Maybe I’m just not Who Dat enough. Because, although I pledge as much fealty, allegiance – and many words with even more syllables – to the Bless You Boys as anybody else…I’m over it.
Truth is, I was over it before the game ended. Because we all knew how it would end. Another pass thrown over our defensive backs – the same way we lost every other close game this season. And note: Three of the four games we lost this season were at home. That does not speak to a team of destiny.
Whereas I have friends who have still not answered their phone, brushed their teeth or had a warm meal since the game ended – the true traits of a True Who Dat – I’m disappointed to be sure, but not surprised. How could you be, after the way the past three seasons have ended? First we bumbled, then we wuz robbed and then we just got plain whupped. Face it, we sucked on Sunday.
It takes a lot of scar tissue to be a Saints fan. And Kleenex and Xanax and Clorox. The last one wash the taste of every season out of your mouth.
The only bright spot? Taysom. A player who got so good so fast that now he need only go by one name, in the way of Madonna, Prince or Bruce. But ever the pessimist – me, not him – here’s the bad news. He’s now a free agent. As are Teddy and Drew.
And that’s a bad thing. Even though Drew still has the fire to compete – and the willful determination to break every record in NFL history – the prudent move would be to go with the other two guys*.
(*Following the: “Remember, the NFL is strictly a business” model. It’s all about the money. And Drew is expensive. And 41.)
History shows there’s not a lot of sentiment when it comes to off-season signings. Remember when the Saints let our beloved Morten Andersen get away after the 1994 season, after 12 years of stunning success. The Great Dane was the team’s all-time leading scorer at the time.
He then signed with the Falcons and promptly beat the Saints the following season by kicking four field goals against us, three of them from more than 50 yards. (Whereas, a few years later, his replacement, Jon Carney, scrubbed a field goal on the last play of the last game of the season – following the Saints’ most miraculous play in franchise history, the River City Relay – locking us out of the playoffs.
And so it goes for the Who Dat Nation.
But back to my proposed strategy of keeping Teddy and Taysom. That’s not going to be easy. Teddy showed any team looking for a starting QB next season that he has the chops. His record was 5-0 this season. Drew was 8-3. (The game they split was a loss.)
Of greater concern is Taysom. Consider this: If you were a team looking to upgrade your roster this off-season, tell me, who would be at the top of your list?
Right?
On Sunday, Taysom’s one-man barnstorming performance earned him the payday of his lifetime. (Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t there one play where he long-snapped the ball to himself as a holder and then kicked the field goal? Or is that just my imagination?)
But where will he land? You know the answer to that: Taysom Hill, meet Bill Belichick. Your new boss.
Right?
I hate to be the harbinger of doom at a time when a lot of fans are still salving their wounds from Sunday but, reality check: The NFL is a business.
And business ain’t looking so good in New Orleans right now.
On a brighter note, there’s this guy in town named Zion. I wonder if plays football, too?
