Happy Monday, friends, and congratulations to the New Orleans Saints on their impressive victory in Super Bowl XLIV.  It was a total team effort, and I'll have a lot of observations to share to that effect.  I had planned for this to be short-ish, but the party I was planning to attend got canceled, due to a sick kid.  I had another invitation, by a friend who lives in the trendy Warehouse District in downtown Cleveland, but I decided to just make some shrimp jambalaya (which was awesome), watch the game from home, take good notes, and write a robust edition of The Mothership.  Let's get this thing underway, then.  Ready..... BEGIN!!!!

1.  Drew Brees won the MVP award for the Super Bowl, and he played a great game, and deserved it.  The real star, though, was Head Coach Sean Payton.  The Saints got behind in this game pretty quickly, 10-0, and the team's poise improved a great deal after a shaky start.  That's not what usually happens when you go down 10-0 to the Colts; most teams get that "here we go" feeling, and the rout is on.  The Saints got their act together, and played the way they can play.

A key moment in the game was when Payton elected to go for it on 4th and goal from about 1.5 yards away.  There were just under 2 minutes to go, and both teams had all three timeouts.  I loved the call, and judging from my Twitter feed, I was about the only one.  Of course, I understand clock and situation management very well, and most people don't.  It was the right call, without question, and I am going to explain why.

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It's been a hell of a week, friends.  I mentioned that my company was being acquired by another Fortune 500 company, and the deal went final yesterday.  I worked about 60 hours this week, and as of this morning, my boss was still calling me about minutiae.  I had very little time to write about football, or do much of anything this week, so I apologize for my silence for the last few days.

Today, I want to briefly talk about the Hall of Fame.  I started a longer post about football economics, that I am about halfway done with, and which posted accidentally for a little while a couple days ago, but that will be out in the middle of this coming week.  I have analyzed the Colts and Saints to death the last couple weeks, and I don't particularly want to duplicate those efforts.  Here, we'll be quick and to the point, so y'all can get back to your weekend activities.

This HOF class is kind of interesting.  I think three really borderline guys got in, and some obvious ones didn't.  Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, and Dick LeBeau were locks.  Beyond that, it was anybody's guess who was going to make it.  You may know that it's a deeply held belief of mine that reporters shouldn't be voting for anything important.  I believe that as deeply as many people believe in their religions.  

Reporters find stuff out by asking other people questions, and then they report on what people who know stuff tell them.  That doesn't qualify you to do the evaluation needed for something like electing Hall of Famers.  On top of that, I think the sort of work that reporters do leads to personal relationships, grudges, slights, and other things which make objectivity impossible.  

There are great players who aren't in the Hall of Fame because they didn't curry favor with the reporters who do the voting.  Sterling Sharpe is the second best WR I've seen play, and he was not far behind Jerry Rice at all.  He was a great, great player.  Michael Irvin wasn't as good as him, and neither were Cris Carter or Andre Reed.  None of the players playing today are as good as he was, either.  He absolutely dominated football games, with his precision, strength, physicality, intelligence, and hands.

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Happy Monday, friends, and welcome to the Mothership.  It's been quite a month of January, and the site is now in its fourth week of operations.  Thanks for your continued readership, and for being down since Day 1.  Today, we'll talk about some Bowls.  One important one (Senior Bowl), and one unimportant one (Pro Bowl).  And who knows?  We may dabble in some other stuff too.  That's how we do, right?  Ready..... BEGIN!!!

1.  Senior Bowl week was interesting.  I appreciated NFL Network's decision to televise some of the practice sessions, even if I think they showed too much of Mike Mayock talking, and not enough of what the players were doing.  When it gets down to it, it's still more information than fans have had in the past.  I watched all the televised practice sessions, and the game itself, and as you'd expect, I have some thoughts.

a.  I will start with the QBs, because they got the most attention during the week.  None of them looked very good to me in the game.  I thought that Zac Robinson looked the best, but he struggles to drive the ball down the field with velocity, and I doubt he'll ever be more than a backup.  I was particularly disappointed with Sean Canfield, who I liked in his college games, but who looked like he'll never have enough arm for the NFL.

