My Grandpa and Uncle Boo used to say there are only two teams you ever cheer for -- the Saints and whoever's playing the Cowboys.
This code of fandom was usually reminded to me on the way home from a Saints and Buccaneers game in the Dome, back in the '80s, when the Bucs were horrible and I was young -- and older relatives joined my Grandpa and Uncle Boo for better games.
So it still pains me to have watched the Saints get a boot in their ass from the Cowgirls.
And it churned greasy bacon and eggs on top the previous night's whiskey and Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale in my stomach to watch the Saints get shutout by the Bucs in the second half and lose by an overtime field goal.
I was bitter. And I was traveling and visiting relatives during the holidays. Without a laptop. And too pissed to hop on an in-law's pc and blog about two games the Saints showed up a total three quarters for.
I'm sure we're all bitter. But remember this: so far this season has been one a fan can only dream about. And it's far from over.
Ironically, the Saints can prove their road invincibility by beating Carolina, although the only road win that matters from here on out is the one in Miami: the Super Bowl.
Still, the Saints should destroy the Panthers -- like they did the Jets, Giants and Patriots -- so they can get their swagger back and game-plan aggressively with confidence for the playoffs.
After all, it'll be a new decade. A new year to spit-shine the rust off the run-defense that made Cadillac Williams look like a Pro Bowler and Tony Romo a Top Five quarterback, instead of just a smirking douchebag.
Let's hope the offense in this Carolina game will get back to 40-plus-point scoring fashion. It will be special against a Panthers defense that has allowed less than 12 points a game in its last five match ups.
I want to see the Saints air it out. Let's watch Drew Brees and our offensive arsenal torch them cats -- let's do what we do and let's be special.
The running game, honestly, with Brees and Sean Payton -- and the arsenal -- forever shall be, secondary. We are the forerunners in the modernization of the NFL: pass, pass and more pass. Only rely on the run in red-zone, short-yardage and run-out-the-clock situations.
Let's slide into this postseason with our guns blazing. Our defense is still ranked third in pass defense, behind the Jets and Bills, and Jabari Greer is due back.
And our offense is the only one to score 500 points. And by the way, Brees leads the quarterbacks of the Colts and Chargers, teams that lead in power rankings, with a 109.6 passer rating and 33.3 ppg.
The Saints are doing better than your TV-shooting-neighbors would lead you to believe. It's damn hard to win more than 13 games a season. Just ask the 2008 Steelers (12-4), 2007 Giants (10-6), 2006 Colts (12-4), and 2005 Steelers (11-5).
Who was the last team to win a Super Bowl with 14-2 reg-season record, you ask? Yep, the 2004 Patriots. And they did it in 2003 too. But shit on them.
So it's time to concede that I, jshox, the alter ego of Jeremy Shockey, is a bit disappointed my namesake did not make the Pro Bowl. But this blog is really about the Super Bowl!
And there's always next year.
However, let's congratulate the Saints who have been honored this year among peers and fans: Brees, Jahri Evans, Darren Sharper, Jonathan Stinchcomb, and Jonathan Vilma.
Now let's put our Who Dat! asses in Miami for another reason.
With the Saints marching to 13 wins, the team's most in a single season, Who Dat Nation has plenty to cheer about. The Saints swept division-rival Falcons 26-23 in Atlanta on Sunday, a feat I didn't think was possible in August, and keep the magic of an undefeated season alive.
The Saints' previous best two regular seasons were in 1987 and 1992, both of which they won 12 games, only to get drubbed in the playoffs 44-10 by the Vikings and 36-20 by the Eagles, respectively.
In fact, the Saints and Colts have already joined a very elite club even if neither go 16-0. Only five other teams have gone 13-0.
Here's how that panned out: 2007 Patriots, 16-0, lost Super Bowl XLII; 2005 Colts, 14-2, lost divisional playoff; 1998 Broncos, 14-2, won Super Bowl XXXIII; 1972 Dolphins, 14-0, won Super Bowl VII; 1934 Bears, 13-0, lost NFL Championship.
