First, credit where credit is due: Congrats to the 49ers. They made the plays when they absolutely needed to make them, and Vernon Davis is every bit the beast.

But, before everyone -- including some self-appointed "experts" on ESPN -- bury the Saints as yet another "passing" team that flamed out to the supposed "reality" that only running teams and defense wins, allow me to remind you of this fact:

That Saints offense that was supposed to wither on the vine against a good defense?? It didn't.

In fact, it took the full blows that the Frisco D threw at them, even the KO to Pierre Thomas early, and not only came back swinging, but was at the end every bit the force it has been. To put it bluntly, Drew Brees showed huge future Hall-of-Fame BALLS by taking his team back not once, but TWICE in the 4th quarter against arguably the best D he's faced, on the road, outside, on grass. At the end, they put the fear in the Niners' D, and nearly won the game.

[TBC following the jump]

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I'm more of a lurker and sometimes commentor here...long time Saints fan since the 1970's...but I felt the need to post this after reading all of the smack laid down by certain 49'ers trollers that the Saints might as well not suit up and play Saturday, because they are going to get beat down by the best run defense in the NFL combined with the home field advantage of grassy (and occasionally muddy) Candlestick Park (or whatever corporate entity it is called right now).

Indeed, by listening to some of our finest prognisticators, the Saints don't have anywhere near a chance, because they apparently are only as good as the artificial turf and enclosed managed air of the Mercedes Benz Superdome, and the second they step foot outdoors into actual green grass, they will be rendered useless against the 49er defense.

And...they are rather quick to quote the debacle in Seattle last year, where Marshawn Lynch had his rumble through the broken tackles of the entire Saints defense, or the game this year against the St. Louis Rams where Stephen Jackson ran all over the D while the offensive line broke down completely causing Drew Brees to throw INT's and Pick-6's galore.

So, why should Saturday's match up be any different?? After the jump, I'll show you why it is, and why I still think the Saints will roll the Niners.

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Browns 30, Saints 17.

That loud sound heard around 4 PM on Sunday wasn't a sonic boom, or even Jackson State University's marching band (aka "The Sonic Boom of the South").  It was the New Orleans Saints football franchise crashing down from their Super Bowl high back to reality.

So much for escaping the dreaded Super Bowl hangover.

So much for Drew Brees escaping the Madden Curse.

And so much for the dreaded Black Pants Conspiracy.

What 70,000+ stunned fans saw that day was a basic NFL truth proven once again: You still have to play the game. Cleveland was ready to play...the Saints, clearly, were not.

Maybe trading Scott Fujita wasn't such a good idea after all...especially considering that he probably knew and seemed to understand more about the Saints offense than even half the Saints players themselves.

But the biggest shocker is the obvious downfall of what used to be the Savior, Drew Brees. Since when did he transform himself into Brett Farve (albeit without the gimpy knees) and start throwing out of his backside to the wrong color jerseys??

This isn't to say that the season is lost, however.  Atlanta still lost too, and Green Bay and Minnesota and Dallas are still struggling to get their mojo going, and they still have Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas coming back from injury.

But...I suggest that some changes need to be made, and pretty soon, before this team slides further into the "overrated mediocrity" level. 

What do I propose??  Follow the jump.

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Before you break out the pitchforks on me, just consider this:

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Just when you thought that the River of Denial couldn't flood Colts Fan to extreme....someone goes over the top to out right delusion.

Once again, The Bleacher Report offers up another post -- this one by someone named Steve Montana -- who attempts to denigrate the Saints victory through a slightly different means than Charles Kellett did. This time, the focus is on "Ambush", the successful onsides kick call at the start of the second half.

This was already covered in comments to my last post here about Kellett's screech, but this latest is so impressively dumb that it deserves its own post. And, it includes a sequel, too.

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Probably the most beautiful thing about basking in on the "Scoreboard" as a Saints fan is to hear the accolades and respect that this team is earning from peers and pros alike.

A close second, though, would be the moaning, groaning, and outright crying of the more insufferable of Colts Fan, attempting to make excuses for why their supposedly superior team ended up on the losing side.

Of course, it would probably be the same on our side if the Saints had lost...but you'd think that even the most jaded Who Dat would be willing to give at least some respect to the winning team with the minimum of "sour grapes".

But, just as victory is bringing out the best in Saints fans, it has brought out some of the typical stages of denial in Colts Fan; the notion that since their team wasn't supposed to lose this game, there must be some conspiracy theory afoot to deny them what was supposedly theirs for the taking.

What I am about to fisk, though, goes beyond mere denial, and crosses the line over the cliff into sheer lunacy.

Allow me to present the latest in lame excuses by a disgruntled Colts fan for losing Super Bowl XLIV: "The Great Referee Fix"....as produced by Charles Kellett of The Bleacher Report, a Colts fan page powered by both Facebook and CBSSports.com.

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If you were to read all the newspapers outside of New Orleans (or Louisiana) and nearly all of the media outlets for the past 2 weeks concerning Sunday's upcoming Super Bowl XLIV, you'd probably think that the New Orleans Saints were simply the warmup team for the ultimate second coronation of Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts....the NFL's equivalent of the Washington Generals, to be merely used as fodder for the wizardry of Air "Meadowlark, Son of Archie" Manning, Reggie "Geese" Wayne, Dallas "Marcus Haynes" Clark, and Dwight "Curly the One-and-a-Half-Legged Wonder" Feeney.

You'd think that according to the media consensus, Peyton Manning is simply the most perfect adaptation of "RoboQB" (since the original supposed prototype, Philly's Randall Cunningham, turned out to be not quite the fit) who will simply slice, dice, and light up the "28th ranked" Saint D like Wyatt Earp mowing down villains at Tombstone; and that New Orleans is simply the luckiest team to even make the finals (their 13-3 record be damned), having been given the right to rep the NFC through the forgiveness of Minnesota, some divine (or, to some conspiracy theorists, very human) help from the officials, and the sheer luck of not facing "America's Team" (aka Dallas) in the playoffs at all. Only by playing dirty and knocking Peyton Manning out of the game do the Saints have any chance of winning, so the meme goes....and not even the injury to defensive end Dwight Feeney or the lack of a noticeable running game or even taking advantage of having defeated weaker offensives than the Saints will offer (no one would dare to compare Mark Sanchez or Joe Flacco to Drew Brees...but knocking out Kurt Warner and Brett Farve means nothing?

Well...let the media do what they do.  It will make the ultimate New Orleans victory that much sweeter.

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