I haven't seen anyone else mention this possibility, so... Derek Anderson was just released by Cleveland.  I know this guy was pretty bad for the last couple of years but he had one very good year (07), he's only 26, he probably wouldn't break the bank, and most importantly- because he was released by Cleveland (not a UFA for 2010) he won't count as a UFA pickup for us under the new rules.  Whaddaya think?

Pierre Thomas has been great, and I really really hope he can play up to his ability for the next few games, but if he can't (or if he complicates his injury in the 2nd round), I wonder if Deuce would be an option?  I wonder if he's been working out?  Can you imagine a home NFC Championship, with DEUCE being announced in the starting lineup? 

Wow.  What do you think?

Go Saints!

In my last post, I analyzed the homefield advantage of playoff teams in the 2nd and 3rd rounds since 2000.   I found that the home team record was 34-20.  Someone suggested that I look to see how much cold weather might have affected that, so here goes.  Now I'm not going to go and look up weather reports, so I'll just have to guess based on Geography- basically, my cut off will be San Francisco, Tennessee, and Carolina (such that any teams not in a dome and north of Tennesse and Carolina, or SF on the West Coast will be considered cold weather for the purpose of this analysis). 

All Divisional and Conference Championship round playoff games, chronologically, since 2000:

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In general there has been much chatter towards the end of this season (as far as I can tell) in the media and among fans about how having the #1 seed (and thus homefield advantage) is not necessarily a great thing in the playoffs.  To attempt to resolve this at least partially, as well as to (hopefully) make myself feel better about the Saints' chances, I looked at how home teams have fared in the playoffs since 2000.  Because the Saints are not playing in the first round, I ignored that round and only looked at the 2nd and 3rd playoff weekends. 

Since (and including) 2000, the home teams in the 2nd and 3rd weekend of the NFL playoffs are 34-20 (for a percentage of .629629~).  That is a bit higher than I might have guessed- higher than the regular season home field advantage (whicn is in the mid to high 50s, I believe). 

I think this is an example of selective memory- people are more inclined to remember "upset" games as "significant"; when the #1 seed beets the #5 seed, that's not particularly "significant" in someone's memory.  So of course there are upsets every year, and many people are inclined to remember the upsets of past years and assume that they are more common than they really are.

Thoughts?  Go Saints!

Soooo.....

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