The Saints will bring the juice tonight. Taysom Hill gets his first start of the year at QB, his injured foot is improving and he has practiced fully all week. Hill is very popular among both Saint teammates and fans. Super Dome will be rockin’ and Sean Payton will be itching to open up his playbook more than he has while Trevor Siemian was the starter. New Orleans is desperate after dropping four straight to fall to 5-6.
Hill will light up that huddle, but it will glow like Times Square if Alvin Kamara is ready to go. Kamara has had some limited practice on his gimpy knee this week, and is officially listed as questionable. This is the NFL. “Questionable” means, “Hell, yes, I’m playing. I’ll see you at seven.” Ditto for Mark Ingram, who has always been a Kowboy Killer.
Then there’s the other side of the equation. Dallas has lost three of its last four. The Cowboys have a COVID problem, at least if you consider the absence of Mike McCarthy to be problematic. Cooper and Lamb are back, at least. That cannot be a bad thing. We’ll see if and how much Zeke plays. Part of me thinks the rational move would be to just throw the keys to Tony Pollard.
There’s only one thing about this game we know for sure. The Saints will play like their hair is on fire. We don’t know what spark Dallas will bring. TBD.
The Seahawks are taking a look at Adrian Peterson. Is Earnest Byner not available?
I respect former NFL G.M. Mike Tannenbaum. He just ranked his top 35 NFL quarterbacks. It’s meant to be a snapshot, not a lifetime achievement list. Here’s his top five.
- Rodgers
- Mahomes
- Brady
- Murray
- Prescott
OK. I might shuffle that a little, but we’re pretty much on the same page. But the shocking part of Tannenbaum’s ranking is in the lower part of the list.
11. Stafford
12. Wilson
17. Ryan
19. Wentz
26. Roethlisberger
27. Mayfield
28. Bridgewater
31. Dalton
33. Goff
34. Newton
I believe economists and financial analysts would call this ledger “depreciating assets.” That’s a lot of “dead money.”
No baseball? Hell, I’m finally in a place in my life when I can watch more baseball. And now there’s no baseball to watch. I’m gonna go all Overwrought Charlton Heston on you.
“Damn you! Damn you all to hell!”