Monday Night Football

With the Monday Night Game done, it's time to look at how I got on with my final pick of the week: Patriots 17 @ Saints 38 -- Trust the Patriots to mash up my final pick. And listen, no I'm not about to bow before the mighty Saints and say "hey, they're the best". Yeah, they beat the Pats, but go back and watch the game film. I don't know what Pats team was out there in New Orleans, but it wasn't the one any of us would recognise. Take Tom Brady for example. 21/36, 237 yards, no TD's and 2 INT's. For Brady that's really bad. But the worst offenders were the Pats defense. Devery Henderson looked like he was going to fall over in shock during the second quarter as he was left so open it was unreal. I don't think blown coverage really does it justice. I dunno, I'm just speechless. Now I know I bang on with the hate against the Saints each week, but trust me, there is a point. I know Drew Brees is one of the premier QB's in the league. He is easily one of the top three, along with Peyton Manning and Brett Favre. As a team, the Saints have done really well in all three phases of the game. But the response to all this has been symptomatic of NFL analysis over the last 10 years or so. The Saints are being hailed as the greatest team in football right now, when they're simply not. It's another case of the over hype that is rife among sports broadcasters. Let's look at it realistically. The Saints division has been woeful this year, contributing to easy wins. The Dolphins practically gave the game back to New Orleans after destroying them in the first half. And now this result which will again overly inflate the reputation of the Saints, despite the Patriots being dire. The biggest and best example of this over hype is Darren Sharper. After his late pick, the defensive players were fanning him and treating him like a hero. That's understandable. They're his team mates and they are joking around. But by tomorrow all the sports broadcasters across the land will be kneeling at Sharpers feet, heralding him for what was essentially just being too slow and lazy to keep up with the play, which left him short when Brady's pass didn't make it. He got lucky, again, and now he's going to be proclaimed as some kind of defensive wizard. God it makes me sick just thinking about it. And probably the worst bit about all this is that the Patriots previously mentioned appalling D will go quietly un-noticed. This whole debacle will be put down to how great the Saints were, blah, blah. But the fact is that on Saturday I made a point about the Saints O. I mentioned that they get most of their big gains and scores going down the middle. I was expecting the normally excellently coached Patriots to see it and shut it down. They didn't. Big time. Just watch the game film. The Pats let Brees and his receivers have the middle all to themselves. They didn't bring enough pressure right up the A gap to force Brees to move either. It just sucked as a defensive performance. And this is what I love about football. Every week certain match ups favour certain teams, and every week pundits will hype the crap out of people that don't warrant it. And the most bizarre thing about this is the unlikely candidates who have the best shot of beating the Saints should they face them. Namely, the Steelers, the Ravens, the Cowboys and the Eagles. None of these teams has exactly lit up the world this season. But all of these teams would have a good shot of beating the Saints (The Cowboys actually get a chance in week 15). Why? 'Cos they all bring great pressure right up the middle. Take the Cowboys for example. They are hardly over flowing with defensive talent, but Jay Ratliff should get in the face of Drew Brees when they meet, and push Brees out of the pocket. Coupled with the potential of their ground game should they chose to use it (which knowing my luck they wont), they have a real chance of chewing the clock, stopping the Saints ground game and forcing Brees to get mobile and try and win games throwing 40 times, which simply wont work. Ahh, that feels better now I've ranted off on one. Tomorrow; Extra Credit.

We're talking about "Holy crap, that was one hell of a hit... oh wait, he didn't have the ball" type interference

Recently I bashed NFL networks Mike Mayock a little for some analysis that he did. Today I just watched a couple of videos on NFL.com that re-affirmed why, overall, I think he's top notch. Basically it revolves around two plays; Jabari Greers interception against the Falcons, and Leonard Weavers TD run against the Giants. The point he made was that in both cases the play had a big effect on the game, and in both cases, the plays should have been scrubbed by penalties. Now first up let me point out that this is not an argument or attack on the referees. The NFL is, at least in my opinion, one of the leading sports in the world for officiating. We now have several umpires dotted around the field (though I wish they'd remove the official from amongst the linebackers), there are TV replays, booth reviews inside of 2 mins and coaches have the challenge ability as well. Compared to the officiating of many other sports, and in particular I'm levelling my finger at Soccer in Europe, the officiating in the NFL is exceptional. But still, humans are humans, mistakes will be made. And so it was that the Saints got away with pass interference and the Eagles got away with holding. In the Eagles case it was Brent Celek who got a reasonably blatant hold of, I believe, Justin Tuck. This prevented Tuck making a tackle that would have stuffed the play for no gain. That's how much of a swing we're talking about. No gain compared to a touchdown. And that has an affect on teams. It has an affect on defenses and coaches. It affects the outcome of the game. And it's why I'm still a little apprehensive about the Eagles rushing attack. The next is gonna seem like pure bullying. I pick on the Saints every week it seems. But hey, if you wanna be the best 1) expect everyone to be taking shots at you and 2) expect to have to prove it on a regular basis. And what Mike Mayock proved was that Greer's interception was the result of nothing shorter than blatant pass interference. Not by Greer (I forget who it was). But it was blatant. Honestly, we're not talking about "now, does that level of contact constitute interference" type interference. We're talking about "Holy crap, that was one hell of a hit... oh wait, he didn't have the ball" type interference. And without it and the resulting pick 6 it created, we finish with a tie game. So what is this all in aid of? Nothing more really than a rant. Just to point out that the Saints aren't all they're being made out to be and the Eagles rushing attack may well collapse this week. Oh and yeah, there was some love on NFL Total Access for Darren Sharper. And yeah, it included the jump ball interception. And no, no-one gave Tracy Porter, Greer or Randall Gay the credit they deserve. It's all about the numbers. Which is why NFL scouts end up picking some real duds. (*cough* JaMarcus Russell *cough*)