Which of these games is really "The Biggest Game in History" OR An "Inconceivable" Comeback

Before we get started here, we'd like to take a moment to welcome Rob Couhig into the 2009 Mayor's race. For those of you still keeping up with your Race to the Punchline (TM: WCBF) scorecard, Couhig became the 7th personality to officially declare a candidacy last week.

Since the last time he ran for Mayor, the local lawyer, businessman, and talk radio blowhard has kept himself sort of busy and very much in the public eye. After failing to make the 2006 runoff, Couhig ("strategically") endorsed eventual winner Ray Nagin. For his endorsement, Couhig was awarded an opportunity to help New Orleans count to 100 and a seat on the board of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority. But since then, Couhig has discovered a growing sense of "disappointment" with this second Nagin administration he recommended and has taken to expressing this more and more frequently in his capacity as a media personality. And so, after a period of vacillation in which he was the undeclared prince of the forums, Couhig the candidate has once again emerged from the realm of the "inconceivable". At least until he figures out how to leverage another strategic endorsement.

Of particular interest to us regarding Couhig's entry into a campaign which runs concurrently with the meaty part of the undefeated Saints' season is now we have two candidates with direct ties to an issue that has already affected the team's on field performance; although we aren't sure if it's been for better or for worse. Allow us to explain.

This past summer we learned that ex-Saints long snapper Kevin Houser had involved himself and various other Saints players and coaches in a shaky tax credit investment scheme with Wayne Read's Louisiana Film Studios. When it became clear to the investors that Read had not applied for the Louisiana "Hollywood South" tax credits they were promised when Houser collected their money, (much of it in cash, apparently) the resulting ill will led to Houser's dismissal from the team. At the Yellow Blog we came to call this incident the Uncle Rico Scandal. You can read about the details and the origin of that term here, here, and here.

One of many fun facts to emerge from Uncle Rico was that Rob Couhig is Kevin Houser's attorney. We don't know if Couhig had a hand in hooking Houser up with Read in the first place, or if Couhig was involved in buying or selling any of the tax credits. We don't even think it's likely but we do enjoy imagining something like this to be the case. We do know that he is representing Houser and his wife in the resulting litigation and that's a source of great fun for us because all season long, whenever the Saints have had difficulty with a botched snap in the kicking game, some part of us has assigned some part of the blame to Couhig.

We have yet to determine how much blame for missed field goals we can apportion to John Georges. Georges owns the building where Read told everyone he was going to make movies before the venture fell apart. But now that we have two candidates for Mayor who were involved in a goofy scandal which kinda sorta has something to do with football which, in turn, is the BIGGEST STORY IN TOWN RIGHT NOW, we're pretty geeked up about the whole thing.

Two Weeks of Saints Football: (Vs. Pats and Vs. Redskins)

• This week's media complaint: There's been so much to pick from over the past two weeks that I won't be able to fit it all in. Instead of hashing out each example of media awfulness, I'll just present you with an observation and follow it with some selected evidence.
  
  The media awfulness with regard to the 12-0 New Orleans Saints falls into two categories. 1) That which originates from national sources who make condescending and/or inaccurate statements about the city and the football team because they don't get it and are too lazy to try. 2) That which originates from local sources who make shockingly stupid and/or inaccurate statements about the city and the football team about which they should know better but are too lazy to try.
  
  Two examples of what we're talking about regarding category 1 appeared in the Boston Globe which disappointed us greatly since the Patriots fans we met last week at the Dome were some of the nicest visiting fans we've encountered. Unfortunately the New England media-folk were staggeringly stupid.
  
  
  1. Bob Ryan gets a lot of things wrong here. On the day after the Saints-Patriots game, Ryan looked at the Saints' remaining 5 games, 3 of which are against division rivals, and concludes,

     now everybody can start thinking about the Dallas game here Dec. 19 as a possible game of interest because there doesn’t appear to be anything else on their remaining schedule of any consequence.

     By assuming that games against Atlanta, Tampa and Carolina are not "of interest" around here under any circumstance, Ryan demonstrates that he clearly doesn't get it. Maybe Patriots fans aren't interested when the Jets come to Foxboro... or the Pats go to Miami. Wait. Scratch that second one. I meant maybe the team isn't interested when the Pats go to Miami. Or maybe Ryan just doesn't think football is as well understood here as it is in more civilized regions. Watch how he subtly dismisses the enthusiasm of Saints fans as an innocent novelty,
     
     

     It would be difficult to overstate what’s going on down here with the New Orleans fans and their current adoration of this football team. You easily could think you had landed in Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, or Austin, and not an NFL town. A big sporting event - and this was considered the biggest regular-season game in Saints history - easily can get swallowed up in a major city. When it’s all said and done, not everyone is a sports fan.
     
