After a weekend hiatus, we’re back and ready to gloat. After going 2-2 in the Divisional round, the Neighborhood was undefeated in Championship weekend picks. Here are a couple observations from those games:
1- The Colts young receivers aren’t wearing down. Gone are the days when you could just stop Wayne and Clark and 
think that was enough to beat the Colts. Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie looked about as good as Wayne and Clark as the Colts basically dismantled the Jets defense. It took Manning a while to figure out where the blitzes were coming from, but late in the 2nd quarter it was pretty clear that Manning knew what to do: find the blitz and throw the ball to Garcon and Collie. Garcon has great speed and works well on the outside and Collie looks like the return of Brandon Stokely in the slot. The Colts may not be great at running (last in the NFL) but they sure can pass it and I wouldn’t worry about the rookies wearing down or collapsing on the big stage after yesterday.
2- The Colts D can stuff the run. Two weeks in a row, and two times the Colts have stuffed two of the league’s best running offenses. The Colts are known for their speed rather than power, but they swarm to the ball and their sure tackling stopped the Jets rushing attack. It certainly helped that Shonn Greene was injured, but the Colts defense turned it on the the second half. If it weren’t for a sweet play action pass and a trick play then the Colts defense would have held the Jets to a field goal. Pretty impressive.
3- This is what you get with Brett Favre. Brett is good enough to lead a team to the NFC Championship game these days. He’s good enough to rack up yards. He’s good enough to keep it close, even get you to OT. But, with the game on the line on the biggest stage these days he will try to force it–and a lot of the time that doesn’t work out. Yeah, the Saints got to Favre a lot, and yeah his ankle was hurt, but that last INT was inexcusable. Totally inexcusable. That was like a throw some 15 year old kid playing Madden makes– the play is going one way and you try to chuck it across your body the other direction into traffic. It’s certainly not Favre’s fault the Vikings lost, when you have 5 turnovers and almost the most fumbles ever in an NFC title game you can’t put the game on one play. But, Brett Favre is going to set your franchise up for heart ache. The Packers came to that realization when they let Favre go following his INT to send the Giants to the Super Bowl in his last game in a Green Bay uniform. Now, Favre may have done the exact same thing in Minnesota. Vikings fans, prepare yourself for waiting all the way through training camp…Favre is in the business of stringing teams on and breaking hearts and I’m sure he’s ready to do it again.
4- “The single most greatest event that ever happened in New Orleans”- Reggie Bush. Yeah, its pretty nice that New Orleans is going to the Super Bowl. Heck, I’ll probably root for them because New Orleans deserves something good, but let’s not over-inflate the importance of football. The whole “the Saints saved New Orleans” narrative is stale. The Saints did a lot of great things for the city, they reached out to the community and may have distracted a lot of people from the pain of Katrina in its aftermath. But seriously, ask a lot of people in the Ninth Ward if they think this is the greatest thing to ever happen to New Orleans, or if the city has been saved and they probably won’t think so. I’m just not looking forward to all the pre-Super Bowl fluff stories about the Saints saving the city when there’s still a lot left to do there.
5- The Saints didn’t play great. They got outgained by almost 200 yards of offense. The defense couldn’t stop the Vikings except for their timely turnovers (although that’s their M.O.). The Saints are going to have to play a hell of a lot better if they want any shot of beating the Colts in Miami. The Saints need to be careful not to feel star struck about being in the Super Bowl, otherwise they are toast. The running game needs to get it together to keep the offense balanced and the defense needs to get ready for a lot of passing. The Colts won’t hand this game to the Saints like the Vikings did– I can’t imagine a too many men on the field call against the Colts at any point in the game, let alone the end of the game. They are too well coached. Jim Caldwell is not Brad Childress, who really isn’t a very good coach. The Saints have to pick it up if they want to win the Super Bowl.
6- Did anyone else see Garrett Hartley after the game? He looks like some emo high school kid, not an NFL player. Wow. Nice necklace dude.
