Saints slighted? (1 Viewer)

[Professor]

I know some on here take the side that the Saints are being slighted/ignored by the national media; others, along with those same national media guys (Peter King, ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas, etc.), say it's our imagination.

I was just watching a replay of NFLN's Total Access and before a commerical break, they said a report from Saints camp was next. When the show returned from commercial, there was a report on...COLTS camp, complete with interviews of the head coach and Peyton Manning. The Saints report came on the heels of the Colts report, complete with an interview of Reggie Bush. The order of the reports was not the big problem, however. All the sports networks don't IMMEDIATELY have a report they say is next when they return from commercial. It was the length of the reports that I noticed. I decided to use my DVR, which automatically records the last 90 minutes of a program, and time the two reports.

The score? Colts 2:24, Saints 0:55. These timings included introductory reports from the girl at the "desk" prior to the on site reports, the first desk report about no new contracts for the Colts holdouts and the second about Shockey's health.

Take it for what you will. But it's interesting that the teaser going to commercial was about a report from the camp of the Super Bowl winners, but the real time was spent reporting on the losers.

Yes, it's offseason, and I'm stirring the pot.

 

[Saints 4 life]

Colts can have that extra minute love fest from the media, we have the Lombardi.

 

[geauxboy]

Who wants to hear about the Saints? Most of the people I talk with say the game was fixed because of Katrina anyway, so they don't even think that the Saints should have won or were the better team. They actually said that Peyton didn't try hard enough in the 4th quarter which made them think he was in on the fix.

 

[JustaSharkie]

Concur, I saw and felt the same way with this portion of the NFLN.

I really believe the sports pundits are very "uneasy" with the fact that the Saints are the Champions of the League. It's not supposed to be this way, the Saints are always to be cast as the lovable losers. None of the talking heads (with few exceptions) wanted to admit that the Saints could go all the way and win the big one. Their desire is to convince us all that they have some sort of inside knowledge, some sort of "in" that we the fans do not have nor can we reason for our selves. Although we Saints fans have seen the writing on the wall, for years now, none of the folks with the "in" seemed to see it coming and are in shock or denial or both.

Saints being quantifiable winners causes the universe to tilt a little bit.

 

[Professor]

I just heard the "teaser" again. The word "complete" was used before "report."

Also, this:

Concur, I saw and felt the same way with this portion of the NFLN.

I really believe the sports pundits are very "uneasy" with the fact that the Saints are the Champions of the League. It's not supposed to be this way, the Saints are always to be cast as the lovable losers. None of the talking heads (with few exceptions) wanted to admit that the Saints could go all the way and win the big one. Their desire is to convince us all that they have some sort of inside knowledge, some sort of "in" that we the fans do not have nor can we reason for our selves. Although we Saints fans have seen the writing on the wall, for years now, none of the folks with the "in" seemed to see it coming and are in shock or denial or both.

Saints being quantifiable winners causes the universe to tilt a little bit.

Good post. I hadn't thought of that before.

To give the guys on the show credit (they aren't the directors or producers, who decide things like how much time to spend on the air with a story), ALL three (Woodson, Sapp, and T.O.) picked Brees to throw more TDs than Peyton Manning.

 

[Gekler722]

Who wants to hear about the Saints? Most of the people I talk with say the game was fixed because of Katrina anyway, so they don't even think that the Saints should have won or were the better team. They actually said that Peyton didn't try hard enough in the 4th quarter which made them think he was in on the fix.

I've heard this garbage since the re-opening of the dome. I know its not you saying this but it just annoys me when people seriously believe this crap. If that's the case than the Patriots won their rings because of 9/11. Eli won his ring because his brother Peyton won his first the year before, great press. And so on.

 

[geauxboy]

I've heard this garbage since the re-opening of the dome. I know its not you saying this but it just annoys me when people seriously believe this crap. If that's the case than the Patriots won their rings because of 9/11. Eli won his ring because his brother Peyton won his first the year before, great press. And so on.

A few in particular were a Giants fan and a Broncos fan. So I turned it on them. I said the Giants won because of 9/11 and the Broncos won because everyone felt sorry for Elway. They quickly denied it and passed it off as stupid and unbelievable. The Broncos fan even said there is no way anyone would throw a game just to let the Broncos win. So, of course, I said what about Peyton and the Colts? You just said that you think they let the Saints win. I called him a hypocrite and a hater and I left.

 

[Flipx99]

A few in particular were a Giants fan and a Broncos fan. So I turned it on them. I said the Giants won because of 9/11 and the Broncos won because everyone felt sorry for Elway. They quickly denied it and passed it off as stupid and unbelievable. The Broncos fan even said there is no way anyone would throw a game just to let the Broncos win. So, of course, I said what about Peyton and the Colts? You just said that you think they let the Saints win. I called him a hypocrite and a hater and I left.

I guess my question to someone who thinks like that is, "why the hell do you even watch the NFL then?" If I thought it was rigged I would not waste my time.

