Saints On A Scary Losing Streak

The NFC South is a garbage division in the 2014-2015 season. It is absolute garbage. The New Orleans Saints are leading their division at 4 wins, and 7 losses. A once prosperous and now back to their "down for the count" team. Ever since the Saints started to do well in the NFL, they've been known to "Virtually" always win at home and "Virtually lose on the road. All being said with the word virtually because of course they've had wins on the road and losses in the Superdome in past years. Having said that, people know most of the time they're winning at home. In the Mercedes-Benz Superdome the great arm in Drew Brees leading the way. This week in football, the Saints find themselves on a losing streak. There isn't a team in any league, age group, or sport other than football that likes a losing streak. It's a terrible feeling. You lose morale of your team, the coaches, and your fan base. New Orleans in week 13 have a most displeasing losing streak of three in a row at home. Oh no you read that right, at home! In the Superdome! The Saints not doing well in New Orleans! Like my father always says, "Stick a fork in 'em, they're done". Except now, the Saints ugly streak may be compared to the slow cooked pot roast I had for dinner last night. You know the kind where it cuts like butter? Breaks down to any abrasive action towards them. The Saints have really been on my side of the fence since they got over being a losing franchise in the 2009 season. The beginning of this season I had high hopes for the New Orleans squad. Now with the lack of offense and not having their biggest asset in winning at home, they will continue to fall late this season.

On monday night in the Superdome a thriving Ravens and Joe Flacco come head on with the Saints. With a tight scoring margin throughout this contest, Baltimore shows us that they are most definitely a contender for the playoffs and possibly another Super Bowl appearance. The Ravens have always been a team not talked about a lot in a season, then come out firing on all cylinders and winning in the playoffs. Baltimore's running game was a huge force against the Saints. Justin Forsett galloped through the Saints defense like a field of wild flowers. The man had a day coming from the back field. His vision was on point for running between the tackles. He switched directions on a dime and had 2 touchdowns on the night. Forsett ran for a career-high 182 yards and had 170 of those yards between the tackles. Joe Flacco had a nice night on the field tossing for 243 yards completing 18 of 24 passes. Hitting Steve Smith for a 15 yard touchdown in the middle of the first quarter. The Ravens also had a pick 6 on Drew Brees. Despite Drew Brees and the Saints offensive struggles, Brees threw for 420 yards and 3 touchdowns. However he was sacked 4 times on 5 possessions for a total loss for 21 yards. No defense and no offensive line are means of disaster for the Saints.

The Ravens pull this one out in New Orleans 34 to 27. With the Saints leading the division, I can see them being dominated later this season in the playoff picture. Look for the Ravens to sneak up like they always do in the hunt for the playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised to see them play in at least the AFC Championship this year.

The Battle Of The Bergers

The so called "Berger Bowl" took place Monday night between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tennessee Titans. For those that do not know the Berger Bowl is not an annual thing, but just a made up name by sportscasters to have a little fun for the late Monday night game. The two Quarterbacks featured in this match up are Ben Roethlis-"Berger" and Zach Metten-"Berger", see what they did there? Sports Center always has some kind of historical fact for the NFL during any game. This time the history brings up the "Berger" QB's again. Ben Roethlisberger and Zach Mettenberger combine for most letters in last names of opposing Quarterbacks in any NFL game. Wow! If that doesn't get you excited for football then I don't know what will! Sport Center never fails to amaze me.

The Steelers are coming into this Monday night game after a disappointing loss to the struggling New York Jets. Lucky for them they would pull out this fight against their new struggling opponent. Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers came out of the gate a little slower than usual. The team offense itself did not score until the 4th quarter. The first quarter was all the defense and the Field Goal Unit for the Steelers, Shaun Suisham booting in a 49 and 23 yard field goal. This along with William Gay returning a 28 yard pick 6, putting the Steelers up 17-13 after the first half. Tennessee running in a short 9 yard touchdown, a field goal and a long 80 yard pass from Zach Mettenberger. Ben Roethlisberger's arm looked swell, but their receivers were left covered well in the secondary. Roethlisberger finished his night with only 207 yards passing tossing 21 completed for 32 attempts. This shows that he needed some help from the running game, and boy he got it. Le'Veon  Bell, my old favorite running back from Michigan State University had himself a day. Showing up to this game getting 33 carries for 204 yards and a touchdown. The kid still amazes me. He's one on the slender and taller running backs. Not necessarily the usual build of a running back but he gets the job done. He continues to impress me by not only breaking through the tackles but also blocking to a great extent. Many QB's don't get that a lot out of their running backs anymore and I'm sure Roethlisberger is very thankful for that.

The final score from this monday night game was a tight 27 Steelers - 24 Tennessee and Ben Roethlisberger becoming the "Berger King" on a game saving touchdown pass in the 4th quarter to squeeze past the Tennessee Titans.

Cardinals Keep Rolling

During the NFL season, you see a lot of hype over most of the "Elite Teams" with well known players. You could hear about Tom Brady and New England, Russell Wilson and Seattle, or Peyton Manning and Denver. I doubt anyone would think that this year we would be talking about the, Cardinals? The 7 win and 1 loss Arizona Cardinals. The best record in the NFL Cardinals. I couldn't even remember who plays for Arizona besides Larry Fitzgerald, and I doubt that anyone else could either. However we will all know now about the Arizona Cardinals now as they continue to roll and defeat the Dallas Cowboys in week 9 of the NFL 2014-2015 season.

Carson Palmer has been doing great work in the quarterback position for Arizona in the first 9 weeks of a long season. Although with ups there are downs, Palmer's downfall was his first drive of the game. Throwing a pick-6 to the Cowboy's Tyler Patmon, a 58 yard scamper for Dallas to put up the first points of the game sunday. Speaking of Dallas scoring, they didn't do too much of it against a tough Cardinal defense. On offense quarterback Brandon Weeden filled in for Tony Romo who has been struggling with back problems. It was safe to say that Weeden was not comfortable at all in his own stadium, being held to only a field goal and a late 3 yard pass to Dez Bryant. Who can blame the young quarterback though? The Dallas Cowboys have been sticking to the run all year with DeMarco Murray. Murray already has more than 1000 yards on the season and was on a record season for 8 straight games with 100+ yards each game. The Cardinals defense shut their whole running game down, ending Murrays streak by keeping him to a 79 yard performance on the ground. Turnovers by Weeden and a non-existent running game were key in the win for the Arizona Cardinals. Carson Palmer would make his only mistake with the opening drive pick-6 and turn this game around with scoring drives in the 2nd and 4th quarters. Completing 22 of his 34 attempts in the air Palmer ended his day with 249 yards and 3 passing touchdowns to John Carlson, Jaron Brown, and Andre Ellington. 

I can see now that the biggest NFC contender in the Arizona Cardinals are not joking around. Look for them to compete in the playoffs against some of those big names you hear constantly about. By the end of the regular season, I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot about big Cardinal defense, Palmer, Fitzgerald, and Ellington, the key players in the fight to Super Bowl XLIX (49). That would be an interesting feat for Arizona, playing a Super Bowl in their own house at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.