     But it was impossible to escape the Saints, and this game, the last few days. Every other person was wearing Saints garb, and that includes just about every croupier at Harrah’s Casino, be it male, female, Caucasian, African-American, old, or young.
     
     This was, by all accounts, the toughest ticket in Saints history. People saw this game as the one that would validate all the others. It was a tremendous sign of respect for a 7-3 opponent with a shaky defense, but such is the lingering Patriots mystique throughout the National Football League.

     
     
     First of all, why does every out of town reporter go to Harrah's to get a feel for the pulse of the city? Is it any wonder that Ryan doesn't get it? Maybe it isn't like this in Boston but, in this city, people be they "male, female, Caucasian, African-American, old, or young" care about what the Saints are doing. It isn't just a "current" phenomenon. And it certainly doesn't have anything to do with the "lingering Patriots mystique". It happens all the time here. Sure it's a bit more pronounced when you're 12 and fucking 0, but why should that surprise anyone?
     
     This is the sports world manifestation of the northeastern cultural condescension people like Ryan typify. The column says, "Isn't it cute the way the natives have taken to our sport of American football. They're so naive about the proper way to appreciate it but their enthusiasm is endearing." At least that's what I pick up on when reading that column. Naturally, when Bob Ryan and his team come to town, it must be the "biggest regular-season game in team history" More on that in a minute.
  
  
  
  2. Oh but it gets worse. Here's Globe writer Chris Gasper's presntation.

     The Louisiana Superdome has proven to be a memorable venue since it first opened its doors in 1975.
     
     It’s where the 2001 Patriots proved anything is possible. It’s where Michael Jordan, then a University of North Carolina freshman, first proved he was something special. It’s where Fab Five forward Chris Webber proved he couldn’t remember how many timeouts Michigan had. It’s where Sugar Ray Leonard proved he could make Roberto Duran say, “No mas.’’
     
     The building proved its worth during Hurricane Katrina, acting as a supersized sanctuary and storm shelter.

     
     
     Um... the roof came off and people suffered in inhumane conditions and panic for five days but never mind that. We know you need a convenient prop for your football story.
  
  
  There are more like that. (Please don't ask me about the Colin Cowherd show.) To most of America, it seems, New Orleans just got started with football yesterday. And so every game is "The Biggest Game In Saints History" Those of us who grew up here know better. Or at least we should.
  
  But guess what. A staggering number of us do not know better. Before and after the Patriots game, the local news outlets (particularly WWL AM) were insisting that asking listeners if we all thought that Monday Night would be the Biggest Game In Saints History. We understand the enthusiasm, but still the proposition that a game with so little on the line for the loser strikes us as eminently absurd. The Saints could clinch no playoff berth or special advantage by winning, nor would they forfeit anything by losing. Likewise the Patriots who lost that Monday and lost their next game but are still in first place in their division were risking very little in this minor regular season football game. Yes the Saints were 10-0, and yes they were playing on Monday Night. I'm not saying it wasn't a big deal aesthetically. But there just wasn't very much riding on it.
  
  And yet Bob Delgiorno and a majority of the idiot callers he spoke with on the air all week were sure this was The Biggest Game In Saints History. It sucks that America tends to dismiss our town, its culture, and by extension its football team. It's appalling when the locals show the same lack of grasp or interest. Below I have compiled a brief and incomplete, but sufficient for our purposes list of Saints games which were more important moments in the history of the franchise than this supposed Biggest Game In Saints History.
  
  
  1. Every playoff game the Saints have participated in. These include, Vs. Minnesota in 1987, At Chicago in 1990, Vs. Atlanta in 1991, Vs. Philadelphia in 1992, Vs. St. Louis in 2000, At Minnesota in 2000, Vs. Philadelphia in 2006, and At Chicago in 2006. Each of the above is indisputably a bigger moment in the history of the franchise than The Biggest Game In Saints History of two weeks ago.
     
     And, again, those are just the playoff games. The rest of this list happened during the regular season and were still bigger than TBGISH.
  
