Tag Archives: New Orleans Saints

Random Thoughts: 6/2/2012

  • Looks like the Saints players who denied the existence of a bounty system in New Orleans were lying.  I love how they’ve all been proclaiming their innocence since they were all suspended.  Like the NFL would suspend without solid proof of wrong-doing.  Idiots.
  • A survey of 1000 idiots people has found that 20% of people urinate in public pools.  Setting aside the fact that you would deliberately piss in a pool that other people are swimming in, why on earth would you piss in a pool and then continue to swim in it? 
  • There is apparently a new Star Wars video game in the works dubbed Star Wars 1313.  It’s a bounty hunter game set in level 1313 on Coruscant.  The game is supposed to explore the darker side of the Star Wars universe and may (I doubt it) have an M rating.  This sounds too good to be true.
  • When asked who should play him if a movie were to be made about his life, Bill Clinton went with George Clooney.  He then picked Meryl Streep to play Hillary.  So when Bill cheats on Hillary in the movie, you’ll still nod your head in agreement and think to yourself, “Look who he married.  I don’t blame him.”
  • If you’re interested in learning the ingredients of “bath salts,” the “new LSD” as it is called, click on this link.  Bath salts is believed to be the catalyst of the recent “zombie” sighting in  Miami, Florida, where a 31-year old man attacked another man and ate half of his face.  Authorities still have not ascertained why Mila Jovavich did not intervene.
  • A fine gentleman in Cleveland was handed a $344 citation for littering when money he was attempting to give to a homeless man fell to the ground.  Stay classy, Cleveland.
  • Axl Rose’s doucebaggery knows no bounds, evidently.  You are apparently not allowed to wear Slash t-shirts at a GNR concert.  Some poor chap who attended the GNR concert at London’s O2 arena was forced to remove his slash shirt prior to entering the arena.  To top it all off, Axl showed up an hour late.  What an ass.
  • Christina Valdez, the mother of the child who received the Catastrophe Award, tries to defend herself by saying she’s there for her children 24/7 and that she knew of 3 or 4 assignments that her child didn’t complete because she didn’t write them down in her book.  She says she only wanted an apology from the school for their “humiliating” award.  Yeah, well, in 10 years your daughter’s going to want an apology from you for failing as a parent.  Shut up about the award already and raise your child.
  • Some high school students in Mink Creek Idaho had their video camera recording one day and recorded what may have been the mythical Bigfoot. Upon closer inspection of the video, however, experts deduced that it was merely Rosie O’Donnell.
  • Heath Campbell, an idiot who named 3 of his 4 kids after prominent Nazi figures (including one named Adolf Hitler) had his children taken away from him in 2009 for merely naming them after members of the third Reich.  Now, I don’t condone naming a child after Hitler, Himmler, or any of the other idiots that tried to take over the world in the 1930’s, but to take away children from loving parents, however idiotic they may be, seems unconstitutional to me.  Do we take children away from parents because they’re racist?  Because they hate gays?  Because they let them listen to Justin Bieber?  No, we don’t.  If this guy wants to be a Nazi and teach his children to be Nazis, it’s his constitutional right to do so.  As long as he’s not neglecting or abusing his children, the court has no right to take those children away. 
  • The Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 1996, has been found unconstitutional by a federal appeals court on the grounds that the federal government has no authority to define a state’s definition of marriage.  What this means for gay marriage is anyone’s guess.
  • These are the type of stories you should see on the news.  Not some bullshit about another murder or robbery.  Not news piece designed to inspire fear and promote conspiracy theories.  But this:  A 9-year old boy who won a family vacation to Disney World gave it a girl whose father had just been killed in Afghanistan.  What a classy kid.  How many of you would have done that?  Then, the Disney Company awarded this child’s family with an all-expense paid trip for his generosity and the kid is going to find another military family to donate the trip to.  I bow before this kid’s greatness.
  • An Al Jazeera documentary, Songs of War, alleges that detainees at Guantanamo Bay were tortured by having to listen to Sesame Street songs on repeat for days on end.  My first reaction to this was to laugh uncontrollably for about a minute.  My second reaction was to realize how fucking cruel this is.  Could you imagine having to listen to Elmo’s Song for days on end?  Cruel and unusual indeed.
  • Guitar Pee?  Yes, please.

