Patriots win utterly meaningless game, I get super excited

Tonight, the Patriots beat the Saints in the first pre-season game.  It counted for absolutely nothing.  I hadn't even planned to watch it, in fact.

And yet....and yet.....I love those boys so much!

You know who was awesome?  Julian Edelman (who was also awesome in last year's playoff fiasco).  You know who else?  Randy Moss.

It was nice to see the team strong near the end and holding the Saints to a field goal when they were within 1st and goal.  Smooth play calling by the Saints, incidentally -- they almost pulled off a pretty good semi-QB-sneak (I don't know what to call it!).  But their 3rd-string QB evidently went to the Laurence Maroney School of Running Sideways Instead of Forward, which ended in basically naught.  Nothing like when your 3rd-string team can outplay the other 3rd-string team.  Final score was 27-24 for the Pats.

It's official: I am ready for some football!

THAT JUST HAPPENED

Oh lord.

Lord.

Lord.

That's it, I now agree. The NFL is scripted.

First, the Favral choke.

Then, Peyton late in the 4th to give the Saints a 31-17 lead.

Breesus, take the damn wheel. I haven't been this happy, football-wise, since SB 39.

PS - For tonight, I declare myself the Future Mrs. Sean Payton. Just for tonight. I still love you, Pats, but I mean come on. Saints are on freaking fire here.

Articles that I'm just not even going to bother to read

Peyton Manning's Case for Being the Best Ever.

So you can't have it both ways. Either the ring is the thing, in which case Tom Brady is the best QB of this generation. Or the regular season performance is pivotal, in which case the 2007 Patriots are the best team of this generation.

In other words, the Pats are still #1, no matter which way you choose to cut it.

We're at the very start of the first. I'm liking the Saints' zest. GEAUX SAINTS!

Close, but...

The Saints will not be perfect this year. They just lost to the Dallas Cowboys.

(I'm not sure exactly why, but I don't care for Tony Romo. Just saying).

The final score was 24-17. I do have to say that Dallas brought some good pressure at the end -- mind you, I only saw the last 2ish minutes, so that's all I can really comment on.

And then there was one...I really hope someone can beat the Colts! Although I know logically that it was better for them to beat Jacksonville from a playoff perspective. But still.

Saints 38, Patriots 17

We got beat. And how. Our secondary was chewed up, we didn't put together much of anything on offense, and it was a general mess. Even Gostkowski missed a field goal, which is pretty abnormal (admittedly, it was from the 50, so it was challenging).

So time to assess. We are a half hour from December and I've had my epiphany moment, like I did last year after the Steelers game. Here is my assessment. I think that we can beat almost anyone in the AFC this year. We did almost beat the Colts. The only other surging team I really see right now are the Chargers (sorry, Tennessee, I think it's going to be too little, too late). And so, were it to come down to it, I think that we would have a shot.

At the same time, I think that the NFC may have everyone in the AFC beat this year. There are the Saints. There are also the Vikings, who have come out of nowhere with Favre to be a dominant team. If the Saints or Vikings played the Colts, I have a feeling the NFC team would win. And so -- and you can read it here right now -- I think this is an NFC year.

At the same time, I'm not ready to discount the Patriots quite yet. Sure, elements of the secondary are weak, but not a disaster like last year (I am not bringing back the 'We need corners' tag quite yet). I am reminded of Arizona's game against us last year when we blew them out and we turned it around. It's not over, of course, until it is over, so there is still time to go. But right now, it sure seems to be more of an NFC year than an AFC one.

We beat the Jets

My feelings on this game: meh.

It wasn't much of a game, but I'm glad that we won. Welker had a phenomenal day, catching 15 throws for 192 yards (!). Moss didn't have such a day, but did a great job keeping Revis covered. Remember crazy Revis? Yeah, he was still pretty good.

Mazz had the following anecdote in his column today:


'Slightly more than two years ago, when Welker first joined the Pats, Brady playfully described Welker as being like a "puppy’’ during training camp, Welker returning the huddle each time as if playing a game of fetch. The playful jabs have since come as regularly as the 12-yard receptions. Yesterday, Brady took note of Welker gesturing for the quarterback’s attention on what was a 43-yard pass play - ``He mailboxed his hand,’’ said the quarterback -- and didn’t miss the opportunity to deliver the ball to the Jets’ 3-yard line, setting up a touchdown that gave the Pats a 21-0 edge.

"It’s hard to see because he’s about 5-foot-7,’’ Brady cracked.'

My favorite response:

'mw383 wrote:

i mailbox my hand sometimes twice a day.'


Okay, I'm over this game. Time to play the 10-0 Saints.

And then there was none...

The Bucs won a game against Green Bay. Who would have guessed that? And a decisive win too with an interception for a TD in the last minute of play for a 38-28 victory. The Bucs were in their hawt throwback uniforms, so maybe they should stick with that creamsicle look. And with that, I can retire the 'Winless Bucs' tag.

Green Bay fans, I am sorry. That is a lousy two weeks. First you lose at home to Favre's Vikings, now this. But I have a tip for you: an offensive line would be of great benefit to the team as a whole, and Aaron Rogers in particular.

But you know what we do still have? Undefeated Colts. Today they eked out a victory against Houston with a missed field goal in the final seconds to win 20-17. How many times can this happen? How many times can things go their way in the last seconds? It's like they took the Patriots' 2007 mojo or something. I truly, truly hope that next week it will stop.

Incidentally, Carolina is currently up on the Saints 17-3. We did see the Saints come back big time against Miami a few weeks ago, so I'm not counting them out. But I am still surprised.

Pats beat Bucs 35-7. Meh.

I mean, I'm not complaining or anything. It wasn't a bad game. But it wasn't a great game by any means. Sure, the Pats won 35-7, but it just didn't feel like they quite had it together. And I know, I should just be happy with the win. Maybe because there were some weaknesses that emerged against a pretty lousy team, I am now more worried.

Points that need addressing:

1) Brady didn't seem to have it again on the long passes. I had hoped, after last week, that this was no longer an issue.
2) Penalties. There were far too many.
3) Stopping the run. I felt we gave up too many yards. And sure, Cadillac Williams is a good RB, but we're facing the Dolphins next and they have a crazy run game that we need to stop (the Dolphins are - inexplicably - up 24-3 against the Saints right now. I thought last week was backward week).
4) The Bucs were getting around the O-line too easily at times. Tom had better movement in the pocket and dodged some hits. But still, more support might have been good.
5) Tom threw for two interceptions. One of them, the one in the end zone, he really should have known better.

Okay, as Coach will undoubtedly say in his press conference, there is a lot of work to be done. I just hope that they can correct some of these problems before facing Miami, because I fear that they can exploit several of these weaknesses.

(I know, I know, stop whining and enjoy the win).

Best. Football. Weekend. Ever.

1) Clearly, Pats winning 59-0 over Tennessee was a highlight (I will never get sick of these).

2) Saints destroyed the Giants 48-27, and it was partially Eli's fault.

3) Bills came up with an overtime win against the Jets. That means the Jets are on a 3-game skid, and clearly suck.

4) Notre Dame lost on a goal line stand with seconds to go in the 4th quarter, missing 4 opportunities to score against rival USC (what does this have to do with me? It's petty and stupid, but I'm feeling very anti-Notre Dame these days).

5) Did I mention the Pats? Because they were FREAKING AWESOME.