The NFL 2009 season thread

[|iR|Focalor]

One word:

WOW!

The Saints didn't beat the Patriots. They RAPED THEM. They made Tom Brady look like he belonged in little league football. Drew Brees IS NOT HUMAN! Absolutely LETHAL passing with a better than 75% completion rate, passing for more than 350 yards. New Orleans defense was smacking them around the field like a drunk redneck smacks his wife. If this same Saints team shows up for every game for the rest of the regular season, Brett Farve is going to be in deep deep shit if his Vikings end up facing off against them for the NFC championship. If you missed this game, you missed one of the greatest football games ever played in the history of the NFL.

[Krlll Mule]

Big win for the Saints. Bellichick will get grief for throwing in the towel with 5 minutes left, but he did the right thing. I was impressed with the way the whole team played tonight. But I was more impressed with what happened afterward. The Saints players and coaches were very humble and talked about the respect they have for New England. I give huge props to the front office for creating a deep team full of "team players". If you have that, you have the opportunity to win it all. People living elsewhere can't understand how big this is for fans that have suffered bad teams FOREVER.

Forget undefeated - just win the next game.   

[lidz]

Agreed, the Saints that played last night, looked amazing.  I haven't watched many Saints games this year, but if he is that accurate the rest of the season and the defense holds up, they are going to be tough to beat.

No doubt the Patriots struggled last night, the defense was pathetic and the offensive line was being man handled.  The key to beating the Patriots is not allowing Brady time to pass.  The Giants did it in 2007 and they won.  The Saints did it last night.

Not sure if it was the one of the greatest games of all time, but it looked like a passing of the torch.  From one great team to another.  I am not a huge Patriots fan, but you got to respect the years of having a good team.  In the NFL so many of us get stuck rooting for piss poor teams for decades, then comes a magical season, then it is back to shit.

Seeing the way the Saints played last night was amazing. 

[Whirlingdervish]

Seeing the way the Saints played last night was amazing.

I concur.
 

[reaper]

In Buffalo all you see are Sabres jackets, and you seem them everywhere.  No Buffalo Bills gear though : /


What's up with Owens, past his prime?

 

[|iR|Focalor]

Agreed, the Saints that played last night, looked amazing.  I haven't watched many Saints games this year, but if he is that accurate the rest of the season and the defense holds up, they are going to be tough to beat.

I've watched a few, and they've done pretty well all year so far, but in none of those games did they look quite THAT organized and on top of things. The Patriots are very dangerous because of the build of most of their players. They are tall, very lean, and fast on their feet. If they catch one or break through the defensive line, they can sprint away before anyone has a chance at them. The Saints did an amazing job of sealing off routes AND putting pressure on Tom Brady. Quite frankly, it looked like the Saints were on speed. It was amazing to watch them bitchslap such a good team around the field with that kind of constant effectiveness. I wouldn't necessarily say that New Englands defense played pathetic as much as I'd say that New Orleans offense is nearly unstoppable anyway. Drew Brees has always been an accurate thrower and he seems to be getting better and better. I remember watching Dan Marino back in the day, and that guy could almost hit a dime tossed into the air from 50 yards. During post-season exhibitions, they'd have several pro-bowl quarterbacks doing throwing for accuracy exercises and Dan Marino would blow everyone else away. At this point, I'd say Dan Marino is no longer the most accurate passer I've ever seen.

In the NFL so many of us get stuck rooting for piss poor teams for decades, then comes a magical season, then it is back to shit.

I'm a Georgia boy and a Falcons fan. No shit. In 1998, the Falcons did what no one expected them to do, make it all the way to the Superbowl. And they really didn't have a spectacular team put together either. No one remembers who the hell quarterback Chris Chandler is anymore, and that's because he was just plain old mediocre. Everyone in Atlanta was shitting bricks when they made it that far. The whole city basically shut down for the huge parade after they lost the Superbowl. For as long as everyone remembers, the Falcons have pretty much always stunk with the exception of one or two seasons in the early 80's. We have a tradition almost of having completely shitty pro teams, maybe with the exception of the Atlanta Braves, but who cares about fuckin baseball anyway, that shit's boring as hell. I was pretty excited to see Mike Smith come in as the new coach of the Falcons and all of the good players they've acquired as well. Tight end Tony Gonzalez, monster runningback Michael Turner, and quarterback Matt Ryan who (up until recently *sigh*) has displayed a knack for recognizing the defensive strategies and being able to adapt plays to them on the fly. This year started off awesome, and then turned to shit as the injuries started piling up.

Oh well, maybe next year.

[Krlll Mule]

This is not new, but interesting none the less:

http://rpjb.posterous.com/incredible-drew-brees-throwing-accuracy-video

[|iR|Focalor]

This is not new, but interesting none the less:

http://rpjb.posterous.com/incredible-drew-brees-throwing-accuracy-video

He is not human. He's a cyborg designed by NASA engineers who got kinda bored one day and had nothing better to do.