  • NYC Mayor Michael Bloomburg plans to propose a ban on sales of sugary beverages larger than 16oz.  Just how far into our lives does the government plan to reach?  Isn’t taking choice away also taking some of our freedom away?  Look, Bloomberg, if you take away soda people are going to find something else to shove in their pie-holes.  Why don’t you find something productive to do with your time instead of this giant sack of suck?
  • Another day, another Christian preacher who wants to kill gay people.  What the fuck is wrong with these guys?  Is there an 11th commandment I don’t know about?
Related articles

 

The next big NFL scandal is upon us

Well, thank you Gregg Williams.  We had all just forgotten about Spygate when the NFL discovered you have been running a bounty system with every team that has ever employed you.

For those unfamiliar with the situation, the NFL released a statement (Thursday, I think) that they had found evidence of a bounty program being run by the Saints in 2009, 2010, and 2011.  All of those years Gregg Williams was the defensive coordinator.

The NFL expressly prohibits bounties.  They found in their investigation that Saints defensive players could earn anywhere from $500 to $1500 for something as simple as an interception or causing a fumble all the way up to injuring an opponent and knocking him out of the game.

Many players from Williams’ past have said he ran similar programs in Washington, Buffalo, and Tennessee.  All of these players said so anonymously.

I don’t have a problem with the majority of the NFL’s findings.  I don’t think any competitive edge could be gained by putting extra incentive on things like recovering fumbles or intercepting a pass.  Hell, a lot of NFL contracts have language in them in which a player earns bonuses if they reach certain statistical criteria.

My problem is with the bounties on injuring players.  Saint’s defenders, while Williams was the defensive coordinator, ended Kurt Warner’s career.  The beat the tar out of Brett Favre a week later.  And it also came out this weekend that a Titans’ defender was responsible for the hit that allegedly has caused the chronic neck problems that Peyton Manning has been struggling with the past few years.  Coincidentally, Williams was the defensive coordinator at the time.

Many of the anonymous players have defended Williams while saying there were no bounties for injuring other players.  The findings of NFL security obviously contradict these players’ contentions.

Playing defense with the intent to injure your opponents is tantamount to cheating in my opinion.  You will gain a competitive advantage if you are able to knock an opponent such as Kurt Warner or Peyton Manning out of a game.

In addition to being ethically wrong it’s also morally wrong.  I understand that football can be an inherently violent sport, but the intent of the game is to tackle the ball-carrier, not injure him.  That’s a huge distinction.  Yes, fans love huge, violent hits, but those can be administered without injuring an opponent.

Currently, the NFL has found that Williams only ran this program in New Orleans, however he is being called to the principal’s office today to be questioned by commissioner Roger Goodell in regards to all of the reports over the weekend that he has run this bounty program everywhere he has coached.

Other Saints implicated in the program are head coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis, who were evidently aware of the program yet chose not to end it.

It will be interesting to see how the NFL handles this, especially for Williams who has allegedly been running bounty programs at every stop of his NFL career.

Random NFL Thoughts: Divisional Round

Well, I went 3-1 again this weekend.  Going into Sunday night’s game I thought I would go 4-0.  I still don’t think the Packers have showed up for that game.

