Marlboro Man
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This is a lose-lose situation for the Saints as far as the media goes. We've seen it all year long. Before we played Cleveland, the Browns were picked to win because they were a year further along in the rebuilding process than the Saints were and the Saints had a new head coach and staff, yadda, yadda, yadda. When we won, it wasn't surprising and it wasn't a big deal. Then when we played the Packers, it was the Pack that was favored, because the game was in Lambeau Field etc. and even though the Packers were also rebuilding, they had tradition and home field advantage. Once again when we came back from a big deficite by half time to win the game, it was no big deal and the Packers were a bad team etc. Then, we had to come home for our first game in the Dome in a year against the unstoppable Atlanta Falcons, we were going to be thrashed. Instead, we convincingly beat the Falcons at home, but it was just because we were so emotional and that's what carried us and helped us win the game, not talent, coaching or play execution. The following week we had a short week and had to once again go on the road against a supposed Super Bowl Contender in Carolina. This was the first game this year that the officials stepped in and controlled the outcome of one of our games and still, we gave Carolina all they wanted in their home stadium and you can bet they gave a collective sigh of relief when that game ended. Now the media had what they wanted, a loss by the Saints to Carolina that gave their blathering a sliver of credibility and now they were the experts again. The following week against Tampa, it was another win that didn't mean anything to the media because Tampa was struggling and had an off week to get their rookie QB 2 weeks to prepare to play us and we won that game without the benefit of any game film of their new QB, but it fueled the fire of the media because we needed a punt return by Reggie Bush to win the game and so fed their belief that we were just a weak, lucky team. Well, our record now is 4-1 and we have to face the Eagles at home. There was no way we could beat the Eagles. Donovan was playing great and the Eag;es had been to the NFC championships and Super Bowl within the last few years consistently and always gave us fits. Well, the come into the SUPER Dome, and get beat on a convincing drive that consumed the final 8 plus minutes of the game by a last second field goal, but according to the media we were just lucky to come out of that game with the win. Now we get a break and try to regroup after a couple of bad injuries to Harper and both of our fullbacks. We're back with a 5-1 record and have to play the Ravens with a 4-2 record at home. Our team comes out with the worst game plan this season and our players are overconfident and for the first time this season get taken to school in a terrible loss which only once again fueled the media's perception that the Saints are fakes, this last game against the Ravens was the real Saints, the Saints they were used to seeing, and they expected more of the same. Now we go to Tampa for our second game of the series. Tampa has won their last two games in a row and since they did so well against us in the first meeting it looked like a toss up as to who would win this time around. The result was that the Saints came out and dominated that game, giving us a record of 6-2 going into the second half of the season. Now we go into another hostile environment to play last years Champions in their home and even when we beat them, it will be said that the Steelers are only a shell of themselves this year and how unfortunate it is that they won't make the playoffs this year. Nothing about how the Saints went into Pittsburg against a desparate Steelers team with nothing to lose and who threw everything they had at the Saints but were beaten back and held off in another loss to the lowly NEW ORLEANS SAINTS. Get used to it. It will be that way until we win it all.