 

[KUDDER SNIFFER]

Its funny how we take out the best quater backs in the nfl and nfl stil thinks that. lets ask brett favre, tom brady, kurt warner, eli manning, peyton manning, etc. when they got hit was it fixed or did it really hurt.

 

[Bring_IT]

Do we really need to believe the "rigged" theories? The NFL is still not giving us all the credit, as its so obvious when you devote 2 minutes 55 seconds to the "Fallen Son" and his team........The bottom line is, we won the Lombardi, and Manning lost!!!!!

 

[geauxboy]

I guess my question to someone who thinks like that is, "why the hell do you even watch the NFL then?" If I thought it was rigged I would not waste my time.

With the ignorance I was already getting from them, that question would have sent them into another realm of stupidity that I just didn't want to touch.

 

[diehard]

I'm unable to get the NFL network and I would never expect espn to extensively cover such a small market. I'm not looking for alot of respect and I get the whole "hard-to-repeat" thing (although that didn't stop them from hyping their favs in the past).

What has caught me offguard is that we're not even the universal favorite to win our own division. I just don't think past superbowl winners would've been so casually dismissed even with this Atlanta team in their division.

 

[jatchis]

If you stop and look at it from a producer/director point of view, how else are you gonna get folks to sit through 2+ minutes of a report on those loser Colts unless you "tease" it with a promise of a Saints Report .....

 

[RJ in Lafayette]

As one normally irritated by the respect complaints, I think we have been slighted as well, beginning with Super Bowl week.

We have not consistently won on a high level--though two conference championship appearances and a Super Bowl win in four years are not bad.

And we have not won in the way that great NFL teams are supposed to win--with great defense, especially a great rushing defense. The weakest part of our team is our rush defense; plus, we have only an average running game. Teams simply are not supposed to be very good--and certainly not win championships--if they can't stop the run.

And what did we do in the high rounds in the draft? We strengthened the strongest parts of our team--adding a cover corner to an already very good secondary and pass defense, and adding a left tackle best at protecting the quarterback and a tight end to one of the league's two best passing offenses.

Not great at running the ball. Below average at stopping the run. How did this team win a Super Bowl? While acknowledging that we deserved the championship because of the game we played against the Colts, many still don't quite think we are one of the very best teams in the league, preferring to favor Minnesota or Dallas or the Colts (because they have won year after year for so long) or even the Jets (because defense wins championships).

It still takes some balance to win at a high level in the NFL. But because the rules favor the pass over the run and because of the extraordinary development in passing offenses, it no longer is a half court game that requires a dominant defense to win. |

And some of the critics--though some balance is needed--fail to recognize that in today's game it is easier to compensate with schemes for relative weaknesses running the football or stopping the run than it is to compensate for weaknesses passing the football and stopping the pass.

 

[Ti Rider]

Concur, I saw and felt the same way with this portion of the NFLN.

I really believe the sports pundits are very "uneasy" with the fact that the Saints are the Champions of the League. It's not supposed to be this way, the Saints are always to be cast as the lovable losers. None of the talking heads (with few exceptions) wanted to admit that the Saints could go all the way and win the big one. Their desire is to convince us all that they have some sort of inside knowledge, some sort of "in" that we the fans do not have nor can we reason for our selves. Although we Saints fans have seen the writing on the wall, for years now, none of the folks with the "in" seemed to see it coming and are in shock or denial or both.

Saints being quantifiable winners causes the universe to tilt a little bit.

Solid post and I think a very accurate of the situation. The Saints as champions obliterates one of the longest running NFL certainties. It removed one of the "comfort zones" for sports writers, talking heads, and opposing fans. In an instant it destroyed the old "Same old Saints" mantra. The Saints team name was permanently removed from the list of teams to have never won a Superbowl. All this change seems to have angered some of the experts - they are still in denial or worse claiming the victory is illegitimate. It's become tiresome and old. My advice to the experts if you believe the game was "fixed" then quit covering the NFL if it's the same as the WWE.

Opposing fans seem to fall into three camps - the "hope" camp. These are fans of teams like Lions, Raiders, Bengals, etc. They see the SB Champ Saints as a model for their teams. "if they can do, maybe we can". The next camp is the "rational" camp. These are opposing fans who saw the Saints lead the league in Offense all but one year since Sean Payton/Drew Brees' arrival. They also saw adding Gregg Williams as the perfect addition to make the Saints one of the most dangerous teams. They weren't surprised the Saints made it to the SB and won. Finally there's the "conspiracy" camp. These opposing fans firmly believe that the NFL handed the Saints the Lombardi as some sort of gift for Katrina. That the NFL carefully orchestrated the Saints schedule, the events that unfolded during the season, and finally had their Refs make crucial calls for the Saints to hand them games. As illogical and improbable as their claims are some just can't let it go. Again my advice - if you believe this why even bother to watch the NFL?