With that record in mind, it's safe to assume both the Saints and Colts have an 80 percent chance of playing in the Super Bowl. Of course, history will be made if both teams go 16-0 to get there, wherein the Saints crush the Colts 36-24.
Needless to say, that fearless prediction will prove true as long as cornerbacks Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter return healthy. Linebacker Scott Fujita will be a welcome return over third-string action too. Because we're gonna need the best talent our roster has to offer if we're gonna stop Peyton Manning's aerial attack.
Especially after witnessing the defense allow two Sundays in a row quarterbacks Jason Campbell and Chris Redman pass all over it as if they're Peyton Manning. Filling in for injured Matt Ryan in his first full game, Redman chunked the pigskin around for 303 yards.
Sedrick Ellis got a handle on Redman in the first quarter. But the front four didn't put him on his backside enough and had zero sacks.
However I'm confident the return of Greer and Porter -- which is highly likely since neither have been moved to the injured reserve list -- will get defensive coordinator Gregg Williams' schemes back to their disruptive orders, allowing the front four to wreak more havoc.
When it looked like the Saints put the game away in the third quarter by going up 23-9 with a Reggie Bush screen, the Falcons got right back in it with Redman's 50-yard-pass to Michael Jenkins. Williams had dialed up a "Chucky" -- a double cornerback blitz he had designed years ago when facing Jon Gruden's Buccaneers -- and the Falcons immediately recognized it and got free safety Darren Sharper to bite with a stutter to a seam route over the top.
When the same thing had happened in the first quarter Jenkins had dropped the ball.
Reggie had a big day with two touchdown catch-and-runs and also ran for 33 yards on six carries. His 79 all-purpose yards was a great return to the lineup -- again.
Stay healthy Reggie.
For the second week in a row middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma practically saved the game himself. It's like as if he's Mr. T with a Night-F Mohawk, intercepting passes on final drives or shutting down the Falcons in the middle on fourth-and-two.
With 1:12 remaining, Vilma sniffed out a short pass to Jason Snelling -- the same play went for 38 yards in the first quarter -- and stuffed the running back on fourth down.
It was a pretty big deal because the Falcons were at mid-field and had plenty of time to tie it up.
Of course, if kicker Garrett Hartley hadn't missed that extra point in the first half the game wouldn't have been another fibrillative story.
Then again, if we had just kicked a field goal on our final drive the Falcons would have been forced to score a touchdown to win it.
Instead, coach Sean Payton ordered a fake. And who else but Mark Brunell rolled out to his left and attempted to line up guard Carl Nicks, of all people, though I won't question his athleticism, for a touchdown pass, before checking down to tight end Darnell Dinkins in the flat. But Brunell waited too long to pass, so when Dinkins caught it he was already stepping out of bounds.
But did Nicks' fat man route running fire me up? You bet!
Despite the close wins these past two weeks, the Saints have remarkably allowed only two sacks and two turnovers in the past three games.
Drew Brees rarely rolls out of the pocket and almost always steps up to get defenders behind him, but showed some nimbleness by evading Thomas DeCoud.
Falcons coach Mike Smith provided
some comic relief in the third quarter when he smashed his headset after the Falcons were penalized for pass interference.
On Sunday Terry Bradshaw expressed concern for the Saints moving away from a balanced attack. The Saints have thrown the ball more than 40 times in the past two weeks while running it about 25 times a game.
Then again, in just 49 plays while destroying the Patriots, the Saints ran the ball 26 times and Brees had 23 pass attempts for the best day ever.
Pierre Thomas has thus far rushed for 713 yards for 5.3 a carry. It'd be pretty cool for him to break 1,000.
Mike "The Hammer" Bell has ran for 598 yards at 4.2 a carry.
The Saints haven't had a thousand-yard rusher since Deuce McAllister.