  • First and foremost, my condolences go out to Joe Philbin and his family.  If you have not yet heard, the son of Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin was found dead last week.  I cannot possibly fathom what he must be going through currently.
  • The Saints/Niners game was epic.  Four lead changes in the last 4 minutes?  That’s great football.  Personally, I didn’t think the Niners would be able to put another game winning drive together after doing it once already, but “The Catch III” has made this game an instant classic.
  • Alex Smith finally looked like the first-round pick that he was.  Of course, with the Saints blitzing every play and leaving all of the Niners’ receivers in one-on-one coverage didn’t help their cause either.
  • As expected, the Patriots throttled the Broncos.  Teebow looked awful as did the Broncos defense.
  • Brady added another passing record to his resume: 5 TD’s in one half of a playoff game.  He threw 6 total, tying a post-season record.  Rob Gronkowski caught three of the touchdowns begging the question:  Is anyone ever going to try to cover this guy?
  • The Ravens/Texans game was a defensive slugging match, as I thought it would be.  The Ravens defense forced rookie QB TJ Yates into throwing 3 picks, which ultimately cost the Texans the game.  Arian Foster churned out 132 yards on the ground, but that wasn’t enough to overcome the turnovers, the most costly of which was Jacoby Jones muffing a punt he shouldn’t have even tried to field.  The Ravens recovered in the red-zone.
  • The Giants/Packers game was just embarrassing for the Packers.  Their offense looked the worst at has all season, and neither I, not anyone else, saw that coming.  I figured to see a shoot-out, not a blow-out.  Perhaps the death of Joe Philbin’s son was more of a distraction than they could handle.
  • Jeff Fisher is now the head coach of the St. Louis Rams.  Fisher will have plenty to work with on offense, but will need a complete overhaul on the defensive side of the ball.
  • Greg Williams has reportedly accepted the defensive coordinator position, which I find to be a questionable move.  William’s blitz-happy defense in New Orleans hasn’t been all that productive the last couple of years.
  • It looks like either Hue Jackson or Brian Schottenheimer will be Fisher’s offensive coordinator.  This should be a no-brainer.  Schottenheimer’s offense in New York the last couple of years has been horrid.  Go with Hue.
  • Mike Zimmer is in contention for a couple of head coaching jobs:  Miami and Tampa Bay.  While I’d hate to see him go, he deserves a shot.  Ideally (in my world, anyway) he’d get the head coaching job in Cincinnati after Marvin is relieved of his duties.
  • Per this article, the Chiefs are electronically spying on their employees.  I really don’t know what purpose this serves if true.

 

Divisional Round Predictions

Last week’s picks went so well that I thought I’d try this prognostication thing again.  I went 3-1 last week, and really, who didn’t pick the Steelers to beat the Broncos?  Even the Broncos were surprised they won.

Denver Broncos vs New England Patriots:  This is the game that everyone is talking about.  Why? Well, because of Tim Tebow.  Why is everyone talking about Tim Tebow?  I have no frickin’ clue.  He’s a mediocre quarterback who happens to be a phenomenal leader.  Every win the Broncos have had this season has been a team win, but to hear the media tell it Tebow’s doing it all by himself.  Maybe he’ll walk on water at halftime.

Anyhow, as to the game, I’m going with New England in this one.  These two teams played in the regular season with New England beating the Broncos pretty soundly.  And that was in Denver.  This time they will be playing in Foxboro.  The Broncos will still be without Brian Dawkins (and their long snapper for some reason), and their defense just hasn’t been the same since he’s been out of the line up.  I see the Pats putting up a 40-burger on the Broncos in what will be the biggest blow-out this weekend.

Houston Texans vs Baltimore Ravens:  This is going to be an ugly game.  Two pretty exceptional defenses against a couple of average offenses.  If the Texans had Matt Schaub in the lineup I would definitely be going with the Texans here, but they don’t so I won’t.

The Baltimore defense will force rookie TJ Yates into making some rookie mistakes while holding the Texans’ premier running attack in check.  The Baltimore offense will score just enough to win.  Anquan Boldin will be back and that should help boost a Ravens offense that has been lacking some punch lately.  Ravens win a low scoring game.

New York Giants vs Green Bay Packers: While the NE/Denver game gets all the attention, this is the game I think will be the most exciting to watch this weekend.  I expect a shoot out again between these two teams.  And though I like the Giants’ confidence going into this game, you just can’t stop the Packers at home.  Green Bay wins.

New Orleans Saints vs San Francisco 49ers:  The Saints are favored to win this game, and it’s not hard to understand why.  They arguably have the most potent offense in the league.  They have a vicious three-back rotation featuring very productive backs.  The passing game features Drew Brees, Jimmy Graham, Marques Colston, Lance Moore (who may not play), Devery Henderson, and Robert Meacham.  Plus Darren Sproles coming out of the backfield.  There are a ton of weapons on the Saints offense.  The 49ers, however, have a good enough defense to stop them.  Or at least contain them.  The Saints offense scores about 13 fewer points a game on grass than on turf, and they will be playing in the Niners backyard.  The Niners offense isn’t explosive, but they can put some points on the board.  And they can control the clock.

Having said all of that, I think the………..Niners will win.  I’m going with the upset here.  I think the fans will be loud enough to distract the Saints offense.  The Saints don’t really have much of a defense.  They put 11 guys out there every play, but they play like there’s only 5 out there.  The Niners will win the time of possession and keep Brees sitting on the bench most of the game.

