Thursday Night Fun...

Some Quick Reflection Prior to Moving On…

Coach Marty Schottenheimer said there is "a 50-50 chance or even better" rookie linebacker Shawne Merriman will play against the Broncos . . .

This I love. It’s like saying, “He might play, he might not play, but you’ll sure as hell never know, that’s how great a coach I am, you’ll never know my strategy, HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Oh, but he is playing you know.” Way to keep it a secret coach, oh and by the way, I am sure that everyone across the country starting in Denver is saying to themselves, “Who is Shawne Merriman again? And why does he spell his name that way?” On second thought it probably is best to keep Denver and Jake in the dark whether or not this guy is playing, he could really mess up their game plan.

Next there was this gem from today’s paper:

General Manager A.J. Smith, who made the decision to present Gates with a deadline, said Monday he had no regrets. Asked if he did, Gates thought for a moment before replying. "You know what?" he said. "In a way. Considering the circumstances, I wasn't out there on Sunday, and obviously I wanted to be there. I wanted to be here long-term. Things happen, you learn from them and now it's time for me to look forward and get ready for Denver."

I sense genuine regret from the touchdown maker here. I think he is starting to wish that he had gone to camp and not gotten himself kicked off the island. Lesson learned. We’re 0-1 and he feels bad, I’d say that’s a win win situation for everybody involved. Mr. Smith made his point, and now we’re 0-1. I haven’t seen two sides work this well together since North and South Korea hit the sheets together. Sometimes I wish this season had a rewind button, somebody get tivo on the phone and see if there is anything they can do...

There are a lot of assumptions I am willing to make at this late stage of the season. Week two is upon us and at 4 O’clock on Sunday the season will be one eighth old. So, here is where I stand. Someone should record this so I feel like an absolute moron later in the season when this is all wrong… Let’s do it in bullet format, ready go:

-I still think it is a good idea to bet against the Saints. (Shut up, that makes me an opportunist, not a jerk)

-Kansas City is back. We can compete for the division with them, but unless Larry Johnson keeps beating up his “girlfriend” we are going to have to play very well, and beat them twice.

-Oakland is on their, whatever, Oakland could go 15-1 and they would still suck.

-Teams I like that Lost in Week One:
Carolina, Philadelphia (stretching here), St. Louis (shut up), Washington (oh, they won?)

-Teams I don’t like that Won in Week One:
Washington, San Francisco (shocker, and not in the bay area way), Miami’s Offense, Dallas (Eat me Parcells)

-Denver has no quarterback, no backup quarterback, questionable running backs, and no coach. They goooooood…

-We are better than we played last weekend. We have a horrible schedule. Second hardest in the league. We need to win the division again.

-It is entirely possible that there will be 22 8-8 teams by season’s end. Someone in the NFC may win the division with a losing record. That has nothing to do with baseball and any ill will I harbor to anyone that won’t shut up about that. It’s football season.

On that note, we should, and I said this last week, just not here, kill Denver this Sunday. I know that they may be playing high after getting smoked by Miami last weekend, but the defense should be able to handle the ineptitude that is their attempt at football. In fact I will make a score prediction.

We will score like Paris Hilton and they will score like Dwight Gooden.

More later…