The Saints are frauds and will get annihilated Saturday night

[BOSSHOG]

Just trying to get some of that TRUMAD mojo going for New Orleans this week. I suspect between noisy drunken Saints Fans and noisy drunken Eagles Fans, the Voodoo Priests and Priestesses buried under the Super Dome will awaken and ensure that there will be lots of Mojo working in the Big Easy long into Sunday Morning.

The Saints are my number one team. The Eagles are my number one and a half team. I guess I just can't lose. Sure would appreciate a little assist from the Seahawks.

[MrSlayer]

1. Yo! Don't fuck with our karma.

The Saints are a good team and this game will be a dogfight. I see a high scoring affair with the team that wins the turnover battle taking it.



Dawkins is a madman!

[regularguy]

2. Don't you mean Freauxds, or something...

Eh, I can't (for obvious reasons) work up a good hatred for the 'aints. My football bloodlust (ok, a little overly dramatic there) was pretty satiated with the recent wins over Dallas and NY. The important thing here is that I brewed some Oatmeal Stout last month and it's ready to go. My prediction? Eagles win, 35-21. Would I put my money on that? You nuts? Go Birds!

[BOSSHOG]

5. I'm a big Iggles fan

Born and raised in Philly, saw them play at Franklin Field and loved Randall Cunningham thrashing the Boys at the Vet. I have lived near New Orleans for the past 15 years and have taken to the Saints like one takes to a pitiful immaciated mangy dog on the side of the road. They are something(one) you just want to take care of. Now thanks to the love and care of many, the dog is healthy and all grown up. And Lord did the hurricane provide the sympathy vote? I will be balls to the wall for the winner of Saturday night's game, whichever team that might be.

[piedmont]

10. aren't you a Razorbacks fan too? How the heck did that happen?

[TZ]

3. Saints lost at home to the Skins..what does that say

Okay I don't particularly care for the Eagles, and would love to see the Saints win, but they lost at home to my sorry no-account Redskins for goodness sakes. They scored what 13 points agaisnt one of the worst defenses in the league...

[BOSSHOG]

4. Well you are correct

however, many of the Saints starters, especially on Offense, watched the game from the bench. Obviously the coaching staff did not want to risk a freak injury to anyone during the last regular season game since the Saints had already locked up the number two seed.

[Brotherjohn]

7. Actually, they didn't have the No. 2 seed yet. You're thinking of the Carolina game.

It was the Carolina game (last game) that they rested everybody. The Skins game was two weeks prior, when things were still up for grabs. They clinched the division the day before (thanks to an Atl. loss to Dallas), but nothing else was guaranteed other than a wildcard, maybe away from home.

The only way I can explain the Washington loss, other than "any given day", was they suffered an emotional letdown after a game that was as hyped up as Dallas. In general, besides that one game (which I think - HOPE? - was an anamoly) I view the Saints as playing as hot or hotter than the Eagles. Yes, the Eagles are inarguably hot, with 6 straight wins. They are finding ways to win, and that's what counts.

But, other than the Wash. game, the Saints beat SF, Atl., Dallas, & NYG by an average of more than 3 touchdowns. Sorry, the Carolina game doesn't count... the Saints clearly wrote that one off to keep the team healthy for the playoffs.

Philly has beat 6 straight teams, in mostly close (sometimes down to the wire) games. The Saints beat 4 of 5, including 2 playoff teams, by an average of 22 points (with one loss). They are both hot. But there's a reason most experts are picking the Saints.

[BOSSHOG]

8. Thank you for the correction

I'm getting my Saints opponents mixed up.

[Brotherjohn]

6. Oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man... I CAN'T WAIT!

Saints have never had this good a shot, but it goes through an admittedly great Philly team. This is going to be a great game and the 'Dome is gonna be ROCKIN'!

[Captain Hilts]

9. Philly fans are good bets to win the fight afterwords. nt

[WilliamPitt]

11. This game bums me out

I've been really happy to see NO's success this year after all that happened, and have had them as my NFC Super Bowl pick for a while. But I really don't want to see this Garcia/Philly ride end. Three road games in a row against division rivals? All wins? With the backup QB???

Amazing. I'll be simultaneously happy and bummed whatever the outcome.

Oh, and whichever NFC wins out to the big game is going to be sacrificed to the AFC champ. Bank it.

[dad]

14. Not if IND is the AFC champ.

Peyton Manning was even worse this week than he was last week. How
many INTs can the BAL D drop? Once again he played against a QB and
offense that was just a bit more inept. I do not think he will not get so lucky
next week, but if he does, can you imagine peyton manning, super bowl champion? I don't think so.

[Awsi Dooger]

15. No reason the Colts can't win the Super Bowl

Statistically they fare much better this year than any recent season in the vital categories. You guys can keep doubting them and I'll continue to bet on them. No doubt the number will be a bargain again next week.

Indy's pass defense is significantly improved this year compared to its playoff opponents. That is absolutely crucial. I know fans overwhelmingly prefer subjectivity to stats, but here are the specifics, the Colts pass defense in terms of yards per pass attempt in the regular season compared to the teams they lost to:

2003:
Indy 6.82
New England 5.64

2004:
Indy 7.60
New England 6.90

2005:
Indy 6.82
Pittsburgh 6.34

So you can see the Colts have been markedly worse than any team they have been eliminated by. In short, Peyton has gotten a bad rap. His defense has always been far worse than those he has faced.

Now let's look at this year, the playoff teams the Colts have faced or could face:

2006:
Indy 6.52
New England 6.73
San Diego 6.62
Baltimore 6.74
Kansas City 6.96

Chicago 5.83
New Orleans 6.59
Seattle 7.02

Only Chicago has similar advantage to the teams that have ousted Indianapolis in recent seasons. But there is hardly a guarantee the Bears will advance to Miami, and even if they do, the YPPA differential edge belongs to the Colts. Indy is +1.37 in that important category while Chicago is +.87, since Grossman's YPPA is obviously very low compared to Manning. Only New Orleans at +1.39 matches Indy in terms of YPPA differential among the surviving teams.

And don't give me the crap that Indy's pass defense has improved only because the run defense has been so poor. That is screaming ridiculous. It should actually be just the opposite. When you allow huge number of rushing attempts and rushing yards that makes you vulnerable to overplay the run and give up the downfield pass. For Indy's pass defense to improve despite the rushing defense ineptitude hints the numbers would have been even better if backed by an average rush defense.

[Awsi Dooger]

12. I can't figure out who was dumber

Andy Reid for punting the football or the FOX announcers for failing to condemn him for it.

Unbelievable. Less than 2 minutes remaining and only 2 timeouts, against an offense that has proven it can torch you on the ground.

You had a choice of two chances or one chance and genius Andy Reid preferred one. I swear, it's incredble how clueless these head coaches are in regard to basic probability. If you ran that game 1000 times from the same point, I guarantee you win the game significantly more often by going for it on 4th and 15 instead of the wimpy punt.

[bumblebee1]

13. Speaking of Fox announcers.....

my husband made the comment about Dick Stockton, Daryl Johnston being overly excited about pushing the Saints. He then told me he wished there were Philly announcers covering the game. I told him they were Fox announcers, not Philly or New Orleans announcers.