  
  
  2. September 25, 2006 Vs. Atlanta No explanation necessary
  
  
  
  3. November 19, 1987 At Pittsburgh In their 21st year of existence, the Saints beat the Steelers to move to 8-3 thus clinching the first winning season in franchise history. (8 wins meant a winning season in the strike shortened year.) This game featured a dramatic goal-line stand by the Saints' defense which produced an iconic T-P photo of cornerback Van Jakes raising his arms in celebration. (To my great dismay, I am unable to locate this image on the internet. Saints fans of a certain age know what I'm talking about though.)
  
  
  
  4. December 18, 1983 Vs. L.A. Rams Everything that breakthrough 1987 game eventually became, this one could have been but for a 42 yard Mike Lansford field goal in the closing seconds.
  
  
  
  5. December 31, 1990 Vs. L.A. Rams The Saints clinched their second ever playoff berth in the final game of the regular season. On Monday Night. On New Year's Eve. It was electric. And it meant a hell of a lot more than "The Biggest Game In Saints History" meant.
     
  
  
  
  6. December 16, 1991 Vs. L.A. Raiders Bobby Hebert makes a dramatic return from injury on Monday Night to throw for 320 yards and help the Saints snap a 4 game losing streak setting them up to clinch their first ever division title. Leading right into...
     
  
  
  
  7. December 22, 1991 At Phoenix Saints clinch first ever division title.
     
  
  
  
  8. December 17, 2001 Vs. St. Louis A Monday Night showdown with a hated rival which the Saints lost due, in part, to some highly questionable officiating. This was the night of the infamous "bottle tossing incident" that led NFL stadiums to cease the sale of plastic beer bottles for a time and, I think, was part of the reason for the No Liquor After the 3rd Quarter rule. After this loss, the Saints didn't win another game all year in the first of two December collapses that became a hallmark of the Haslett years.
     
     
     When Saints fans willingly part with their Dome foam, you know it's a Big Game
     
  
  
  I could go on (I stopped compiling these when I got to 20) but I think we get the point. The Saints have been involved in big games before; bigger even than the so-called Biggest Game in Saints History. One interesting thing about the Bigger than the Biggest list I put together is that none of theminvolve the New England Patriots. Let's not tell Bob Ryan.



• This week's Dome complaint: It's become apparent to us that the heightened security at the stadium entrance has very little to do with safety or anti-terror and everything to do with preserving Tom Benson's profit from obscenely over-priced beer and alcohol sales. Superdome security personnel are searching aggressively and primarily for smuggled liquor. They stopped r from entering the Carolina game until she finished her bottle of vodka and cranberry juice. On Monday Night they almost got me. The screener deliberately and probingly grasped at my pockets until he gripped my flask. I don't believe adults deserve to be violated this way. Not by law enforcement, and certainly not by Superdome rent-a-grunts. I wonder if they know just how near they are to provoking violence each week when they accost us in this fashion. "Watchya got there?" I reached into the pocket and, with some slight of hand, produced my phone. The guy let me go.
  



• Pulling a Tebow: Maybe it wasn't The Biggest Moment In Saints History, but we have to admit we violated the Tim Tebow No Crying In Football Rule when Mike McKenzie intercepted Tom Brady in his first action since returning to the team. McKenzie (not counting his time away this year) is one of the longest tenured Saints. My wife wears his jersey number to the games. It was one of the first signs that this was going to be the Saints' night. We teared up a little. So sue us.
  
  
  Welcome home, Mike
  



• Bill Belichick- Super Genius: The Patriots' world renowned defensive guru was badly out-coached by Sean Payton on Monday Night. When the Saints had the ball, the Pats seemed to have exactly the wrong defense prepared for whatever the Saints were trying to do. Drew Brees had what SI's Kerry Byrne called the best statistical performance for any pro quarterback ever. On one play, Devery Henderson was so open, we weren't sure the Pats were playing with 11 guys on the field. We laughed at it the way one can't help but laugh at a dirty joke. You almost feel like it's not supposed to be happening. Belichick had presented us with a football obscenity that even Alex Morgan couldn't explain away. He really Jeffed this thing up, so to speak.
  
  
  Bill Belichick Super Genius
  



• Bill Belichick: Super Asshole: The Patriots are having a rough go of things at this point in their season. They've lost three out of four games including the embarrassment at New Orleans and Coach Genius isn't doing the punchiest job of handling the pressure. The trouble didn't exactly start with the loss to Indianapolis, but the way in which the Patriots lost that game is what really got things coming apart.
  
