they get that out of their systems now than in week 13 when it REALLY counts.
So what happened tonight? Well, there are a couple different answers. Drew Brees conjuring up the ghost of Aaron Brooks didn't help. Reggie Bush developing "hot potatoes/don't sack me" syndrome didn't help. Sean Payton morphing into Jim Haslett on a gutless 4th and inches play didn't help, along with a few other bad calls. And don't even get us started on the defense giving up the big plays. (Yeah, we're talking to you David and McKenzie!) But more importantly, this team fell victim to its own hype. And we say, thank Goodness!!
They've been touted as the class of the NFC all offseason, predicted to win the Super Bowl, and praised for their miraculous turnaround. How could they not feel tempted to go down on themselves just a little come game one? After all, a few analysts predicted they'd beat the Super Bowl champs.
Well you know what, they didn't. In fact, they got that ass tapped. To make matters worse, their poor play persuaded the Chicks to abandon beer and turn to stronger methods of intoxication. But we never changed the channel. We swallowed our bitter pill like men and we're all the wiser for it.
These aren't the same ole Saints. They'll recover from this. They'll take on the Bucs next week and get their groove back in ways not even Stella imagined. The "Earth to Saints" moment has come and gone and they're better for it. This isn't the ending we hoped for or even predicted. But in many ways, it's the ending we needed.
Saints 10 Colts 41. A bitter pill to swallow indeed. But we'll sleep tonight knowing that the rest of the season will be enough to help wash this one down in ways a cold Corona never could.
WTF?
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2 comments:
Nice read as always. You make some good points, and I sure do hope your take is closer to the objective truth than mine will be, whenever I get a chance to type it up.
One thing I think I disagree on, and really it's just a matter of perception, is that personally I didn't see complacency out there, I didn't see guys buying into their own hype.
Rather, what I think I saw was a team that had already bought into the opponent's hype. I think I saw a team playing scared because they had already decided that the Colts were gonna kick their asses.
But I'll tell you what else I saw... they were right. Obviously they shouldn't have gone into the game with that attitude, but it sure was the truth. The Colts sure did show that they are, in fact, a far better team than the Saints right now.
Hey, no shame in getting your asses handed to you by a far superior opponent. The good news is that the Colts were probably by far the toughest test they'll face until the Super Bowl. The Saints can get their revenge then. ;)
That 4th and 1 punt call though.... sheesh. Talk about throwing in the towel. I would not have expected that from Coach Payton. I've seen at least one person suggest that Coach made that call in order to send a point to the team. I hope that person is right, because otherwise, I worry about the mindset that prompted Coach to make that call (i.e. he was scared and already beaten too.)
Good counterpoint. As in most cases, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. After the 14th Reggie Bush commercial, I started to wonder if perhaps all the celebrity had gotten him off his game. But you're right, it very well could be that the team came down with a collective case of the wussies.
Oh well, on to the Bucs! While just winning a game against a division rival would satisfy, winning by 24+ points would do good to wash away the sting of the opener.
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