Thank God it's not Childress vs Caldwell

[fatmenace]

I don't see how the Saints D can stop Manning. He won't make the dumb throws Favre did.

[fatmenace]

Also, I had no idea Mark Brunell was still in the league.

[mayor]

I had the same thought about Brunell. Who knew?

[fatmenace]

If I told you Peyton Manning was going to become your team's new QB, or that Tom Mora would be your team's new OC, you'd be pretty ecstatic, right?

But if I told you Caldwell was your new coach, you're bummed, right? Most of the teams we root for have questionable coaches: Wade, Mangini, Reid, Schwartz, Childress. Tomlin is good I guess. Is there anybody who would take Caldwell over your current coach?

I really don't want to jump on Simmons' jock here, but his musings that Caldwell might be a corpse are becoming more and more frightening.

[finkle]

may the shwartz be with you.

i think that chad or i could coach the colts and go 11-5

[mayor]

Which raises the question, how is the Colts haven't won more Super Bowls? Of course, this question may be irrelevant in a few years.

[finkle]

because the pats have been taping the colts' practices

[gk]

Not sure which thread I should put this link in as there are several I could choose from. This absolutely kills me.

www.theonion.com/content/from_print/brad_childress_consoles_self

[gk]

Here's something you don't see everyday: a defense of Brad Childress. Or at least his playcalling.

A lot of Monday Morning QBs are criticizing Childress for his playcalling on the Vikings' last drive. Particularly the the runs on first and second down when they were at about the 30.

I don't understand the criticism whatsoever. It is exactly what I would have done. And had there not been the 12 men in the huddle (ok, that's probably on Chilly) I would have run it on third down as well.

There are several reasons for this.

First is, DUH, VIKINGS GREAT RUNNING GAME + CRAPPY NEW ORLEANS RUN DEFENSE! What part of 4.6 yards per carry don't you understand??? That number would be higher too if it weren't for AD's fumbling, probably more like five YPC, but whatever. Obviously the Saints were going to load up for the run then, but hadn't they been doing that all game? And hadn't they just been gashed for like a 15 yard run by Chester Taylor? Yes. Yes they had.

Second is, DUH, BRETT FAVRE! About halfway through the third quarter, Favre started looking like the Favre from the Jets. He was obviously hurt and his passes started looking wilder as the game went on. It seemed to be a matter of time before he threw a crucial pick. Which, DUH, he did! And.. everyone's saying they should have passed on first and/or second down as evidenced by ... HIS THIRD DOWN INTERCEPTION??? Describe to me how that works again, because I don't live in bizzarro world.

Third is the possibility of a sack. No, Favre didn't get sacked all game but he sure did come close a lot. You can get stuffed at the line in that situation, but you can't get sacked.

Fourth is the need to kill the clock. You had to make the Saints use their timeouts and get the clock down to less than 45 seconds. Anything other than that and the Saints could have easily won it back. Had Favre thrown three straight incompletions and the Saints had, say, 1:20 with one or two timeouts, Saints drive down the field and get a field goal opportunity. Speaking of which....

Fifth is the possibility of a missed kick. Again, think of the previous scenario with the Vikings having missed a long FG. Then the Saints have incredible field position and a FG wins it. THERE ARE NO GARAUNTEES THAT PASSES WOULD HAVE RESULTED IN BETTER FG POSITION FOR THE VIKINGS. Favre's completion percentage for the game was 50%. It's not hard to imagine him throwing a couple incompletions and then you're very much screwed if you're the Vikings. You've just given the Saints a ton of time to come back whether you make the field goal or not.

Obviously it didn't work out. The Saints unbelievably stuffed the run twice in a row, which I assume didn't happen at any other point in the game (you know, the rest of the game where they were loading up the line?). More unbelievably there was the 12 men in the huddle.

In short, Childress called a near perfect game from start to finish. It's easy to criticize his playcalling after a loss like that, but he outcoached and outplaycalled one of the best playcallers in the game in Sean Payton. Running on first and second down was easily the right call and it would have been on third down too were it not for that 12 men thing. As it turns out it would have been the right call anyway.

[finkle]

agreed...hard to blame the coach for a a 450+ yard offensive game. he didn't drop the balls or throw to the guys in black.