That’s what I see while gazing into the crystal ball.  What do you see?

Wild Card Weekend Predictions

With nothing better to write about currently, I figured I’ll give prognostication a shot.  This weekend begins the NFL playoffs, as teams will fight for a chance to play in the Superbowl.

Cincinnati Bengals vs Houston Texans:  I really don’t see the Texans losing this game.  Matt Schaub was already injured when the Texans beat the Bengals earlier this year in Cincinnati, without Andre Johnson.  Andre Johnson is back and they will be playing in Houston.

Cincinnati has been slowly regressing as the season has worn on.  The offense isn’t as productive as it was in the beginning of the year and the defense, while still mostly stout, has developed a penchant for giving up huge plays towards the end of the year.

I think the Texans will win this one, but here’s hoping that I’m wrong.

Pittsburgh Steelers vs Denver Broncos:  This one is easy.  The Broncos defense has not been the same since Brian Dawkins has been injured, and he won’t be playing.  The Steelers, like other Broncos opponents the last 3 weeks, will have their way with Denver’s defense.

On the flip-side, the Steeler’s defense will make Tim Tebow look worse than he has at any point this year.  And Tebow has looked pretty horrible at times.  Unless the Broncos are able to surprise the Steelers with some trick plays or score on a return, I see the Broncos getting shut out in this one.  Steelers win.

Atlanta Falcons vs New York Giants:  The Falcons have been on a tear lately, but so have the Giants.  Both offenses have been very productive, while both defenses have been only mediocre.

Given that these teams are pretty evenly matched, to my eye anyhow, I’ve got to give the home team the advantage in this one.  Giants win.

Detroit Lions vs New Orleans Saints:  This game promises to be an epic shootout.  Both offenses are highly potent and both defenses are fairly inept.

The edge goes to the New Orleans offense, which broke multiple statistical records this year.  The Saints will also have the advantage of playing in the Superdome.  The Lions match up pretty will against the Saints, but the Saints weapons outnumber the Lions’ exponentially.

The Saints will win, but I’ll be pulling for my hometown team.

Agree?  Disagree?  How do you see this weekend playing out?

The Madden curse is alive and well

The Madden curse is alive and well, after seemingly taking a year off and leaving Drew Brees (mostly) unscathed last year.  This year’s victim is Peyton Hillis, running back for the Cleveland Browns.

Hillis was largely unheard of until last year, before busting out for almost 1200 yards after being traded from the Broncos for Brady Quinn.  EA Sports let the fans vote for this year’s victim, and Hillis “won” the vote.

So far this year, he has only 60 carries for 211 yards and has missed a handful of games due to sickness or injury.  He’s also campaigning for a big-money contract extension.

Hillis held himself out of Week 3 because he had strep throat.  Teammates began questioning his toughness afterwards and the media, and some teammates, believed the move had been related to his desire for a new contract.

He played (poorly) in Weeks 5 and 6, pulled a hamstring, and hasn’t played since.  In that time, he’s also alienated his teammates, failed to show at a Halloween event, and lost the favor of Brown’s management, thus losing his ability to renegotiate his contract.

The history of the Madden Curse is documented well here, and it’s unfathomable to me why players continue to agree to being put on its cover.  I would suggest that EA go back to putting Madden on the cover, but then something horrible may happen to him.  Maybe they should put Justin Bieber on the cover.

Week 8 Thoughts

* While he might be able to pull one out against the winless Dolphins, against a good team like the Lions, Tim Tebow looked lost. He was 18 for 39 passing with one interception and 3 fumbles. Be careful what you wish for Denver fans, cause you just got it.

* The Panthers are pissing me off. They should’ve been able to beat the Vikings. Cam put up good numbers again, and didn’t throw a pick, but he lost 2 fumbles. Also, our kicker missed an easy 31 yard field goal attempt that would have sent the game into overtime.

* Both the Giants and Ravens looked like crap in the first half of their games against teams they should have owned. They were able to pull out wins, Ravens over the Cardinals and Giants over the Dolphins, but the games should never have been that close. The Dolphins will probably be firing their head coach within the next few weeks, if not sooner.

