Loose Ends

Ok so the oven shorted out.. we took everything to Dad's.. Oyster dressing was fine... Turkeys are easy to cook if you brine them with a lot of salt and a little Tony's. Lackey 2.0 came out Saturday and installed a new oven. Now you know.. so there.

It also turns out that last week provided us with further evidence that the Saints' two game home losing skid can be attributed to one thing: Menckles's wardrobe. You may remember on Halloween weekend, the Baltimore native somehow decided it was kosher for her to wear a purple sweater to the Ravens game. The result: Three uncharacteristic interceptions by Drew Brees plus one heartless narc in the Superdome stands prove too much for the Saints to overcome. Fast-forward to last weekend. Baltimore native, Menckles, finds it a bit chilly for bicycling to the Bengals game bear-headed and grabs her favorite Baltimore Orioles baseball cap. The problem: The Orioles' colors are Orange and Black. The result: Three uncharacteristic Drew Brees interceptions once again prove too much for the Saints to overcome. Obviously, Menckles can no longer be trusted to dress herself. We'll have to be more careful with this next week.

Bengals notes:

• This was the most disappointing game of the season..if only because the Saints blew an opportunity to avenge themselves of Bengals fans for their insensitive purloining of our "Who Dat". Prior to this game, the evils of the Bengals' "Who Dey" foolishness were discussed at length in this space. We were expecting justice. We received only bitter disappointment. Damn that orange hat.



Indeed. And might I add a hearty Bite Me


• Can't we already kind of see the New Year's Eve game against Carolina being a win-and-you're-in game for the Saints in their improbable push for a playoff spot this year? Can't we see that game coming down to the wire? Can't we already see a Terrance Copper fumble happening at just the wrong time in that game?



Soupy gets his jerk on after yet another Copper screw up. You can't hit this guy hard enough.


• I had no idea until I got home that Brees had thrown for 510 yards. The guy is on fire. On the other hand, those three interceptions were clearly the difference in this game. They took two potential touchdowns off the board for the Saints and put one on for the Bengals. Also.. congrats to Joe Horn for scoring his 50th career touchdown as a Saint.



It's always fun to see the flea-flicker actually work


• The defense played like crap again. Couldn't stop the run.. and couldn't even find Chad Johnson much less cover him. God damn that orange hat!



A familiar sight this afternoon

In addition to working on our wardrobe issues, we also need to pay more attention to reading the portents. On the morning before this game, Menckles and I stopped in at Fat Harry's to grab one of those famous bloody marys all the cool kids like to rave about. The bar room was nearly empty and quiet as a cathedral. Mecnkles removed herself to the ladies' room to adjust her orange hat and I sat at the bar, ordered our drinks, and nonchalantly flipped through the Gambit. I glanced up for only a second when a mysterious stranger sitting across the bar from me commented, "It's too quiet in here."

"Something suspicious is about to happen, no doubt," I grunted in reply.

"Maybe something good suspicious," Offered the mysterious stranger.

"Let's hope so," I sighed doubtfully. When I looked up again, the mysterious stranger was gone. Had I been paying attention I would have realized that the ominous silence in the bar was signaling bad things ahead for the Saints. Had I picked up on this, I might have snatched the offending headgear from Menckles's head at that very moment and stomped it into submission. But, as usual, I was asleep at the wheel and... well... look what happened.

We later learned that the mysterious stranger from that morning was, in fact, Mr. Clio. He and Dilly.. (or is it Berto? I have no idea which is which.) ran into us after the game while biking down Girod street away from the Dome. It's a small town.



And then there's this:



You know, I can't blame Vick, I really can't. First of all, his coach is Jim L Mora (the younger) heir to one of the most heinous legacies of failure in all the annals of football. Jim Mora (the elder) royally screwed up the most talented teams in Saints history before going on to further fail to win a playoff game with Peyton Manning as his quarterback. Oh and he's also an ass who doesn't mind putting his own son in an impossible situation with his star quarterback at a pivotal moment in a fast disintegrating season. God I hate Jim Mora.

Second, the Falcons receivers can't catch. I mean they reeeallly can't catch. I mean if we sent these guys a Terrance Copper's Greatest Grabs highlight video for Christmas they might actually learn something from it.

Still, after giving one away against Cinnci, it was nice to get a gift for a change.

Falcons Notes:

• As far as we're concerned, Copper is still five hail marys short of atoning for his sins this year. Besides, the play before the half, was simply a long overdue karmic debt the Saints were collecting from the cosmos. Click here for obligatory Steve Bartkowski photo.



Nice catch. Now go rub Colston's ankle for him.


• Give Deuce the damn ball. McAllister this game: 20 carries, 71 yards, two touchdowns and a win. No more of this 10 or 12 carries a game bullshit. Deuce needs the ball. I still don't understand why the Saints kept trying to throw with an eight point lead in the fourth quarter.



The best player on the team needs to touch the ball more than 10 times a game


• The one-armed Drew Brees is currently on pace to throw for nearly 5,000 yards this season with a real shot at Dan Marino's all time record of 5,084. This is freakish enough to scare the bejeezus out of those among us who still believe that football games are won by running and stopping the run. The Saints CAN run but too often choose not to. I'm not at all convinced that they can stop the run though. If they make the playoffs.. it might be tough sledding in Chicago in January.

Eh but the good news is we aren't exactly crazy to speculate about such things anymore. 2006 already was destined to be one of the most memorable years in Saints history after the 3-0 start and the Greatest Football Game Ever. How much better can it possibly get?

Note:Most game photos stolen from the NOLA.com galleries.

Note the Second:This is a post which treats two whole Saints games and does not mention once the name of a certain disappointing rookie decoy/safety valve receiver from USC. Wonder why that is.