[|iR|Focalor]

SOOOOOOOOOO happy that the Falcons decided to shitcan kicker Jason Elam. He's fucked up Atlanta's chances at leading or winning too many games recently. I've wanted that fuckers head on a pole for the last month now, about god damn time they grew the balls to fire his worthless ass.

The two games I'll be watching today will be #1 Florida vs #2 Alabama and Georgia Tech vs. Clemson. Hopefully Alabama can put them away. This game is supposed to have a big bearing on who wins the Heisman trophy this year, and last I heard Alabama QB Greg McElroy was slightly ahead of Florida's Tim Tebow by a few points. Should be an exciting game no matter who ends up winning it, but I'm rooting for Alabama. As for GT, I have little doubt that they'll outscore Clemson.

[|iR|Focalor]

NCAA Football Championship weekend was pretty awesome. The one game I thought would be an all-out war (Florida vs Alabama) turned out to be nothing more than Alabama beating down Florida pretty hard. All the other games were really close and exciting though. My GT Yellow Jackets narrowly escaped defeat to make it to the Orange Bowl for the first time since the 1960's. The Cincinnati vs Pittsburgh game was pretty awesome too. I knew it was gonna be bad news when Pitt missed that last field goal. I was kinda sad to see that they picked Texas to face off against Alabama for the BCS title game. I'm pretty sure Alabama is gonna steamroll Texas. I was kinda hoping they'd pick TCU to play Alabama. Texas got lucky in my opinion. The next to last play they made was sheer boneheadedness. Colt McCoy held on to the ball WAY too long. Had he angled that pass any more towards the field, it would've ended right then and there.

Saints amazingly held on to their undefeated streak. I kinda figured that would happen. Not that they'd win, but that they'd play so conservative against a team with a record like Washington. I'm just in awe that TWO TEAMS are still undefeated after the 13th week of the season. For as long as I can remember, this has NEVER happened in the NFL. Would be pretty cool if both the Colts and Saints could go 16-0 even if they both don't make it to the Superbowl. And it's looking like the Saints may HAVE to go 16-0 in order to clench home-field advantage for the playoffs. This last game was the first time they've played in cold open air temps and it really seemed to affect their speed.

Yeah yeah, the Falcons got buttfucked this weekend too. I've given up all hope of them having a winning season this year. Pretty retarded that Philadelphia had to showcase Michael Vick the way they did in Atlanta of all places. Had Matt Ryan been healthy, that game would've gone much differently and Vick wouldn't have seen nearly as much play time. Vick got DAMN lucky with that rushing TD he made. He made a big gamble running that thing, and lucky for him, he didn't lose... otherwise he would've seen even LESS playing time than he's traditionally had this year. All year he's pretty much been the Eagles 3rd/4th and short punching bag rushing QB. They stick him in there when they think they can possibly sneak the QB for a 1st down so that McNabb won't have to risk his neck. That's basically all Michael Vick was ever good for when he played as a 1st string QB for Atlanta anyway, god knows he isn't accurate for shit under the pressure of a 4 or 5 man blitz.

[|iR|Focalor]

I vowed to keep on drinking for as long as the Saints kept on winning. My local liquor store should at least send Drew Brees a thank you card. And since the Saints are geared up to take on the Falcons for a second time... and since the Falcons did so great against the Eagles this past weekend... I better make another beer run.

Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?

[Krlll Mule]

The Saints and Falcons in a tight game - no surprise there.  But heck, Atlanta was playing a bunch of backups for key players and almost won.  The Saints are vulnerable.  I'm just hoping they lose a regular season game and not in the playoffs (duh).  My Christmas wish of a total beatdown of the Cowboys looks to be in danger.  Dallas is desperate; New Orleans is in a somewhat comfortable position.  Darn it, I may get coal in my stocking.   

[lidz]

Yeah, the debate rages for the Colts and Saints, if they should start gently resting key players.  It is a hard call.  Once you clinch the playoff spot, with a first round bye, is it worth loosing a key player in a game that doesn't matter?  The ultimate goal is to win the super bowl, so I think limiting playing time would be a smart move. 

As for my team, the Bengals, I was very unimpressed with the stomping the Vikings put on them.  The sweep of the Ravens and Steelers is looking less impressive as both of those teams are 6-6.

Almost 100 yards in penalties.  Less than 100 yards passing.  The loss of TJ and C. Henry are showing more now than ever.  Even with 85 being double teamed, our other receivers can't get open or are not in que with Palmer.  Plus Palmer is just not who he once was, he is making poor choices and his accuracy is off.

I do like seeing them in a playoff spot though, but they still need to win one more.  If they beat the Chargers, they get the first round bye, which they seriously need to get the hurt players back in shape.

[lidz]

RIP Chris Henry - I really thought he was going to shine over the next phase of his career in the NFL.  Sucks.

[Krlll Mule]

Ouch! OWNED. The Dallas Cowboys put a good old fashioned butt whuppin' on the Saints. All the talk about how great the Saints are and how the Cowboys can't win in December obviously had the 'boys in a foul mood. They came out with a point to prove and made it emphatically. 'tis a bitter pill to swallow.