Indianapolis Colts

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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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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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!!!!

I am writing this pre-launch, to accomplish a few tasks, actually, but I hope it's a value-adding piece of content, and not just a throwaway for taxonomy building's sake.  I was talking to my father over Christmas about coaching trees, and their associated ideologies, and it struck me as something worth exploring, and writing about.  For all 32 teams, each coach came from somewhere, and learned distinguishable strategies and schematic ideas.  We're going to look at each team, and try to make some sense of this landscape.

Buffalo Bills -- Perry Fewell (Interim Coach)

Fewell comes from the tree of the man he replaced, Dick Jauron, and has worked for him for years, in Jacksonville, Chicago, and Buffalo.  He worked for Mike Martz and Lovie Smith in St. Louis too, but that's a secondary relationship.  It's a little bit tough to place Fewell, because it's tough to place Jauron.  Jauron worked for Hank Bullough (a key figure in 3-4 history), Lindy Infante, Mike Holmgren, and Tom Coughlin.  That's 4 totally unrelated coaching philosophies there.  I'm going to have to decline to declare Jauron as being part of any tree, because his roots go so many different directions, and say that Fewell is not part of a specific tree either.

Miami Dolphins -- Tony Sparano

There's no question that Sparano comes from the Bill Parcells Tree.  He worked briefly for Chris Palmer in Cleveland, Marty Schottenheimer in Washington, and Tom Coughlin in Jacksonville, but his career took off when Parcells hired him in Dallas in 2003.  Parcells, of course, continues to be his boss in Miami.  This one is a no-brainer.

New York Jets -- Rex Ryan

He worked under Brian Billick and Mike Nolan for a lot of years, and under Jim Harbaugh for one, but Ryan seems to be most influenced by his father Buddy.  He isn't particularly related to many other coaches in the NFL nowadays, and his approach to defense is very original.  I'll give his dad, Buddy, his own Buddy Ryan Tree, because another branch or two will hit there as well.

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