When Luster Fades...

I'm not an expert on football, but I've paid increasing attention over the last 5 years as my time in Baltimore has given me time to know and love the Ravens. Baltimore's 08-09 season was an incredible surprise to just about everyone, but the luster seems to have faded. Joe Flacco has hit a typical 2nd year plateau thanks to several issues: teams have had a year to study him, and they've picked out his techniques; Flacco also doesn't have many weapons on offense - Ray Rice is a monster, but Derek Mason is the only other reliable receiver. When you're in the red zone, short dump passes to Rice won't get you 6 points.

The Ravens will be fun to watch next season, but unless something changes drastically in the next 3 games, they're not getting anywhere near the Superbowl. The real stories this year, in my opinion, are the Patriots and the Saints. (The Bengals and Colts are doing well, but the Bengals are benefitting from consistently being underestimated, and while the Colts have Peyton Manning, he may be the only thing holding that team together.)

The game between New England and New Orleans on November 30th was one of the best I've ever seen. Both teams played an incredible first quarter, but the Patriots couldn't change enough to counter Drew Brees's incredible talent (highlights here). For the last 45 minutes of the game, the Patriots got worked like a Burmese kid in an Old Navy factory. As someone who hadn't seen the Saints play before and who also holds great disdain for Tom Brady and Bill Belicheat, the game made me euphoric.

Hopefully, New England's losses to the Colts and the Saints will finally break whatever spell has kept people afraid of the Patriots for so long. The Patriots had a great season back in 2007, but teams change so much between February and August; I don't understand why so many teams are still afraid of the Patriots. Anything can happen in a game - we've seen that several times this year. I've always gotten the sense that people think of the Patriots as the team that truly tests whether or not another club is great. Naive as I may sound, I'm hoping that their incredible loss to the Saints and their collapse against the Colts continue to snowball into a complete meltdown that removes the sense of invincibility that has helped the Patriots so many times before.