Jarrett Brown showed a good arm, but he is a project, because he only played one season, and that was in a run-heavy, shotgun-spread offense at West Virginia.  I saw some people loving on Dan Lefevour on Twitter Saturday, and when I watched the game Sunday on DVR, I wondered what they were looking at.  I didn't think he looked particularly good throwing the ball.  Tony Pike looked like a borderline player, with a below average arm, and only average accuracy.  He did move well, though.

Tim Tebow looked pretty much like I expected him to.  If you watched some of the practices, he improved as the week went on.  The fact is, most of the things he was doing were new to him.  He did short-arm a couple throws during the game, but I thought that those were footwork related, and not indicative of a lack of arm strength.  When he gets his feet right, he can drive the ball.  It's just that the footwork that the plays he is running called for is different than what he's used to.  He's definitely not going to be ready to start on Day 1 in the NFL, but with good NFL coaching, he'll be fine eventually. Cut To The Chase »

Happy Wednesday friends.  As I write this on Tuesday night, I am feeling a bit better, and expecting to be back in my office tomorrow.  Once again, I worked from home today, and started to feel better as the day went on.  I haven't sneezed in awhile, and even went to a Chamber of Commerce networking event for a little while earlier (which is hilarious, if you're familiar with my political leanings.)  

Anyway, I promised some content for today, and content you shall have.  First, I'll start with some thoughts and observations from the two games from Sunday.

1.  New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts 

a.  I lauded the Austin Collie pick when it happened last April, and he's made me (and Bill Polian) look smart.  He's very reliable, and I was almost shocked when he dropped the first pass thrown to him Sunday.  I think Collie's combination of fluidness and precision in his routes are already near the top of the NFL for slot receivers.  I think he's a more sturdily built, quicker version of Brandon Stokley, and I expect him to have an excellent and long career.

b.  Speaking of previously unheralded Colts WRs, how about Pierre Garcon?  He was fantastic Sunday, but I have to clear up an uncommon misconception about him.  Well, it's more like a misconception about his college.  Mount Union College is a perennial Division III powerhouse, and is located in Alliance, Ohio.  Alliance is about 20 miles east of Canton, and is notable for being the site of the historic wedding after-party where I picked up my first woman out of a bar, 2 weeks after getting legally divorced.  (She's a co-worker of the groom, and we ended up dating for a few months last summer; she's the one who broke up with me during halftime of the Hall of Fame game last August, freeing me up to write a lot of words for MHR.)

Anyway, Rich Eisen was saying on TV that Mount Union is in New Jersey, near the Jets facility.  Not so much, Rich.

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Happy Monday, friends, and welcome to The Mothership.  We've got a couple more teams going fishing, and we'll explore their situations.  We'll also devote some early thought to the Super Bowl matchup.  Finally, since the Senior Bowl is this week, we'll get into that a little bit, and possibly also consider the less important Pro Bowl.  The NFC Championship game isn't over yet, as I start writing this, but I want to get a couple thousand words written before midnight.  Ready..... BEGIN!!!

1.  Both championship games were very interesting on Sunday, after the first two weekends had a lot of blowouts, and a few uninteresting close games.  I would venture to say that the only entertaining game in the first two weeks was Arizona vs. Green Bay.  It was a good Football Sunday, and we'll start by thinking about the losers.

a.  New York Jets - First of all, let me reiterate that anybody who made it to their conference championship game had a good season.  That said, this was not the year New York planned to be in Super Bowl contention, so I think they were already playing with house money on Sunday.  They wanted to win, and I know they believed that they could, but they're still developing into what they ultimately want to become.

First things first, since the MSM will always focus on the QB position first.  Mark Sanchez generally has a ways to go as a decision maker, but he showed a lot of poise during the recent run, and it has to make Jets fans very excited for the future.  He had a good day on Sunday, and the two TD passes he threw each showed a quality that the elite QBs possess.  He showed outstanding touch on the deep ball on the first, and impressive toughness and accuracy under pressure on the second.  My concerns about his ability to play in bad weather aside, it's pretty clear that the Jets have their guy of the future.

