Football Is Back! A Few Thoughts About The Saints Win Over The Vikings

Completely in agreement with you here. Well, maybe not, I would like to see the NFL stick to sixteen games.
I watched the Bones finally from last season, then watched the game. I mean, WTH… That was a lot of hoopla over a regular season game and I had ZERO intrest.

Great read. Looking forward to it each week already.

What, they couldn’t get Fogerty? Did Dave at least by “Louisiana Bayou”?

“Chilly allows the Saints to run another play, THEN calls a timeout at 2:05. WHAT?? Now the Saints can throw a pass because of the 2-minutes warning and the Vikings lose 40 seconds of clock.”

This is my #1 pet peeve with coaches and they do this all the time. Just mindless stupidity. It’s the reason why I don’t like when people say “you think you know more than the coach”. Sometimes I do and so do you guys.

Coaches, esp the bad ones, can and they do DO some of the most clueless things during games. I don’t trust that Childress knows more than the rest of us because sometimes, he doesn’t.

Thanks for the thoughts, John. I am an obvious partisan on the players’ side, but I have trouble calling any action out of place because it happened on September 9. What is the proper etiquette here? Who is allowed to say what, and on which dates? If it rubbed people the wrong way, it was by definition a bad idea on the players’ part. But how can anyone know in advance how these things will be received? I mean the NFL didn’t cancel the gsme, politicians didn’t cancel campaigns, and businesses were open. It’s really tough for anyone to figure out the rules.

You gotta admit though, last season, with Pearl Jam – that was fitting NFL music…. Though PJ has very much slipped from the main stream, so I may just be proving your point further. Not to mention I’m obviously bias when it comes to PJ ( ;

I am of the belief that if veteran players are against an 18 game season (i.e. Dawkins, Elway), then so am I. To a point. While my main reason, is the shortening of awesome guys’ (like the aforementioned) careers, I would definitely dig two more football games that ‘count’ per year. The other two reasons I am against it is all the asterisks in the record books, that would result, and the fact that it gives FO’s less time to evaluate who they want on the team. But I am with you all the way, on being content, whichever way it turns out.

Thx John!

I agree on Favre on some shots. He seemed to enjoy himself after the TD though. I still don’t think he’ll make it through the whole season.

Taylor Swift was great and all. I’m glad they let her finish because Dave Mattews is one of the most overrated pieces of crap in the music business.

I also agree that Childress is probably the worst coach in the NFL. He looked really pissed last night. It was too funny.

I was thinking the same thing about Favre. I’m watching him and his whole body language screamed “I don’t want to be here”. At least until the TD, that gave him a spark for about five minutes until the half, then he came out flat again.

I think they should leave it at 16 games. I wish the season were longer, but I’d rather add two games and keep at least three exhibition games than just subtract two exhibition. Those games, btw, should be free, imho. They’re more like scrimmages than actual games anyways.

:) just kidding.

I agree. New Orleans is for jazz. Connick did a good job, but I think he should have had a bigger role, too. It was nice that he sang in the stadium while Taylor and DMB played outside in the parking lot.

Other than the odd “will I retire, won’t I retire” drama that we are constantly put through, I think Favre has EARNED a free pass. Any QB who at his age that can play at that level and show the durability he has will be given many allowances that others aren’t given.

In my mind, one of those allowances is the option to not attend the entire training camp. I don’t think Favre, at this point in his career, avoids training camp because he looks at it as useless. I think he avoids it because of the inherent wear and tear an NFL training camp will put on his body. So, for the vikes it is a trade-off, in my opinion. A more healthy forty-something QB or an unhealthy but slightly more game-ready QB.

Sure, Dave Mathews has a couple of horns and a violin player, but that’s not New Orleans music. I was also wondering why Connick wasn’t a part of the pre-game concert outside. Oh well…at least the National Anthem wasn’t butchered!

I think the players will regret electing Demaurice as their leader.

I hope our Broncos have a better chemistry than either of those teams last night.

Chilly is impossible to understand…AP was playing with some smashmouth energy, and he’s hardly seen in the 2nd half….great call there coach.

than yours. That national anthem stunk and she messed up on the words twice. What an embarrassment as I LOVE the national anthem. Get me Faith Hill every time. She does it like it should be sung.

