Saints vs. Packers

Welcome back football season, oh how we’ve missed you.  Yes, in this post, I am attempting to review a football game.  This won’t happen often so enjoy it. 

This season is special because the sport overcame a lockout that caused most of the off-season to be missed and produced possibly the most frenzied free agency for any sport ever (or at least until the NBA has its).  The players and owners took it down to the wire, and fortunately someone realized 9 billion dollars is a lot of revenue and decided to earn some of it this year. 

So, did the NFL ease us back into regular season football with a one-sided contest? Not. In. the. Slightest.

We got to watch the past two Super Bowl winners duke it out until the last play of the game.  In fact, we got to watch an extra play!  Despite losing 42-34, the Saints were almost more impressive than the Packers for their sheer tenacity.  The Packers scored immediately, quickly, and repeatedly.  Every time, Drew Brees and the Saints answered back.  The Saints were manhandled by the Packers defense and still were one play, and one yard, away from having a chance to tie the game and force overtime.

If anything seems to have been negatively affected by the lockout, it’s special teams play. If it wasn’t a touchback or punted out of bounds, the kicking team seemed to be embarrassed by the return team every time.  There were two returns for touchdowns, one for each team.  These occurred despite one simple fact: the new kickoff rule is a joke. It’s just plain boring watching football players take a knee in the end zone.  It is, however, hilarious when a player decides to run it out of the end zone and gets a TD out of it.  

With neither running game finding success, this game became the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, too bad for the Saints they shot blanks on 4th and short at the wrong times.  With their performances, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers solidified themselves as two of the best quarterbacks in the league, each carrying their offenses, in Brees’ case, his team, almost single handedly.

 This season is going to be awesome (possibly hyperbolic), and I can’t wait.

Matt Brickell is a contributing writer and an avid Giants fan who thinks that even without a single healthy starter on defense, the Giants will still make the playoffs.