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Hello there, I hope you're well as you read this. The NFL week has been pretty normal, but my work week has been very crazy. There were lots of people in town for re-budgeting meetings, and I've had a ton of emails, calls, and knocks on my office door. We're also in the process of getting acquired, and the close is in about 2 weeks, so that makes it double busy.

It's Tuesday, and I have to go a bit abbreviated on you, I'm afraid.  I got stuck at the office a lot later than planned, and it's 9:30 PM as I start writing this.  I'll try to give you the most bang for the buck, in transcribing the notes I took over the weekend, and some brief video reviewing tonight.

1.  Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints

a.  I mentioned this yesterday, but Carl Nicks has really turned into an outstanding LG for the Saints, and Jahri Evans has been the best RG for in the NFL for 2 years now.  The job those two do anchoring inside for the Saints is a huge key to the success of the offense.  Since Drew Brees is short, he's prone to being bothered by inside pressure, but those two make great pockets for him.  Nicks was a fifth round pick, and Evans was a fourth rounder, so you have to credit Mickey Loomis for picking them, and Aaron Kromer for coaching them up.  The average Jon Stinchcomb undeservedly made the Pro Bowl, but Nicks should have gone in his place.

b.  A guy for the Saints who I was really high on a year ago was Lance Moore, but he doesn't show much this year.  I wonder if he's still hurt, because the quickness he showed in the past was Welker-like, and he looks like just another guy now.  I was watching him not get open a bit, as Fox's camera work allowed, because I have to wonder what his story is.

c.  This hasn't gotten a lot of mention in the MSM (which is just shocking) but the Saints defensive backs did a fantastic job of re-routing the Cardinals WRs on Saturday.  That's how you beat the Saints, so they realize that it's also how you also beat the Cardinals.  You cannot let them get a free release, or Kurt Warner is going to hit them in rhythm, and kill you.  Add that CB success to the quick pressure the Saints were often getting from Will Smith, and the Cardinals never had a chance on offense.

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Happy Monday, friends, and welcome to The Mothership. After a pretty uninspiring Divisional Playoff round, we can only hope for more interesting games next week. I am incidentally re-writing about the first 1000 words because I clicked wrong button, and lost my work. CKEditor needs a save feature.

Anyway, let’s get to getting this big red ship underway. Somebody give me a push away from the pier in the port of Echo Chamber. Ready…. BEGIN!!!!

Woody Paige really gets my goat, or he would if I had a goat.  My non-Broncos readership is growing a bit (big up, early adopters!) and many of them may have never read my thoughts on the onerous Mr. Paige.  Also, I was a bit reluctant in my Mile High Report days to fully describe my feelings toward Paige.  John Bena never told me what I could or couldn't write, which is a credit to him, but I held back on this topic, because he does have to have a working relationship with the Denver media.

Happy Tuesday, friends. We're getting down to having fewer games, obviously, so I am getting less "call it like I see it" opportunities. On top of that, I had to re-allocate some time to snow removal tonight. That was a hoot. We'll see where we come out against the backdrop of "Ted was 90 minutes late to work today, and is aiming to get enough sleep tonight to ensure a reasonable expectation of timeliness tomorrow."

Wild Card Weekend -

1. New York Jets at Cincinnati Bengals

a. First things first. Michael Lombardi evidently agrees with me, but I have been saying this in various forms for two years. Carson Palmer cannot be considered a franchise QB anymore. He was on his way to being one before the knee and elbow injuries, but he's never going to get there. The velocity on his throws outside the numbers is way, way down. He can still be a solid starter, but he isn't what he's made out to be. It's no accident that the Bengals finally started having success when they decided to rely heavily on the running game.

b. Cedric Benson is a great player, and he's just hitting the prime of his career. I've beaten on the Bengals for ignoring character red flags before, and for liking bargains, but they sure came up with gold in taking a chance on Benson. The Bengals ought to get a reliable #2 RB, split the carries 75-25, and run the hell out of the ball, from a variety of personnel groupings and formations. Benson is one of the few contemporary backs in the NFL whom I'd want to use like a true workhorse.

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