Either that or Wilf, doesn’t know that much about football.
Chilly’s poor coaching decisions nearly cost them the game against Baltimore last year also. His clock management skills are incredibly poor. Same with his play calling and choice of Jackson as his QB; until Favre was available. Favre saved his job last year.

makes me concerned for Clady and Moreno on sunday – those guys have had basically no time to mesh with the offense and get into football (read “hits”) shape.
Go Broncs!

Although I thought Brees was in midseason form with his wide receivers… probably due to working with them in training camp. Farve looked out of rhythm.

I’ll admit, I don’t like Childress. I think this will be Farve’s last season as it did look like he was thinking “What the hell was I thinking?!” I even pointed it out to my wife. There was no fire in his eyes like in past seasons. This will probably be his last year, and Childress will be gone after this year. He was caught in so many lies this preseason, he won’t be around.

I agree with FtCoNative, Childress is only around because of Farve. I could almost bet money he also knows this as he was probably told “Get Farve back or you’re gone!”

I like Farve personally. He’s always played liked a 10 year old. He’s always been fun to watch. I was kind of pulling for him to pull out a win last night, but honestly couldn’t care less who won as I like Brees as well.

The Vikings defense looked good at times and horrible at others. Brees was magical most of the night with a couple hiccups along the way.

As for the Saints defense, they played extremely well and the high risk high reward has been paying dividends, although I think they take a lot of cheap shots that weren’t called.

Also, what was up with Brees false start penalty? And then him not being called for it the other 10 times throughout the game?

I am so sick of Favre. I watched the slow-mo replay of him getting speared and sandwiched for almost 30 minutes. :)

But my hatred for Brett Favre aside – this is really the perfect team for him….if he had a better coach and didn’t make stupid mistakes. A team with an elite RB, very good defense, and an above-average offensive line is what an aging QB needs. The problem is, Favre isn’t accurate enough to take advantage of the team he’s surrounded by and Childress doesn’t help matters at all.

If Favre could manage a game like Elway did in his older years, the Vikings would have won championships with Favre.

Just my two cents. :)

I forgot how long he’s been there with all the drama he makes in the off-season.

It’s the NFL. They’re not going to be creative and put a band that fits the stage and scene. They’re going to try for the widest range of viewer’s music taste. Exactly why The Who and aging music groups play the superbowl. wynford marsalis isn’t exactly going to capture as many fans. The Black Keys would have been much better… a little rock, a little blues, but a lot of people saying “the keys who? why couldn’t they get alicia keys?”

Start the game an hour earlier and have two games like Monday (and do that Every Monday while you’re at it). Less fluff more fb. And this opener should have been a week ago at least

I agree about Chilli. Living in Mpls. a lot of my friends are VIkes’s fans. I had to tell them last night I was hoping the Vikes would tank last year to get him fired, so they could hire Shanny. I know, I know, Shanny sucks, yada yada yada. I like the guy and think he’s got a lotta coaching left in him. Anyway, I don’t like Childress and think he is a stumbling block to the talent on that team, including Sidney Rice. You haven’t seen him play much if you don’t think he’s the real deal. He leaves a huge hole on that offense. It actually fits your anti-Favre theme, when Rice is in there, he makes Favre look a lot better.

Anyway, I wondered what you thought of this. On the pregame show, Harrison was loving up on Brees quite a bit (“top 2 QB in the league” sitting right next to Dungy who’s eyebrows went through the roof). His comments actually gave me a lot of hope about Tebow, not that I didn’t already have it. He talked about how much improved Brees has gotten over the years, how much more confident he is, how he sees things more clearly. It was on full display that first drive last night., too. But, I thought it really boiled down to Brees drive and work ethic. He doesn’t have all these physical tools (rocket arm, Vick-like mobility, etc.) but he’s worked hard and absorbed the coaching he’s gotten. This is where I thought Tebow is going to do just fine. You know beyond a doubt that he is going to work his tail off this year and next off-season, there’s just no question. Plus, he’s going to soak up every tidbit of coaching and info at every turn, during games, practice, meetings. He already looked this August like he was understanding the principles of the offense. Honestly, when I compare, he looks to have picked up this offense quicker than Orton did last year. Not a knock on Orton, he got it quicker than Quinn has, just a statement of Tebow’s acumen and earnestness. It just became clear to me that because the guy is such a hard worker and humble student and because like you’ve mentioned before, the game is not too big for him, Tebow will be just fine and I’d even say he’ll be great. I hope we hardly see him play this year because I think Orton is poised to have a great season and he deserves it, he’s handled himself with all the class we expect from our QB. But Tebow will give him a run for it as soon as next year, IMO, book it.

