Okay.

I guess I'm glad that I kept my mouth shut or the final several weeks of the season, because when you don't have the stones to say something, nothing you say can be used against you.

I don't really even know where to begin with that game, other than to say that I've already seen that game, so if you want to know what I think you could probably just dig through the archives and see if I wrote about it the first time about three years ago. I imagine I could sum it up with "Grumble, grumble, expletive boneheaded penalties! Rabble, Rabble, gutless coaching! Astounded expression Nate fucking Kaeding?!!!"

Seriously man, who throws a shoe? I mean, who kicks a challenge flag? How is that even an impulse? I mean, head butts and taunting are inexcusable in that situation, but at the very least they come from a heated interaction with other physically alive entities. What in the fuck did that challenge flag ever do to you, Vincent Jackson? I read some articles about how VJ is not only a super gifted athlete, but that he is quite the scholar as well, having earned his Master's in blah, blah, blah, whatever. This seems to prove what I've long suspected-that if you are a truly serious student athlete with enormous NFL potential, you can get the absolute best nerds to attend your classes for you.

I've worried all year that our lack of a running game would be a problem once we got into the post season, but like everyone else i allowed myself to be duped into believing that we were just too explosive in other ways to be stopped by anyone. The thing is, if you know that your running game is bad and the other team treats it like a joke, then you must abandon it. If you continue to run Tomlinson between the tackles based on what kind of player he used to be, then you are doing nothing but throwing away downs. If you refuse to even try to get the ball to Darren Sproles out of some sort of nostalgic loyalty to the guy that used to get it done for you, then you have failed. There is no Cam Cameron, you call the plays Norv, and that is your fault. But it was good enough to get you an extension, and if you fans reading this don't think that is another case of A.J. telling us we can all go fuck ourselves, then I've got a bridge to sell you and it's made of candy and tits. I keep readin articles where A.J. or Nick Canepa or even Dean Spanos all eventually say how pleased they are with where Norv has taken us in the last three years. Interesting, because to me it looks like we are exactly where we started with Norv, except that we no longer have the most explosive offensive wepon in the league, largely due to Turner changing the way our offense runs the ball. Sure, we've had some playoff wins, but I have to again quote the old scientific axiom, "Correlation does not imply causation." If you employ one of the most talented rosters in the league you are likely to manage a playoff win regardless-in fact, in spite of-your coach. But we are backed into a corner here. We certainly aren't going to fire another coach after such a season after all the grief that was given to the organization last time. Especially not a coach that the GM loves. Gonna have to live with it, cause it's not going away. Like herpes.

I have been a long time defender of Nate Kaeding, and that performance of his on Sunday puts us in quite a pickle. A lot of people choose to forget the dark days of kickers like Steve Christie and Wide Richey, and Kaeding makes 'em like a son of a bitch in the regular season. Unfortunately, great teams are made after the season. I've quoted Dr. Z from Sports Illustrated many times regarding somthing he said about Marty Schottenheimer, because I thought it made pretty good sense at the time (and I'm paraphrasing here):

"Either Marty Schottenheimer is the worst playoff coach in history, or the unluckiest playoff coach in history, and either way, you don't want him caoching your team in the playoffs." The same looks like it may apply with Kaeding. Maybe we bring back Carney for the playoffs going forward?

I want to say we'll get 'em next year, but I'm like a broken record at this point. I'm heartbroken, and I'm in danger of giving up. If not next season, there will likely not be an NFL season the following year due to the owners and players flexing and kicking each other's challenge flags all over the field. Then what? Can I wait three years? Will the door still be open? We have no running game. We have no real pass rush. Our secondary gets trucked by rookies. Our coach is a weiner. If we couldn't beat the Jets in our own house, tell me who we could have beaten? Who will we ever beat?Wake me when it's over.