They Were Who We Thought They Were
1. Indianopolis Colts - Well this team MMBSD had pegged. For weeks now I've been saying the run defense had been suspect and this time wasn't Super Bowl material without a dramatic improvement on this dimension. Without Bob Sanders manning the safety position , the Colts run defense has been absymally bad. It caught up with them against VY and the Titans. This week the Jaguars in racking up 375 yards rushing in route to a 44-17 beatdown put the exclamation point on this factoid. You can not win against good teams, you can not win in the playoffs, you can not win with green eggs and ham if you can't stop the run. Period. I'm not sure what Tony Dungy or anyone can do. Perhaps if Sanders gets healthy this team can become below average in slowing opposing rushers but at this point the Colts teams is headed towards yet another early playoff exit.
2. Who Dey?
At the start of the season most people (alright maybe me) expected the Bengals to challenge for the AFC crown. Early on Palmer looked sluggish, like a wet sponge. However the offense has regained its juggernaut status, the defense has suddenly grown a backbone and the Bengals have rung up four straight wins. They're almost exactly where people expected them to be. That said the Bengals have a brutal end of the season schedule with at Indy, at Denver, and Pittsburgh. Nothing is certain (least of all if they'll have enough players not serving jail time to field a complete squad) however they are currently playing as well as anyone in the league.
3. Yao
When Yao Ming entered the league, he was almost seen as the last of the big men. Since Shaq had entered the league years ago the NBA hadn't seen a dominant center enter. Yao was supposed to be the next great big man. However Yao struggled and outside of few instances never was able to impose his will. This year is Yao is exactly what people thought he could be....an all-star center. Yao Ming is averaging 25.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2 block shots. More impressively in the ridiculously competitive West, Houston is in third place. It took him awhile to get there but this year Yao is exactly what people thought he'd be.
And We Let Them Off The Hook
4. Who Dat? For those that watched Sunday Night football a few thoughts probably crossed your mind. My first thought is that New Orleans demolished any myth that Dallas is still America's team when the Saints were cheered on IN Dallas. The second thought were wow did the Saints get lucky on personnel. Nearly all the new stars of the Saints were bypassed, overlooked, or discarded. They were all people that other teams let slip through their fingers. Reggie Bush somehow ended up in New Orleans when Houston dropped the ball. Marques Colston, who probabily will win rookie of the year, was another passed over gem, albeit in the seventh round. Finally the key acquisition of the year and MVP candidate, Drew Brees came via free agency. While San Diego probably couldn't lose with whichever QB they kept, a lot of other teams that are struggling at the QB position are probably kicking themselves. In the end New Orleans has assembled a talented squad that seemed poised to not only make the playoffs but possibly make a run for a Super Bowl berth. Not too shabby for a three win team last year.
Random Thoughts:
Usually this is the point were I do rapid fire thoughts. This time I'm going to try something else. In fact something that's totally unrelated to sports. I tend to like old pictures. They always seem to me the only true way to try understand the evolution of a place and provide a grounding that there are so few constants in the world. In 1941 Charles Cushman utilized a new artform, the color picture, to capture a vanishing world, America before World War II. Anyway I thought it would be cool to show off our various current hometowns...
New York City
Chicago
Denver
Washington D.C.
Cleveland
Ninth District, New Orleans (home of The Sandwich)
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