I did not appreciate the sentiment that the New York Yankees had to win the World Series because Osama Bin Laden blew up the World Trade Center. I do not appreciate the sentiment that the New Orleans Saints have to win the Super Bowl because George Bush let poor New Orleans residents die in the Super Dome. I do appreciate the equivalence … between an uncaring homicidal mass murdering maniac and some guy from the Arabian Peninsula who seems to have been the mastermind of dozens of failed terrorist attacks and a couple of ugly ones. But that is another story.
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\nI do not appreciate the idea that gay-dating ads will be banned from the Super Bowl but anti-abortion ads, I hear, will be shown.<\/p>\n
I do not appreciate the fact that the New Orleans Saints defense, when playing the superior Minnesota Vikings, clearly designed, practiced, and successfully implemented a strategy that if adopted by other teams and not stopped by new rules, will change the way the sport is played forever. During the playoff game with the Vikings, the Saints’ defense got through the Vikings’ defensive line and knocked down the quarterback something like 19 times. Not sacked. They knocked him down after he had thrown or passed off the ball. One time there was a penalty, and the commentators covering the game claimed that penalty was not appropriate.<\/p>\n
In other words, the Saints figured out a way of physically hitting the QB after he let go of the ball without it being a penalty. They did it enough times to injure and disorient Brett Favre. In my view, two or three of the plays late in the game would likely not have gone the way they went had Favre not been injured in this way. The Saints probably won the game by using this new technique.<\/p>\n
So, I do appreciate the fact that when the Super Bowl happens, the New Orleans Saints are going to get very badly creamed by the Indianapolis Colts. The odds as I write this are 8-1 in Vegas.<\/p>\n
But listen to this: If the New Orleans Saints use the same strategy on the Colts that they used on the Vikings, with similar success, the outcome of the game will be different. Quarterback Peyton Manning is a great player and all, but he is not Brett Favre. He will not be able to handle getting whacked more than six or seven times before he is out of the game. Then, with their Quarterback gone, the Colts may not do as well as originally predicted.<\/p>\n
It is possible that the Saints will win this game with their new strategy. Then, by next season, one or two of the following two things will happen: 1) All the other teams will develop a similar strategy, and the whole dynamic of what a quarterback is worth and how to get one and keep one and what will make a good one will change; and\/or 2) There will be a new rule: If you touch the Quarterback at all … even a kiss on the cheek because he is your long lost cousin … after the ball is gone, then you’ve given the other team yardage and\/or a first down.<\/p>\n
Mark my words.<\/p>\n
Now, some background material. First, the quarterback of the future:<\/p>\n