Xaiveir wrote:The game was thrown? Yeah right. Sorry NFL games would take an awful lot of collusion to do so. First off, why in the world would Atlanta agree to throw the game? Because of Hurricane Katrina they would risk their season on 1 game? Just to make the saints feel good? Come off it. First you would have to get all 52+ players, coaches, and trainers etc to sign off on it. Not only on the Falcons side...but the Saints side as well. Not likely going to happen.
And the League? WTF does the league care if the Saints win? Yes its a great story, but having the Saints win isnt going to get NFL many more viewers than it already has.
Not trying to be an ass about hurricane Katrina, but everyone is tired of hearing of it.....NFL players too. If im a player on the Falcons, and it was proposed to throw the game so it makes the city feel better, i would say FUCK them (sorry i would), and i would go try to win the game.
Griever is right, You dont have Peyton Manning throwing to Marvin Harrison, or Reggie wayne. You have Michael Vick throwing to Roddy White, and Michael Jenkins. Yeah there are going to be alot of dropped touchdowns. Hell in quite afew games on Sunday there were dropped passes in the End Zone. I call a fix on those too!!!!
Diek you say,"Not a single Falcon had a smile on their face once. From the first play of the first quarter on... it wasn't a look of frustration, to me, it was a look of disgust."
You are right, i would have a look of disgust on my face too if im losing a game. Look at teh Seattle, NY game. Alot of the Giants had a look of disgust on their face. Was that a fixed game too? Perhaps Eli threw into double coverage on their first series because Seattle was suppose to win that game.
The change in the amount of money that NFL and alot of sports players are paid, lowers the chance of them throwing games. Hell in the NFL the large majority of players have incentive clauses, if you catch this many passes, throw this many TD's, rush this many yards, You get Bonus money. They are not going to sacrifice that just so NO feels good about themselves.
This game was won for acouple of reasons. One NO played inspired, for their fans, for the city, and for themselves. Many of those players lost homes in Katrina, and family lost homes. It wasnt just the fans that needed this win.
Second Sean Payton completly outcoached Mora. The discipline instilled in the saints defense to contain Vick and Dunn was perfect. NO is one of the "slower" defenses in the NFL. The problem the College type offense that the Falcons run, is that defenses in the NFL are so fast, they tend to overpersue. If you overpersue on vick and dunn, the cut back lanes are wide open. Wich is why the Falcons have had as much success this year as they have.
However in the NFL college type option, running offenses WONT work long term. You want to use it some of the time....fine it will work. However if you base your entire offense off that you will lose. Here are the reasons why. First Vick and any running QB will take alot of hits during the year. There are Head hunting linebackers out there, and its only a matter of time before the QB gets hurt. EVERY time there was a mobile quarterback that the offense was based on, it shortened their careers, and long term they were a losing team.
Second NFL defenses and coaches are too smart. An option running game is very easy to plan against GIVEN TIME. New Orleans planned their game plan EXTREMELY well. There was always a QB spy, his job on the feild is to only go where Vick goes...ignore everything else going on. When Vick scrambled lineman stay in their gaps taking away his cutback lanes. The pursuit defense always forced vick back towards the middle of the field where their is help instead of trying to bounce him outside.
I could go on why this offense will not work long term in the NFL. Falcons imho are overated. They are a good team, very decent Defense, but their struggles are offensivly. NO are better than people give them credit for. Breese is a very good QB. They have a great tandem of running backs that give them alot of different options, and a solid recieving core.
FYI im not a fan of NO saints. Ive forever hated them since their rivalry with the Niners. So its not like im some bandwagon jumping saints fan now. They are a good team, and its fun watching them play, but i certainly dont count them as a team im a fanboi of.
Bottom line, the game was not fixed. The environment that the saints fans, and the emotion with wich the saints players played was extremely tough to play in for ANY team. The Falcons were beat...simple.
Excellent post Xav. Outcoached, outconditioned, and outplayed. We exposed their college gimmick offense last night. And Brees, 20-28 will get it done every time.