* Congrats to the Rams for getting their first win of the season by shocking the New Orleans Saints. Steven Jackson looked like a beast.

* The Colts got killed again. Pack for Indy, Andrew Luck.

* DeMarcus Ware had 4 sacks, but those were the only 4 plays that the Cowboys were able to stop the Eagles, who scored on their first 6 possessions and ended up winning 34-7.

* Buffalo looked good again as they shut out the Redskins 23-0. The Bills also gave Ryan Fitzpatrick a 6 year extension during the week. I bet the Redskins are wishing they had a quarterback right about now.

* The fuckin Patriots lost,which is always great. Fuck the Patriots.

* With the exception of his 2 interception throws, which were both horrible, Andy Dalton and the Bengals looked good, beating the Seahawks 34-12. If it’s not there, Andy, don’t try to force it to Green. He’s a beast, but even he can’t protect you from every bad throw.

NFL Week 1 Review

Since it’s impossible to watch every game during the week (unless that’s your job), most of what I’m about to say is based on stats and highlights. I’m not going to go over every game, just certain things that caught my attention.

Green Bay vs New Orleans: The Packers still look like the champions. They played a pretty good game in all phases. I’ve heard some people claim that their defense looked weak, but most defenses don’t look all that good against Drew Brees and the Saints offense. The scary part? As good as Aaron Rodgers is playing, he looks like he’s getting better every game.

Pittsburgh vs Baltimore: The Ravens made the Steelers look bad. Very bad. The Ravens defense, which is getting older but is still pretty good, forced 7 turnovers. Big Ben threw 3 interceptions and lost 2 fumbles. The question now is “Are the Ravens really that good, or did Ben just have a really bad game?”

Atlanta vs Chicago: I did watch half of this game (I was flipping back and forth between this and the Bengals game), and while Cutler did have some good numbers, it was only because of his receivers that he did. The touchdown pass to Forte is a good example. Forte caught the ball maybe 5 yards from the line of scrimmage and did the rest of the work on his way to a 56 yard touchdown, aided by one of the worst tackle attempts I’ve ever seen. During the offseason, Atlanta tried to upgrade its defense, but apparently it wasn’t nearly enough because they looked terrible. Chicago’s offense isn’t nearly as good as the Falcons made them look.

Indianapolis vs. Houston: The only thing that can be said about this game is the Colts are completely screwed until Manning comes back.

Buffalo vs Kansas City: KC’s offense looked like crap and Buffalo’s looked awesome. This was an outcome that nobody saw coming. There might have been people out there that picked the Bills to win, but nobody thought that they’d put a 34 point butt-kicking on them. I hope Buffalo can keep this up all year, if only so they beat the Patriots and Jets.

Carolina vs Arizona: Cam Newton put up huge numbers in this game. That only happened for, what I believe, two reasons. One, the Cardinals stacked the box to stop the run. Two, their defense isn’t all that good anyways, and they traded away their best secondary player to get Kevin Kolb. I’m predicting that those numbers will go down big time next week as the Panthers are playing the Packers.

That’s all I can think of right now. What stood out to you in Week 1 of the NFL season?

New kickoff rule leads to a less exciting game

So I’m watching the Packers vs Saints game, and I’ve noticed that the new kickoff rule is having a negative impact on the game.

Now, I haven’t been glued to the game since it started so I may have missed something, but every kickoff I’ve seen so far has been a touchback.  I understand that the NFL is looking for a way to reduce injuries and that some of the most devastating injuries happen on kickoff returns, but come on.  An NFL kickoff return is one of the most exciting plays in all of sports.  Hell, Desmond Howard once won Superbowl MVP on the strength of his kickoff returns.

From what I understand, this is a trial rule for this year to see what kind of impact it will have.  In the preseason teams were returning kicks out of the endzone, but now that the games count it looks like teams are not going to take that gamble.  The Saints and Packers aren’t anyway.

Aside:  Just as I am typing this Randall Cobb (Green Bay Packers) decided to run one out of the endzone and returned it 108 yards for a touchdown.  Figures…

Anyhow, as I was saying, the rule is only set in stone for this year.  It needs to go away after this year.  It actually needs to go away now, but that’s not possible.  The touchdown return by Cobb is one of the things that the kickoff rule will eliminate.  It was a hell of a play, too.  Cobb was upended but was able to flip over and land back on his feet and keep on running.  Why would you want to get rid of plays like this?

