To the 2007 New Orleans Saints: Congratulations! You finally found a way to overshadow John Carney’s missed extra point after the River City Relay in Jacksonville as one of the dumbest, most infuriating plays in our team’s history.  Now let’s line up and take turns kicking Coach Sean Payton right in his ass crack before we pop open some bubbly and celebrate!

A reverse on second down at midfield when all we need to do is eat clock?  Really?  REALLY?!!!  I mean look, I’m no John Madden.  Hell, I can’t even beat my 7 year old nephew in a game of Madden on playstation.  But if there’s one thing this Chick knows, it’s that when you’ve got momentum, the scoreboard, and time on your side against a division rival in one of the biggest games of the season, now’s not the time to get fancy.  In fact, now’s the time to forget every trick play you’ve ever practiced, considered, and even perfected, and just run it up the gut. 

Eat clock like Rosie O Donnell eats pies (the apple and female variety.)  Eat clock like every LSU hater I know is eating crow for saying we had no shot at the title game.  Eat clock like I eat po-boys from Zimmer’s restaurant in Gentilly every damn chance I get.  But don’t Sean Payton, don’t you dare Mr. Fancy Pants ego-maniac, call for a muther f*ckin reverse with an injured Reggie Bush pitching the ball to Devery Henderson on second down at midfield with 3 and a half minutes left in the game when Tampa Bay has no time outs.  Don’t risk our entire season by overthinking what should have been one of the simplest and most conservative drives of the game.  That, my friend, is exactly what you should NOT do! 

In a post game news conference, Payton referred to today’s game as “the worst job he’s done as a head coach since he’s been here.”  I’d like to nominate that statement for the “No Shit Sherlock Comment of the Year” award.  To keep it real, it was a game we shouldn’t have won.  Tampa Bay was kicking our asses in every category that mattered except for the scoreboard.  But at the end of the day, our beleaguered defense stepped up and carried the team to what should have been a season changing victory.  What pisses me off so much is not that we didn’t win, it’s that we could have won.  And when Tampa Bay couldn’t find a way to beat us, we decided to beat ourselves.

We’re 5-7.  I wish the season could just stop now but sadly, they’ll torture us with four more potential disasters.  As a die-hard, I’ll obviously keep watching, but with a chip on my shoulder the size of the gap in Michael Strahan’s front teeth.  I’ll watch the final four games of the 2007 season knowing that each game could have meant something, that this season could have gone somewhere. 

Guess it’s time to start reciting that all too familiar “there’s always next year” Saints fan pep talk…