January 19, 2017
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
If you are one of those people that don’t think the Saints should have paid Drew Brees so much money or that it is time to move on to another quarterback, then I encourage you to take a look at the four teams left standing in the NFL.
It is not a coincidence that the Falcons, Packers, Steelers, and Patriots are led by four great quarterbacks. Before you throw the Broncos from last year in my face, I will quickly recognize that it is still possible for an all-time great defense to make a Super Bowl run.
Now you have to acknowledge something for me. The Saints are light years away from having an all-time NFL great defense like the Broncos last year, but are not far away from the four teams that are still playing with good defenses and great quarterbacks.
Let’s also look at the arguments that have been used recently to fix the Saints’ woes by letting Drew move to another team.
Most frequently, I hear people say that Brees’ contract takes up too much of the salary cap. Matt Ryan’s salary cap number is 23.5 million. Aaron Rodgers is at 19.25 million. Tom Brady’s is a remarkably low 13.75 million. Ben Roethlisberger is a shade below 24 million. Brees is at 17.25 million.
Let’s go a little more in depth. Eli led the league with a salary cap hit of just over 24 million. Ben was second while Ryan was third. Joe Flacco and Matt Stafford were at 22.5 million.
The point is that it is possible to pay your quarterback and have a very good football team. Flacco was the only quarterback in the top 5 whose team did not make the playoffs. The Saints have not made the playoffs the past three years for reasons beyond the amount they have paid Drew Brees.
The fact is that you cannot pay your quarterback a ton of money, make poor choices in the draft, suffer major injuries at key positions, and make major signings in free agency that don’t work out. The Saints did all of that from 2014-2015. In 2016, some of that started to change and we could see the results change in 2017 with another quality draft.
The other reason people throw around for letting Brees move on is his age. Brees turned 38 on Sunday. Tom Brady is 39. Just watch both of them play. Enough said.
Honestly, I don’t even care about the other reasons because that talk always seems to be reserved for the off season when people have nothing else to do. During the season when Brees is throwing for 5,000 and leading a top 5 offense, I don’t hear people saying, “I wish the Saints had let Brees go and drafted Paxton Lynch.”
The answer for the Saints is not to let Sean Payton and Drew Brees move on to another team. The answer is to have another quality draft like last year. Make great decisions in free agency with their new found cap space. Then get a little lucky with injuries. The Saints have a better shot with that formula than starting from scratch.
HEY REF
How many can relate to this quote “Be careful what you wish for”? For years the NFL had turned its back on the Los Angeles market even though it’s one of the biggest markets in the entire USA. Now it seems all is forgiven as two NFL franchises are loading up the U-Hauls and heading for the land of milk and honey.
Well, that’s exactly what the owners of the Rams and Chargers are hoping for as last week the Chargers announced they are getting out of Dodge, I mean San Diego. Last year the Rams organization had a change of heart after spending 21 years in St. Louis and began playing back in their more familiar surroundings. Franchise movement is very difficult at times. It really comes down to what city will mortgage their first born children and spend a few BILLION dollars in the hopes of snatching a franchise, any franchise will do.
When Jerry Jones bought “America’s Team” then spent over $2 billion on a new fancy plush stadium the mold was struck. And so now any city or state wanting a team they can call their own will have to fork over BILLIONS of these American dollars just for a “sit down” with the owners. Some owners will do just about anything for a new home and that’s what the pilot of the Charger airline is doing.
Two teams made a deal with the L. A. Sports gods (Rams & Chargers) that calls for them to “share” the new stadium. Reminds me of those time-share deals where you spend many dollars a year to be able to use your apartment for a couple of weeks in the summer. But whatever caused the Chargers to agree to the land lease deal is somewhat of a shock to me. First thing that stinks is they will play their first two years not in the L. A. Coliseum but a kinda sandlot field named “StubHub Center” that seats a mere 27,000 fans and is home to the Major League Soccer’s L. A. Galaxy.
When I read the seating capacity is just 27,000 my brain went soft, which it does on a regular basis, so let’s not go there. But just 27,000 seats won’t pay for the hot dogs or peanuts. So there’s more to this move then meets the eye. Which of course means the NFL along with the city and county of Los Angeles are not letting all the facts out to the general public.
Some are now coming out and saying that two NFL franchises in the same warm weathered city like LA will never succeed. The main reason people are giving for the demise of this two team city is that the normal pleasant weather gives citizens and fans alike so much more to do than sit in a stadium with calm breezes on a cloud free day with gentile 80* degree temps.
For this experiment to work those in power that made good on getting two teams to relocate must keep fans interest on these two teams that are constant wanna-be’s. The Rams played in the Coliseum in 2016 where the stands stayed at just under 2/3 of capacity. In their first year back the Rams record was an uninspired 4-12. The new $2.6 BILLION dollar stadium in Inglewood won’t be ready to host any games until the 2019 season.
And we all know that’s an eternity to those fans that have been suffering year after year for just a hint at a winning season. This is a huge gamble that all I can say is that I do hope it succeeds. So many people’s lives will be on the line in a state facing a multi-billion dollar deficit. And some people might want to ask me why am I even concerned with what happens in the land of fruits and nuts.
I’ll just say this about that; less than 100 miles south of Baton Rouge is another NFL franchise that could easily jump on the traveling bandwagon. The state is looking for ways to balance its deficit of a little over $300 million and our legislature could tax those attending games to the tune of TOO MUCH and cause the Benson clan to set sail to another town that’ll build it a multi-billion dollar stadium.
Those that’ll be in power when Tom Benson passes will no doubt be looking for greener pastures. The example I’ll use is the one that shook the Walmart world; when its owner, Sam Walton passed. His cornerstone of why he opened that first store was so he could buy an American made shirt. Walmart was built in the first place as a way to buy and sell American made products. But when the kids took over the only line that mattered was the bottom line.
Today it’s estimated more than 80% of items on Walmart stores are foreign made with the most coming from China. If Saints’ fans get hit with large tax increases on their tickets, parking, memorabilia, hotel room and restaurants the NFL could be a thing of the past. Don’t sat it couldn’t happen as we all know money talks and BS walks. We could see the Saints playing in any of an estimated 100 cities so the entire football world has a stake in the L. A. Gamble. Let’s just hope when the Saints come marching in they’ll still be located in the Big Easy.
Till next week…
Jon Fine Wreaking Havoc at:
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