verbal vomit, simplified

I just caught the end of the game, so I missed it. But, from your report, I’m with you. Classless timing . . .
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Is how he hurts his team with his actions in the off season. Training camp is designed to install the offense and make plans for the regular season, but that becomes extremely difficult when you don’t know who your starting QB will be. I think to be fair to the team, if Favre has to make a decision each year about his return, then make the decision before training camp. You can then miss camp because you’re Brett Favre, but at least your team knows how to plan for the regular season knowing he will be there.

Other than that, it is good to see Favre out there playing. More than anything, I like how he breaks the age barrier. Too often players are tossed aside or judged unfairly simply because of their age. With Favre having a fantastic statistical season last year at age 40, maybe that might allow a team to take a chance on an older player and keep some of our favorites in the league longer.

The NFL is at least partially an entertainment enterprise. We the people generally don’t like to see political activity from our entertainers. That’s why you generally don’t hear big Hollywood stars sharing their political views (and it’s probably why so many people hate Tom Cruise and Sean Penn). So, basically, an NFL audience just isn’t going to ever want to see player demonstrations of unity. What you respond to negatively is basically entertainers publicly airing a political (Labor) viewpoint. There’s never going to be a “good” time, any more than there’s ever a “good” time for national legalization of marijuana or gay marriage. There’s never a “good” time to publicly violate the mores of a society.

An interesting book on NFL business is Brand NFL. I picked this up from the library a while ago and was pleasantly surprised.

I also thought it was a great rendition of the national anthem. Someone above said a couple words were messed up, but you have to acknowledge anytime someone sings the national anthem with feeling. It’s a song that been “done” so much that it’s like one big, long 150-second idiom. It’s typically sung with all the feeling of an average rendition of the ABC song. Of all the football games over the last 3 years or so I’ve seen, only 2 times have I seen the anthem sung with feeling. Actually, that’s my problem with heavily R&B renditions sometimes — lots of superfuous technique, showing off basically, and zero feeling.

I think that within a few weeks Favre will develop a connection with Camarillo, and the Vikings will do very well this year. No worries for fans of that team, unless they catch on too late to catch up.

GO BRONCOS!

I completely agree with you on the “unified” thing before last night’s game. These guys aren’t exactly factory workers or school teachers. Many of the will make more money in one year than a teacher makes in their entire lifetime. It’s like someone winning the lottery and then complaining he didn’t get enough money. Nobody is going to feel sorry for someone who won the lottery.

While Childress was busy throwing the game away, Payton turned to none other than the great Pierre Thomas to own the second half…

Once he saw the push up the middle that opened up after they completed so many long passes down the sides, Payton had no qualms about taking the ball from his stars hands and running the ball down their throats.

Good coaching highlighted by bad…

In related bad coaching news, millions of people are trying to pick up Pierre Thomas for their fantasy squads now. Thank god I gave that stuff up!

You can argue whether or not they deserve to have their pay cut or not, but how dare anyone here accuse them of being classless for exercising their right to FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION, as if them standing together, on any date, at any event, is anything but reasonable. Especially in response to the threat of a lockout by their more powerful adversary, the NFL.

Remember everyone, this is a LOCKOUT, not a STRIKE, if the owners’ weren’t trying to cut the players’ shares, the new CBA would be no problem. But that is not the case, the owners’ are trying to get their hands on the players’ share. We know what the players are making, I doubt anyone would support the owners if they had the same disadvantage.