NFL players are upset with the NFL rules changing in the name of player safety and, quite frankly, I’m getting perturbed with it as well.  NFL players are well aware that football is a violent game.  Most of these players have been playing since they were children and are well aware of how violent this game is.  And they accept those risks.  If the NFL is worried about getting sued by players after they’re retired (it’s happening now courtesy of a group led by Jim McMahon) then they need to insert language into every contract absolving the NFL of any liability for late-life health issues of former players

The ball needs to go back to the 30 yard line and the NFL needs to leave the game the way it is.  The integrity of the game is starting to be compromised and so is the excitement of the game.  Goodell and company, please leave well enough alone.

NFL Wild Card Weekend

The NFL playoffs began on Saturday, and the first game was a shocker. It was a result that almost nobody saw coming. That game was one of the great things about the NFL: you never know what’s going to happen. Here’s my take on the four games from this weekend.

Seahawks 41- Saints 36: Like I said, almost nobody gave the Seahawks a chance in this game, and who could blame them? The Seahawks are the first team in NFL history to make it into the playoffs with a losing record at 7-9. All 9 of the games they lost, they lost by over 15 points. All during the week, they didn’t even know who their starting quarterback would be, because Matt Hasselbeck was getting over an injury. Even with all of that, they still managed to go out onto the field and beat the defending Super Bowl champions. I’ll be the first to admit that I thought they’d get demolished. I’m not a huge Pete Carroll fan, but I have to give him credit for having his team ready, and for having them believe that they had a chance to win. The MVP of this game has to be Matt Hasselbeck who threw for 4 TDs, although Marshawn Lynch deserves a mention for that awesome run he made, breaking 6 tackles, including a statement stiffarm that threw a defender 5 yards.

Jets 17 – Colts 16: I didn’t watch as much of this game as I wanted to, because I was busy punting Ewoks. When I turned this game back on, it was 14-13 Jets with about 4 minutes left to go in the game. The Colts drove down the field and kicked a field goal to go up 16-14 with a minute left on the clock. The Colts special teams then let the rest of the team down by allowing a 40 kickoff return, allowing the Jets good field position. The Jets were then able to drive down the field and kick the game winning field goal as time expired. I thought the Colts were going to win this game. The Jets were starting to falter down the stretch, which started when they got destroyed by the Patriots. The MVP of this game would be LT. He ran for 84 yards and 2 TDs.

Ravens 30 – Chiefs 7: After the first quarter, this actually looked like a game. The Chiefs were up 7-3 and they looked like they were up to the task of challenging the Ravens. Then they just fell apart. The Ravens rolled off 27 straight points to end the game. Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassell looked lost after the first quarter, throwing 3 picks and getting sacked 3 times. I know that Baltimore’s defense does that to a lot of teams, but this to me, looked more like Cassell choking than Baltimore’s D throwing their game plan off track. The MVP of this game is Todd Heap. He didn’t have any touchdowns, but every time the Ravens needed a big reception on 3rd down, they went to Heap. He kept their drives going by catching 10 passes for 108 yards.

Packers 21 – Eagles 16: This was a good game. One of the deciding factors, in my opinion, is when DeShaun Jackson was out of the game for a quarter with a knee injury. He wasn’t the same for the rest of the game. Normally, defenders can’t keep up with him, but they had no trouble after he came back into the game. He only had 2 catches the whole game. James Starks, a 6th round pick by the Packers, ran for 123 yards, giving balance to their offense for probably the first time since Ryan Grant went down with a season ending injury. Vick also injured his ankle late in the game and didn’t look like he did during the regular season afterwards. Vick ended the game with a bad interception in the end zone with 30 seconds left in the game. The MVP is either Starks or Aaron Rodgers, who threw 3 TDs. Before this game, “experts” were knocking Rodgers for not having won a playoff game yet. His only playoff game so far was a 51-45 loss to the Cardinals last year. Rodgers played great in that game, throwing 4 TDs. It’s not his fault that his defense gave up that many points. He didn’t lose that game, his defense did. Leave Aaron Rodgers alone. He’s played like a top 5 NFL quarterback since he’s taken over for Brett Favre.