That Was Then, This Is Real-For-Now

Yes, fellow Saints fans, the world is right again.  Sure, we could nitpick.  Were there injuries?  Yup.  Did Hartley miss another thirty yarder?  Yup.  Did they miss a few potential interceptions?  Yup.  Was it our team's A game yet?  Probably not.

And then there's the fact that we whooped the snot out of . . . Tampa.  But let's forget that for a moment.  Look, I wasn't blinded by the 3-1 record any more than you.  Week one they beat . . . Jake.  Gee, I'm shaking in my black and gold boots.  Week two they beat . . . Carolina . . . with only 12 completed passes out of 24.  Yeah, that speaks more on the stankage of those teams than any perceived greatness of Tampa Bay.  Still, before you get all huffy about "It was just Tampa," remember how great it's going to be that we don't have to hear anyone singing their praises for another couple of weeks.  By the time people start to wonder about them again, we'll just give them another beat down in game #2 to prove them all wrong.  Again.  For now, I'm content to enjoy this victory.  It was a road game against a 3-1 division opponent.  Relish that.

Now, I know a bunch of you want to throw Jenkins to the wolves over that late hit.  Honestly, I still don't think it was that bad.  Should he have gotten the penalty?  Sure.  Throw the damn flag.  But the dude had momentum for crying out loud.  It takes a lot to bring a guy like that down, and had he not thrown himself at Freeman when he did and the guy happened to slip around Jenkins, we'd all be screaming for his head for not throwing the guy to the ground.  And Freeman can whine all he wants, but it didn't even look like it was a particularly low hit either.  Now, the swat at Freeman's head after they got up was a different matter.  It was a stupid move, I'm not excusing that at all. But Freeman ran his mouth an awful lot.  And not just right after the hit.  Freaking Ronde Barber pulled Jenkins aside, calmed him down, and Freeman still took his big ass self around the crowd to get back in Jenkins' face.  Again.  Where was the flag for that?  I'm all for a quarterback with moxie, but that just ticked me off.  If the NFL wants to protect their fragile QBs, they need to have a sit down with them and tell them if they're going to get in someone's face they need to be prepared to get swatted by a defender or a pretty yellow flag.

I don't know about all of you, but I'm pretty content.  We may need to wait until Halloween to battle a worthy opponent and find out if these are the "Real" Saints, but I'm ok with Real-For-Now.
Besides, it's Homecoming Week in New Orleans.  Put on your party hats, bitches!