Football season approacheth ...
The NFL announced their schedule the other day and it went mostly unnoticed here at CrabAppleLane. Last year’s disappointing Saints season still lingers here and the team hasn’t done much in my eyes to rectify their deficiencies. The Redskins play the Giants in New York on Thursday, September 4 to kickoff the season. The Saints played in the opening game last season and had high expectations going in. That loss took some of the luster off of things and was the beginning of an 0-4 start. They recovered briefly and got to 4-4 but went back into their funk by season’s end. All said, I think I prefer they stay out of the spotlight for a while. They open the season against NFC South rival, Tampa Bay, in the SuperDome, the site of the dumbest play call of the entire 2007 NFL season. It was a double reverse pitch that was fumbled and recovered by Tampa Bay, allowing the Bucs to go in for the winning score. The NFL has deemed that the Saints are worthy of four showcase games. They have Monday night home games with the Packers and Vikings, a Thursday night tilt with the Bears in Chicago, and a home game with the Chargers in London.
I'm liking the NFC this year. The AFC still has more star power, particularly at QB, but the young, rising stars of the league, like Adrian Peterson, Ryan Grant, Marques Colston, Ernest Graham, Brandon Jacobs, etc ... they're in the NFC. It’s a cliché but in the NFL, probably more than any other professional sport, youth will be served. There’s no escaping it.
140 days until football season ...
Quote of the Day
I think it's the best job in the world. Where else can you go to play with such big toys?
Harrison Ford
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: "A lot of people criticized the draft of the Bucs last April but no one is now."
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That's a nice piece on Harrison Ford. I'm looking forward to that movie release.
I think you could be right about the NFC. Lots of moves and the draft still to go though, so I'll wait to jump on the bandwagon.
You know the Saints better than I do, but I think this season will show their character. They had a surprisingly good run in 2006. I got the impression that they(or some on the team) thought they could ride that coattail in 2007 and were rudely rebuked by the rest of the NFL. It could be a darn good team, but only if they learned from last year.
Patsy and I plan to be at the Indiana Jones film on opening night. I'm looking forward to it, too.
I think last season showed just how much has to go right to have a great season. Deuce and Reggie got stronger as the season wore on in 2006. In 2007, both were out by season's end. The offense was on the field moving the chains and keeping the defense rested and under-exposed in 2006 but they struggled in 2007 and all of the problems they had surfaced.
Even within a season things can change rapidly. After the Vikes waxed the Giants, no one was thinking that was a Super Bowl Champion. When the Saints were needing help down the stretch to make the playoffs last year, I thought they were more likely to catch the Giants than the Vikings. The usual suspects (Pats, Colts, Chargers) will be favored again this year but I think maybe 24 teams have a shot at it. That includes the Vikes and Saints.