First and foremost:
Sincere thanks go out to Drew Brees, Marques Colsten, Rob Ryan’s Rhinos and the Saints D for wiping that smirk off of Cam Newton’s head-wrapped in a towel smug face last week.
What did “I” personally do to make that happen?
1. Cooked a killer pot of “gumbo ya-ya” – my best ever.
2. Opened a 2009 Super Bowl winning Saints commemorative Crystals Hot Sauce bottle for the occasion, and used ½ of it on the gumbo ya-ya
3. Sacrificed my oldest child, in a Pagan ritual.
It was worth every last bite and every moment of insane reasoning.
True Dat!
So to celebrate, I have included a Sunday recipe just for you – Bang Bang Boom Boom Shrimp.
______________________
Week 15 – Who Dat in St. Louis
Numbers That Truly Matter”
2 – Key Players in Tavon Austin and Janoris Jenkins have not practiced all week, and are “at best” questionable for the Rams. Check the morning ticker.
2 and 2 – Stellar pass-rushing “rare” bright spots for the 2013 Rams in Chris Long and Robert Quinn, against 2 over average tackles in LT Charles Brown and RT Zach Strief. You get to Brees PERIODICALLY and you have a chance. You don’t and you’re secondary will get beat like Bama hound dog.
Brown had his worst game as a pro in 2011 vs. Long (3 sacks and 6 pressures before a hip injury). Sunday, Brown will see Robert Quinn mostly, whose 13 sacks are second in the NFL. I feel he is the BEST pass rusher in the NFL.
And 2 again – The most consistently unsung receiver in the past 20 years – Marques Colsten is back in the groove with his boy Brees. He, alone, when healthy adds a unique depth to a Saints passing game that has been relying on Jimmy Graham and Darren Sproles. Colsten is closely en route to another 1000 yards and eight touchdowns (par for the course), as long as he stays on track like he did last week when he torched and exposed an overplaying Panther’s secondary. Lance Moore is the send part of the “2” that needs to take a more prominent role in the offence.
100 – Penalties that the Rams have committed vs. 74 committed by the Saints
136 – Point differential (379 VS. 242) between 2012 historically deficient D, and this year’s Saints D. And more glaringly, 1,600 less yards.
7,474 – The record setting yards by the 2011 Saints, but meaning nothing that year as the Rams limited them to 283 in their loss to the Rams that same season.
3 – “Cascading” situational-era-defining D coordinators – that have radically affected the Saints.
Two years ago in their last last trip to the Edward James Almost Dome, Steve Spagnola controlled Brees ; which after firing in St. Louis that year was quickly snatched up to replace the “thank the good Lord he vacated the premises” Greggy “Pompous” Williams in NOLA. (And I was doing a Happy Dance with full approval for weeks on end).
“Greggy” – upon firing in NOLA, was then passed onto Spags replacement – Jeff Fischer in St Louis, with whom he had a history with, when with the Titans.
Enter Bountygate joke era of the NFL. On a side note, please read one of the best books to ever hit the sports shelves – “Of Bread and Circuses” – The Saints Bountygate Story by Reid Gilbert. It reads like an expert witness report in a criminal court and is FLAT OUT…”NO PUN INTENDED GREGGY”…. Killer!
You can find your copy here.
Spags, unbeknownst to me, and the world of the NFL, crapped the bed as well as any defensive coordinator has crapped the bed before. He was fired in NOLA.
Enter Rob Ryan, after being escorted out of Jerry’s zoo in Dallas, was being hooked into St Louis, to replace ultimately both Spags and subsequently Greggy, and Greggy’s subsequent false start Bountygate replacement son.
Got all that? “Mommy dog-face to the banana patch!”
1 & 2 – Saints need to win at least one game to enter the tournament. But a deuce will most likely get them a bye, and the happy “Get Crunked” home advantage of the Benz Dome. And that would be a happy day in Who Datville. Ergo, too much riding on this game to be considered by any elite team to be a TRAP game.
And 5 – Keys to the Game – All Saints Related:
i. Limit Quinn and Long’s mitts on Drew Brees.
ii. Lance Moore, Marques Colsten become 10 yd. quick hitting catch machines.
iii. D Line of the Saints limit the Rams running game, in a bend don’t break “U” fashion.
iv. A beauty of a rookie S Vaccaro limits TE Jared Cook to 50 yds. (Cook is a top-tier unsung tight end, that usually performs regardless of the QB mediocrity in St. Louis)
v. The D-Line Ryan’s Rhino, near atop the NFL in Sacks. I am expecting, based on match-ups, that Akiem Hicks to have a monster game.
Final Guess For Sunday:
I will eat copious amounts of Bang Bang Boom Boom Shrimp (recipe attached);
drink beer;
fart occasionally;
ignore my family setting up the tree and decor for the “all purpose commercialized non-denominational snow holiday”;
occasionally tell them to shut-the-hell-up; and watch the Saints, maybe not decisively – but comfortable enough, WIN.
Saints 28 Rams 17
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photo credit: Tom Pumphret via photopin cc