  Leading at Indy with two minutes left to play, Belichick chose to have his offense attempt to convert a 4th and 2 from its own 28 yard line. The turnover on downs set the Colts up deep in New England territory to go for the winning score. Not to get too far into this, since the controversial call has been argued back and forth for weeks now, but it struck me at the time as an amzingly defeatist and panicky sort of thing for a "genius" to do. Even if you are concerned that Peyton Manning is good enough to go 80 yards in two minutes, for God's sake, at least make him prove it. One of the Saints' most valuable weapons this season has been punter Thomas Morstead. If Payton had elected not to put him on the field in that situation, I would have been livid.
  
  But Belichick went for it and the Colts scored and thus began the digging of a hole which the Patriots' coach has insisted on making deeper ever since. It's no secret that I hate football coaches. But one thing I've been grateful for this season is Coach Soupy's rare capacity to admit and learn from his own mistakes. Coach Genius, on the other hand, is a perfect example of what happens when this ability is absent. Against the Saints, Belichick made a point of sending the offense out for thee dubious 4th down attempts. The results were mixed but the message was clear. Belichick was telling the whole world to fuck off on national TV.
  
  Not only was Belichik being pouty but also, once again, unnecessarily panicky. The final 4th down attempt came late in the third quarter on the Saints' 10 with the Pats trailing by two touchdowns. A field goal wouldn't have been the greatest thing there but with a whole quarter left to play it certainly couldn't have hurt. BTW, Mike McKenzie broke up that fourth down pass on the left sideline. He came very close to turning it into a pick-6. Would have blown the roof off the place.
  
  Then Belichick went right back to pouting. With a good five minutes left in the game, he pulled his starters. I couldn't believe it. Walking out of the Dome, I had a conversation with a couple of Patriots fans who were good enough to visit. (Turns out they had just gotten engaged as well.) They couldn't believe it either. And no one who watched the Saints' improbable victory against Washington the following week should defend such a selfish, defeatist, pouty move. And still this week, it's just getting worse.

  FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) Adalius Thomas wasted no time defending himself after coach Bill Belichick sent him home for being late to a team meeting.
  
  The New England Patriots linebacker said after returning Thursday that he was "dumbfounded" and "can't figure out what Bill thinks or knows."
  
  Three other players were sent away for showing up late on Wednesday - wide receiver Randy Moss and linebackers Gary Guyton and Derrick Burgess. All four were at practice on Thursday, but the other three declined to speak with reporters.
  
  Thomas, a starter in nine games this year, called ahead on a snowy Wednesday morning, as players are instructed to do when they're going to be late, he said. Traffic was tied up and he nearly got into an accident, he said. But when he showed up about nine minutes late for an 8 a.m. team meeting, Belichick told him to leave.
  
  That surprised him.
  
  "You're told to call and you call, you get sent home," Thomas said.
  
  "That's not an excuse," he said, but "I could have been in the ditch. They really don't give a damn, honestly. As long as you ain't in the meeting they really don't give a (expletive)."
  

  
  
  Bill Belichick doesn't give a Jeff about anything but his crappy whiny mood. I would have fired him yesterday.
  
  
  Hey check out this pouty whiny overrated asshole. Wait, can you please be more specific?
  



• Uh oh (one of ) the kicker(s) sucks: When John Carney missed one field goal and just barely banked another one in against New England, I very sorely wanted to blame Rob Couhig. (In fact, the snap was a little off on one of those kicks.) But this would mean that the next week, when Garrett Hartley was called up to hit 4 out of 5 attempts (the one miss being from 58 yards) I would have had to thank... Rob Couhig. So until further notice, we'll just assume that the problem was Carney was up past his bedtime.
  
  
  You gotta admit, though. That's good placement
  



• Saints: So very tired: Let's face it, this Saints team is beat the hell up right now. A few days after the New England game, the talk was about how an extraordinary number of Saints have scored at least one touchdown this season. (19) And then I saw that the exact same number of Saints appeared on the injured list for the Washington game. (Uh oh) The patchwork secondary that everyone expected the Patriots to exploit ended up being used by Jason Campbell of all people. The all-around defensive performance was the Saints' worst of the season. Furthermore, the team just looked tired and beat up all day. Sometimes you get really lucky. But the problem persists. This week's injury report is again 19 players long. Notably all four running backs appear to have some sort of problem. Is there any way to earn two bye weeks before the playoffs? The Saints might need to.



• Laron Landry Super Asshole: Hate to say this about a former Tiger but does Laron Landry ever shut up? Maybe it's just because Fox decided to focus on him, but it seemed half the broadcast was shots of Landry running his mouth after being involved in any play no matter how inconsequential. Too bad for him the other half of the broadcast was shots of him biting on pass routes that ended up being long touchdowns.
  