Bush has added 310 yards at 5 a carry.
I'd say we're running the ball pretty well.
Having said all that, I keep failing to mention the Saints locked up a bye, only their second in franchise history. And we've got a two-game lead on the Vikings for home field advantage. I say bring 'em to the Dome, where we can get it on!
As usual, Brees got all his receivers involved in the game. Here Devery Henderson runs past cornerback Brent Grimes.
By the way, Lance "Mighty Mouse" Moore is due back for Saturday's game against Dallas. It'll be interesting to see how Payton and Brees mix it up to get 2008's best receiver involved.
In another update, The Unknown Who Dat, TUWD, Mr. Meaux Jeaux, 'Ol Blue Dat, Crazy Uncle Saints Fan, or whatever you might call him, is still out there. But I'm hoping there's some sort of fan tribute to him in the Dome this Saturday so maybe he'll actually find out there's a nationwide search for him. A fan with a sign needs to proclaim a TUWD Alert!
Normally jshox tries to steer clear of re-blogging content that has appeared elsewhere on the internets, but Who Dat Nation is in search of a fan, and I'm not talking about a super Saints fan, because what's a super fan? But sometimes there's a fan. And I'm talking here about the The Unknown Who Dat.
At the Redskins game he was the fan for his time and place, appearing on TV decked out in black and gold in the classy seats with a grin void of teeth and hair that had that freshly rained on look, although it did not rain at this game, sending ghastly bewilderment throughout Who Dat Nation -- who is The Unknown Who Dat!!?? -- just before Drew Brees delivered a touchdown and 12-0 salvation.
Reportedly, and jshox has talked to one eye witness who sat a couple of rows behind him, The Unknown Who Dat arrived to the 45-yard line seat, located behind the Saints bench a few rows up, steaming and with at least one corned-up female companion in tow during the final quarter.
The Unknown Who Dat gave it his best in overtime, pumping his fists with fingers taped up in white tape.
And even if The Unknown Who Dat is a lazy fan, and he quite possibly could be the laziest fan in all of Saints history, he is an authentic fan, without desire to paint himself or strut like a peacock in a homemade costume. No, indeed, The Unknown Who Dat might possibly drink the paint and do his thing. And that's why he is loved -- he's one of us.
He who has never drank too much paint at a Saints game can cast the first Dome Dog. But this guy's got mojo.
Sometimes there's a fan . . . sometimes
there's a fan.
Game account from Bob Snowman: "I forgot about that! She had on gold tights. I still say this guy is about as hardcore as it gets. He was rocking out and keeping the faith when the Skins were driving towards that missed FG. One of our friends wanted to leave before the FG b/c she said watching the Skins seal the deal would make her sick. I told her, "We ain't leaving till that dude leaves!"
To help Who Dat Nation identify The Unknown Fan, visit the new fan page of his at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=199840076243
Or email Bobby Hebert at WWL -- cannon@wwl.com -- so he can help us figure out, who is The Unknown Fan?
Bob, you were right. There's a girl with gold pants on the shoulders of the very fired up The Unknown Who Dat!
The Redskins played the Saints very well. Quarterback Jason Campbell brilliantly threw for 371 yards and three touchdowns, seemingly owning Gregg Williams' defense as if the Redskins had dialed up its former defensive coordinator's number the week before in practice, and the defensive line straight-up owned the Saints' running game.
One play stood out among the others that collectively said 'Calm down (especially you, bandwagoning wife), Saints got this,' and that was Robert Meachem's strip of safety Kareem Moore in the second quarter which he recovered and returned for a touchdown just moments after Moore had intercepted Brees on a third-and-26 pass.
Now in his third season after being a first-round pick out of Tennessee, Meachem has finally caught fire and is proving his draft value with eight receiving touchdowns as a complementary burner to receivers Marques Colston and Devery Henderson, not to mention again this plucky defensive touchdown.
