WARNING: This post is gonna blow.

Aaaand here we go. Finally. At long last, the real Saints are back (or so we've been led to believe) and so are meaningful games. It's about time. Now the only question is whether or not the mojo will be back.

You'll be happy to know that we here at moosedenied have done our part. Yesterday, in a small, private ceremony, several "Unknown Who Dat for Mayor" tee shirts met their ignominious demise in a furious blaze of irrational, effigial rage. I'm not usually one to indulge in such superstitious asshattery, but desperate times call for desperate measures. You're welcome. Or something.*

Meantime, back in the real world, where football games are decided by the players on the field, I've gotta say that I'm feeling pretty good about it. Count me in with the people who think that the Arizona/Green Bay game went about as well as it could have gone for the Saints.

I'm sure you've already read the stat about overtime winners in the wildcard round being 0-4 the following week. There's also the stat about teams that score 50 in a playoff game standing virtually no chance the following week. Arizona's got the double-whammy on 'em going in.

Even better is that these particular stats don't strike me as the kind of anecdotal quackery typical of statistical "analysis" offered by media types during the playoffs. To the contrary, the causal relationship here seems pretty obvious to me. And it rings true.

They shot their whole load.

Then they've gotta turn right around and go on the road.
To play a higher-seeded team.
Who had the previous week off.

The stats may show that homefield advantage in and of itself might be a tad overrated. But add in all the associated factors, including the 50 point output and overtime last week, not to mention the short week for them, and how can it not add up to a huge steaming pile of "we're screwed" for the Cardinals?

Diamond Joe Quimby: People, we are far from screwed!

You really, really are. Need more? Behold…

*BREAKING NEWS: Word has just come down that the "Unknown Who Dat" has DECLINED the offer of yet another fully-comped trip to the Dome this Saturday as a result of his being a funny looking old dude who was on tee vee for a couple seconds and was subsequently deified by a bunch of mawkish celebrity-worshippers with money to burn and/or earn and 15 minutes of second-hand fame to enjoy some kind of phony, manufactured "inspiration" to the Who Dat Nation and a True Blue Die Hard Saints(/Redskins/Colts) fan.

We here at moosedenied hereby claim full credit for this incredibly fortunate turn of events.

Oh, it is on now. Our long local nightmare is over. Halle-fuckin-lujah.

Now, back to less mindnumbingly-stupid matters.

Besides the significant (arguably even overwhelming) disadvantage the Cardinals face coming to the Dome this weekend, I've also been comforted by the calm confidence coming out of Airline this week. For the first time in a while now, it's not setting off my bullshit detector. It's coming across as genuine, and more importantly, it doesn't sound like the Saints are trying to convince themselves.

There was a lot of that going on in December, and it was eerily reminiscent of 2007/2008 from a vibe standpoint. The 2007/2008 teams got into their own heads. The nervousness was palpable. There was this whole "We believe, but…" thing going on.

This week? Not so much. Not at all, in fact. The vibe is a whole lot more like it was back in October and November. The "it's all going to shit and there's not a damn thing we can do about it" undertones aren't there anymore.

Even better, so far they've seemingly resisted the urge to go down the "NOBODY RESPECKS™ US!!!!" road, which is as sure a sign of desperation and lack of genuine confidence as it gets these days for athletes. Even when it's true. Which it sure as hell has been since the Dallas game.

I'm usually not one to get all pissed off over the eternal perception that the national media is gleefully selling our heroes short. And I plead not guilty of really being pissed off about it now. But it really has been ridiculous here lately.

I mean, just yesterday my head almost exploded as some Screamin' A Smith wannabe on ESPN presented the world with scientific evidence that the Cards are a lock because the Saints have only scored something like 14 points per game over the last 3 while failing to mention that Mark Brunell started one of 'em in a glorified forfeit… (hold on, it gets better) … while the Cards have scored something like 37 points per game over their last 3… IF YOU TAKE AWAY THEIR 33-7 WEEK 17 GLORIFIED FORFEIT!

No, seriously. That was what passed for "statistical analysis." He also failed to mention that one of his 3 Cards games featured a 51 point output… in an overtime win at home by a margin of a mere 6 points. Last weekend!

Guh.

Then this morning, ESPN's Marcellus Wiley asked us to trust him as he asserted that, as a former player, he'd much rather be in Arizona's position right now than the Saints'.

Again, I shit you not. Evidently, Marcellus figures that going on the road on a short week after an overtime game is totally the position you wanna be in. Oh yeah, no question about it. That's far better than being at home and coming off a bye week. Who are you to argue? Dude played in the NFL. Have you? Yeah, that's what I thought. You're just gonna have to trust him on this.

Oh and there's also the matter of the pecking order among the remaining quarterbacks: 1) Favre 1a) Warner 1b) Romo. And then there's that other guy.

I mean, seriously. Holy fuckballs. How does one even respond to that kind of asshattery?

You don't, that's how. Not beforehand, not afterwards. You just don't. That the Saints haven't is a very good sign.

Meanwhile, here's what's been coming out of Tempe…

Darnell Dockett: "Exhausting. Exhausting. Exhausting"
Antrell Rolle: "I fought for 65 minutes. I don't know if I could have fought for 66."

Yeah.

But once again I've digressed into some inconsequential bullshit. Christ, have I really gone on for 1000 words on UWD and the evil Saints-hating national media? For fuck's sake. Told ya this post was gonna blow.

Well, might as well go balls-out with it I guess. Say, if you're the type who enjoys Super Bowl betting…

I promise I'll do better next week.