  
  And yet we're pretty sure Landry still had something to say about this



• Little remarked upon fact of the week:Here's another quirk of Sunday's Fox broadcast. We couldn't help noticing a contrast revealed in the sideline shots of each team's coaching staff. It seems every Saints coach is noticeably chunkier than every Redskins coach. What's up with that? Is Snyder not feeding them? (Probably not, actually) Anyway whatever it is, you can't argue with the results.



• Malcolm Jenkins is garbage: Earlier when we said, "The patchwork secondary that everyone expected the Patriots to exploit ended up being used by Jason Campbell of all people." What we meant to say was, wow what a total piece of crap Malcolm Jenkins turned out to be. We hope that someday he makes a decent safety because the dude absolutely can not play on the corner. Anybody got Jason David's number?



• Stat of the Week:
  Drew Brees' numbers vs Washington 35 of 49 419 yards 2 touchdowns and 1 interception (which was also a touchdown). 49 pass attempts is way too many. That's 2007 and 2008 Saints type stuff and it should have gotten the team beaten last week. The 2009 12-0 Saints run the ball as well as they pass it. This would be a bad time to forget this.



• Quote of the week:
Darren Sharper hung out with the Saints fans in the stands for a while after the game.



Saints free safety Darren Sharper was having the last laugh as he led black and gold-clad fans in a chorus of the familiar chant.

“I love the ‘Who Dat?’; I love that chant,” a beaming Sharper said after the Saints escaped with a wild 33-30 win against the Redskins. “I am the Who Dat leader.”




This is immeasurably fun on many levels. Our favorite being that we much prefer Sharper as a "Who Dat leader" to Bobby Hebert who needs to find an new job before he hurts somebody. I know he's trying to be a "character" like Buddy D was but he's far too stupid and doesn't know how to do it right. And, frankly, we're a little embarrassed both by and for him.


Darren Sharper: Who Dat Leader


• Don't be a Belichick: So with the clock ticking down inside of three minutes and the Redskins pretty much driving down the field at will, I fired off what I thought was a pretty clever text message, "So who wants to go to the airport?" I wasn't trying to be too dark. But at that point I really was thinking about where the Saints stood now that they would be 11-1. Would Minnesota move into first place in the NFC? Wouldn't it suck to clinch the division with a loss like this? And why the hell can't Sean Payton beat Washington? On the outside, I was still making jokes. But internally I really was being a bit of a Belichick there for a second.
  
  But then the amusingly named Sean Suisham lined up and sweeshed the potential kill shot to the right. Hey, at least this will be interesting again for a minute, we thought. And it was. I wonder if that would have happened had Payton removed his starters with five minutes left?
  
  
  Sweesh! We will never Belichick out on this team again.



• Uh Oh their kicker sucks: Although the above photograph suggests that the Saints got a hand on the ball, the Redskins blamed Suisham for the miss and cut him this week. I blame Rob Couhig. It is, after all, the year of the Inconceivable.
  



• Best Timeout Ever: Coach Soupy takes a lot of crap for his uncanny knack for losing replay challenges. I think we can all agree his decision to call timeout in order to give the booth a chance to review Mike Sellers' fumble in overtime pretty much makes up for all of that.
  
  
  Don't say anything, but I also think the replay official got the call wrong. Oops!



• Morstead for MVP: Remember, Bill Belichick doesn't use his punter. Meanwhile the Saints' Thomas Morstead continues to prove value far beyond the fifth round draft choice the Saints spent on him. The numbers don't always tell you the story, but we think Morstead's performance has been a crucial element of the Saints' success this season. (My #6 jersey should be here by the time we play another home game.)
  
  Against Washington, Morstead punted three times. His first pinned the Redskins back at their 6. His second hung high in the air and was not returnable. The third was very nearly the play of the day. It only went about 27 yards and, at first glance, looks like a shank. But note that the ball hit Washington's Kevin Barnes right in the back before bouncing to the ground and into the arms of Usama Young. The play ended up being about a 30 yard gain for the Saints. Having watched Morstead perform the way he has all season, it's difficult to ignore the very real possibility that he could have done that on purpose.
  
  Note also, that it was Morstead's kick that allowed the Saints to maintain possession of the ball setting up this play.
  
  
  
  Don't be a Belichick. Let the punter play. Sometimes it's the best move you can make.
  
  



• Let's just agree to disagree this time: I couldn't help but notice this pop up on NOLA.com this week.
  
  

  Saints poll: Was this the craziest game in team history?

  
  
  Jesus. Please do NOT make me start on another list.