Meachem also got the magic touch from Brees in the fourth quarter when he scored on a 50-something-yard pass against former LSU safety LaRon Landry in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 30-30 and give Who Dat Nation even more mojo to believe in.
This might seem like a Meachem love fest but the dude virtually won the game, 33-30, to keep the Saints undefeated at 12-0.
Twelve and freaking 0. I wasn't so worried about the Saints not going undefeated on Sunday as they trailed the lowly 3-8 Redskins, at that point, all game, as I was about the national recognition and perception of the team doing a 180 following its rout of the Patriots only six days before.
But the Saints prevailed. After falling to trail by 10 points, 30-20, with over seven minutes remaining, you sort of knew that Brees could still get the team back in it. And he drove them to a field goal. But then the Redskins responded with another drive -- yet missed a field goal chip shot. At that point Redskins coach Jim Zorn had a look on his face that said We gonna lose! And about 33 seconds later Brees tied it when he hooked up with Meachem.
With still about a minute left in the game, the Redskins had enough time to drive the field for a field goal, but linebacker Jonathan Vilma came up with an interception. The Saints were without timeouts and failed to get the ball close enough to line up a field goal for kicker Garrett Hartley -- his 58-yard attempt was short -- but momentum of the game had definitely turned. Saints Alive!
Plus, a buddy at the game who was fortunate enough to sit behind the Saints bench in the eleventh row got to see Jeremy Shockey throw his helmet and knock over water coolers when the offense was initially taken off the field with seven seconds left on the clock before being sent back on to try and gain a few yards on a sideline route. That pass failed.
The Redskins won the coin toss in overtime. It appeared they might win -- NFL rules in overtime are sudden death, the first team to score in 15 minutes wins.
But then cornerback Chris McAlister forced Mike Sellers to fumble on a pass play, and Vilma got even more fired up.
Hartley celebrates the win after booting a chip shot hiked from the one-yard line.
Defensive tackle Remi Ayodele blesses Hartley.
Running back Mike "The Hammer" Bell is like Who's Twelve-N.O., now, beeatches!
And then Bell gets cozy with fans at the first game the Saints have won in cold weather -- 40 or below -- since 1995.
Wide receiver Marques Colston, who initially burned LaRon Landry for a big-play touchdown in the second quarter, autographed game programs pre-kickoff for fans Grayson Bralley and Shepp Shirey.
Another awesome video of Bobby Hebert, with wig, in the press box, and highlights from the Monday Night Football game. Although I heard today that on camera Golden Boy can be seen saying to Darth Vader's chick "They score so fast," this can't be seen on the video. Nor can Wes Welker be seen wide-eyed and shaking his head in the third quarter after Malcolm Jenkins and Roman Harper totally made him a non-factor. But those images will replay in my mind, so without further ado, Saints Go All The Way!
I never thought the Saints would stomp the Patriots 38-17 on Monday Night Football to win their eleventh game in a row. Or that Drew Brees would surgically throw five touchdowns with only five incompletions for a perfect passer rating.
Nor did I think that Mike McKenzie would play like a Pro Bowler after sitting out for a year and getting called up by the Saints just before Thanksgiving. With our starting cornerbacks out due to injuries, I was concerned mostly about the play of McKenzie and rookie Malcolm Jenkins. But McKenzie was making tackles all over the place and Jenkins stuck to Wes Welker like white on rice. Jenkins shut Welker down; I've never seen anyone do that before.
The passes were incredible. Brees kicked the game off with a dime to Devery Henderson and I'm sure all of Who Dat Nation knew it was going to be that kind of game.
Pierre Thomas got the Brees Machine rolling after pirouetting down the sideline on a screen pass for the first touchdown, 10-7.
And Henderson set the Superdome on fire when he caught a 75-yard pass -- the longest of the season -- for a touchdown in the second quarter. But give Brees all the credit for pump-faking to the left after staring to the left while the Patriots blitzed to free up Henderson on a seam route up the middle.
