We Landed On The Moon! We Landed On The Moon!

Let me start by saying that I’m happy with the win. I’m happy with the Denver loss that’s leaves us alone for the time being behind the wheel of the rusted Pinto that is the AFC West. I’m happy that every single game left on our schedule has the potential to be practice time. I’m happy about that because we need it. After this morning’s cocksuckery in the Union Dipatch Post Intelligencer Review, namely from this clown and Tim Sullivan (at least 30% less clowny than Canepa) and from the local morning sports radio idiots ( I won’t name names, but rhymes with Billy Ray Smith and Scott Kaplan) I feel I need to make a few points.

1) Canepa starts his column incredulous that the fans would boo Phiilip Rivers and the offense on the first series of the game. What Nicky fails to realize is that these aren’t merely plays 1-3 in a football game, they are play 201-203 in a long run of offensive offensiveness.

2) Sullivan starts and finishes his column with Rivers’ cock in his mouth, which makes it difficult to understand what he’s trying to get across.

3) The morning radio guys take homerism to an entirely never before heard of level and declare the team 11-5 on the spot, because obviously Philip Rivers has turned the corner and will never falter again.

All of these PAID PROFESSIONALS basically make the same point. Philip Rivers is completely back to Pro Bowl form (BTW, according to one of the wordy sources Rivers’ dad fixed him, not any of our PAID PROFESSIONAL COACHES. Not that we have any purported QB coach gurus on staff or anything. ). I hope so. At the very least I think fans in the stadium should boo him emphatically at every home game, because that really seems to light a fire under him, even if it does also make him look kind of whiny. Here’s the bad news, however: Baltimore was beaten long before this game started. On a four game losing streak, all but eliminated from the post season, and noticeably old, this was the equivalent of beating up an orphan’s little orphan sister. And just as I’d be happy with that win, I’m happy with this win, but not wholly satisfied. They committed to the run early, and with little pass rush or help in the secondary, they’re DBs looked like scarecrows. Then, with the Bolts having a decent lead in the second half against a team with little scoring power, the Ravens never really changed their philosophy, choosing to believe we would try to eat clock rather than attempt to go down field. The results look good on paper, but they don’t tell the whole story. Rivers’ has a long way to go to make me believe he can consistently attack that type of defense at that level of efficiency. He’s going to get a lot of chances to because nobody else believes it either and teams will continue to key on TBE. Fortunately, there aren’t many scary secondaries ahead. The other problem I’m having with this team is that Ted Cottrell is a gutless whore who refuses to bring any pressure on obvious 3rd down passing situations, resulting in a plentitude of egregious conversions and allowing the Ravens to actually score two offensive TDs (practically unheard of). The pass pressure looked better for the most part yesterday, with Phillips and Merriman going after the QB together several times, but once again the defense backed off without twisting the knife. There are a couple of potent offenses ahead that may enjoy that kind of defensive gameplan. I still believe we will make the playoffs, but this team will need to show me a bit more before I believe they make it with a record as convincing as 11-5. Denver, Tennessee and Detroit are just too mediocre not to give us a hard time. Oakland and KC look appropriately shitty enough for us to beat ( I know, CJ, KC beat us at home, but they have gotten worse since then so leave me alone for calling them a gimme.). Once you get to the playoffs anything can happen, though. Don’t believe me? Just look at the underdogs we’ve played in the playoffs the last few times we made it that far. Super Bowl, CJ!!! Go Bolts!!!

P.S. Good job of the Eggles making the Pats look human. However did they do it? Well, I’ll just refer to myself:

"You have to sell out on the pass rush. You have to get pressure early and you have to get to Brady…You’re going to get burned, but you have to prepare for the fact that holding this team to twenty-something points is your best shot at victory, so a couple early scores is not a horrible thing. The thing is, Tom Brady, under pressure, seriously starts to look human behind center."

Pretty close to what the Eagles did, and if not for an ill-fated and unnecessary shot at the end zone late, they very well could have taken that game. Some people are calling this a blueprint game, but I doubt there are too many teams that can actually do it. Of course, those teams that can are typically the type you find in the playoffs, so for at least a week we can all dream of sobbing Boston fans.