Since I dont want t be accused of lifting other people's material, I thought I'd make this contribution early. Prior to Brady's 2nd pick, after which the Saints went into clock management mode, Brees had gained 17.2 yards per pass attempt. 17.2. Let that number sink in for a bit. I had never heard of let alone seen a qb with a ypa number that high in a single game. Enter profootballreference.com. Turns out since 2000, the highest single game ypa a qb has enjoyed is 15.6 by Steve McNair against the Texicans in 2003. Going back all the way to 1960, only Unitas (18.5) and Namath (17.7) had higher single game ypa's. OK, ready for one more nugget? At that time, the Saints had averaged 10.4 yards per play overall. I cant remember a pro team averaging double figures in that stat. But what about college? THe biggest offensive outburst I can think of is texas tech's 66-point, 740-yard day vs kansas state. Well, the red raiders only managed a paltry 11.2 ypa and about 9 ypp. There was also Nevada's destruction of Idaho and Oregon's dismantling of usc, but alas the wolfpack and ducks did most of their damage on the ground. More perspective: brady's ypa vs the titans:12; ypp: about 9.

    Your defense was an utter disgrace in the 4th quarter. Usually collapses of that magnitude are precipitated by turnovers. Nope, not here. Ironically, the only turnover during the colts' comeback was committed by ...the colts. Go figure. The pats d was so epically bad, it looked like manning was engaged in a scrimmage. It also left your coach with an ugly choice. It should never have got to that point.
    Also, and TMQ touched on this tangentially, so many tactical decisions made by coaches are predicated on the principle of CYA, so that they can duck direct criticism. BB doesnt care about avoiding criticism;he only cares about winning. Gotta respect that. But here's something you have to admire more. In making this tough call and drawing all this criticism, he has taken all the heat off his players. All of the talk this week has been about the controversial call and none of it has been about the colossal choke job by his players. Along the same lines, the colts have received very little credit for the gutsy comeback because the 4th and 2 controversy has taken up all the oxygen.

SI has predictions up for the second half of the season on their front page. All 6 of their writers pick Alabama as one of the participants in the MNC game. 5 of the 6 pick the Tide to be the MNC. Interestingly, 5of 6 pick USC to be the TIde's opponent inthe title game. One guy picked UT. None of them really outlines the specifics of how their respective title game participants will get there, but we can probably assume they think usc will run the table and UT will lose in Stillwater and Iowa will lose somewhere (most likely in columbus). One guy mentions later that he thinks an unbeaten cincinatti will be shut out of the title game. But I was really struck by their unanimity in picking bama over florida and near unanimity in picking usc as their opponent-especially over an undefeated cincinatti . Any thoughts?