Allow me to be brutally honest for a second; I have never been more excited for football season to come in my life. I’ve always been a basketball head and always will be. The onslaught of NBA preview stuff that will be coming to this blog will be ridiculous. As a matter of fact if there was something to talk about other than bashing the Magic about signing Adonal Foyle I would do it. But it just isn’t sensical. The summer of sports was like that girl you meet off of MySpace. You expected decent and you got horrible and you just can’t wait until a brilliant excuse pops out of your head so you can leave. Football is my brilliant excuse.
Tonight is the first game of the season. Is it not funny to anyone else that the Saints transformed from cellar-dweller and persona non grata to headlining the first game of the season in primetime? I guess that’s what an inspiring story, Reggie Bush and a tremendous offense does for you. The turnaround by the Saints is nothing short of spectacular and I’m glad the city of New Orleans has something to cheer for. Because the Hornets won’t be getting the job done. However, admist all of the hype in the back of my mind I wonder how the Saints will do this season. Was last year a fluke due to an emotional high? Or are they for real? It will be interesting to see, I for one think they are for real but there are definitely the doubters out there. How could anyone doubt a team whose offense is so dangerous? And then add on top of that they have one of the top coaches in the game running the show. Things are only looking up for the Saints.
Their opponent tonight comes in with a lot of question marks. Last year the finally got the monkey of their back. They beat the Patriots when it counted and the won the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning no longer has to deal with ‘Will he ever do it?’ Neither will Tony Dungy. They have a free pass for 5+ years from their fanbase and at least a year from the national media. The key to their run last year was that their defense had finally raised its game. So of course there was a mass exodus on the defensive side of the ball. I swear it felt like everyone left the Colts the way I kept seeing names on the bottom ticker in the off-season. All Super Bowl teams encounter departures and injuries and a bit of an emotional let-down and the Colts are no different. Even with an inexperienced D, the Colts are still the Colts. They are always good because of Peyton and Co.
The question is…who is going to win tonight? Super Bowl champs tend to get the job done in their big return matchup…lets take a look at the archives and see dow the defending champs have down over the years.
2006: Pittsburgh d. Miami 28-17
2005: New England d. Oakland 30-20
2004: New England d. Indianapolis 27-24
2003: Tampa Bay d. Philiadelphia 17-0
2002: New England d. Pittsburgh 30-14
2001: Baltimore d. Chicago 17-6
2000: St. Louis d. Denver 41-36
1999 was the last year a defending Super Bowl champion dropped their season over when the Miami Dolphins shocked the Denver Broncos 38-21 on Monday Night Football. However, I blame that more on the fact that the Broncos went from John Elway to Brian friggin Griese and TD stopped being TD. But I disgress. The facts are out there and they are going against the Saints tonight. Super Bowl Champions seem to get the job done which is funny because it is pretty much the opposite in the NBA.
As me and Coup begin our season-long, friendly and with absolutely no prize at the end football picks competition (I believe we’re doing college but I can’t find the guy so we’ll see) I have to go with the Saints tonight. Why would I go against history? Two words…Reggie Bush. I shit you not, Reggie Bush is the most exciting football player I have ever seen live and in color. As a wide-eyed freshman I watched the man come into Sun Devil Stadium and became a Bush fan courtesy of a 15 yard punt return. Why? This is what he did. He caught the punt, went to the right sideline. Three defenders coming at him. He jabs right…the first guy takes it. Bush is still running straight on the sideline. He does the same move to the defender right by him and it works. Same guy to the third defender and it works again, need I remind you he’s still in a straight line and then he walks out of bounds. The man juked the hell out of three guys using the same move like it was nothing. How can you go against him? Plus I just wanted to tell the story. I think the Saints O is going to overwhelm the Colts inexperienced defense.
Prediction: Saints over Colts