No one was around Henderson for 30 yards. That was embarrassing for the Patriots.
Yeah you right!
Even Mark Brunell ran onto the field to celebrate after Brees' pass to Devery.
Anthony Hargrove started the pressure on the quarterback with this sack of Golden Boy in the second quarter.
Linebacker Scott Fujita got him some of 'ol Golden Boy. And Will Smith and Bobby McCray did too.
The defense played awesome -- after that first touchdown drive by the Patriots, who twice had to go for it on fourth and one to get that score.
I admit I was surprised that coach Sean Payton dialed up a field goal in the first quarter instead of going for it on fourth and one at the goal line.
And Darren Sharper, of course, and "Predator" McKenzie came up with interceptions.
Robert Meachem scores on a 38-yard rope thrown by Brees in the second quarter.
Meachem and Mike Bell celebrate.
Predator is back! Seriously, I see McKenzie starting now that he's back with the Saints, at least until both Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter are completely healthy.
The Saints played perfectly against the Patriots in all aspects of the game, except for one big blunder: when defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis picked up a fumble and ran with it until he fumbled it right back to the Pats and then coach Payton threw away a challenge and a timeout on a play that was obviously a fumble. I mean Big Sed was still standing when the ball hit the turf!
And what was Big Sed thinking, anyway? That he was gonna release his inner little Darren Sharper?
But that's all I can rant about.
Even backup tight end Darnell Dinkins got a touchdown -- his first -- to become the 19th Saint to score this season.
Golden Boy and Darth Vader's chick watch the carnage from the sideline after throwing in the towel with about five minutes left in the game.
Brees confirms Vader's chick's suspicion about that lump and advises he should get that checked while ESPN sideline reporter Suzy Kolber waits for a kiss.
The New Orleans Saints are 10-0, the longest string of victories in the history of the franchise. Even better, the Saints pounded the Buccaneers today 38-7 to get back in championship form while their biggest challenge of the season -- hell, their biggest challenge since playing the Bears in Chicago three seasons ago for the NFC championship -- looms on Monday Night Football after Thanksgiving against the Patriots.
To hell with Golden Boy and Vader's Chick and the Pattycakes. The Saints will stomp 'em on national TV like we did Dallas in 2006. Believe!
Up top Robert Meachem drags linebacker Geno Hayes into the end zone for a first quarter touchdown. Meachem scored twice today. In three seasons he had never scored more than one touchdown in a game as a Saint. But now he's helping us load up the arsenal.
Drew Brees was not sacked today. Here he gets rid of the ball in the second quarter.
Anyone else loving the fact Brees threw for less than 200 yards today but we still score 38 points? Last season, when he nearly broke Dan Marino's single season passing-yardage record, Brees would have to throw more than 400 yards to give us a chance to win. I'm digging the balance.
Hell, even David Thomas outshined jshox at the tight end position today.
Thomas had four receptions for 66 yards and one touchdown.
Not too shabby.
That touchdown catch for Thomas came when he was in the fullback position. That's what I saw in a highlight. I can't tell you how or where he caught other balls because the National Fascists League kept kept cutting streaming video of the game from the internets.
Jshox had two catches,
Pierre Thomas ran hard: 11 carries, 92 yards.
Mike Bell ran hard: 13 carries, 75 yards, two TDs.
Reggie Bush and Lance Moore were out today. But New England, do you see how our weapons will destroy you?
We had, what, four cornerbacks out today? And the defense still smothered Tampa Bay. Here's Roman Harper and Leigh Torrence sacking quarterback Josh Freeman in the first half.
Hoo doggies, we're gonna be better on defense against the Pattycakes when tackle Sedrick Ellis and cornerback Jabari Greer get back in the lineup.
At the same time, here's a huge congratulations to rookie cornerback Malcolm Jenkins who stepped up big time in Greer's and Tracy Porter's absence. He had one interception and led the team with seven tackles.
