Many fans of football would say that what we have coming up in two days is the best weekend of the season. The Divisional round of the playoffs is the first time we get all of the best teams playing against each other. The first round byes have given the top seeds a week to rest, and the Wild Card weekend winners are looking to make it two straight postseason wins. There were interesting and exciting games last weekend, and hopefully this weekend is no different.
The final game of the weekend will be the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles heading into New Orleans to play the top seeded New Orleans Saints. The two teams played earlier this season, and the Saints won convincingly by a score of 48-7. Obviously, the game wasn't very close, and Eagles' offensive tackle Jason Peters came out a few days ago and said he and some of his teammates were angry because they believed New Orleans ran up the score at the end of the game. Drew Brees hit Alvin Kamara for a 37 yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to take the score from 38-7 to 45-7, and Peters claimed it was disrespectful for the Saints to do that. I never played football, so maybe I don't have perfect perspective on this, but I think his claims are ridiculous.
The Eagles won the Super Bowl last year. Peters was on the team. So, obviously they have had targets on their backs all season. When you see the defending champs on your schedule, you get up for the game, and that is what the Saints did. The Saints had a great year, but no matter how good your team is, you treat a game against the reigning champs a little bit differently. The Eagles had plenty of fun last season with their dog masks and that asinine outfit that Peters' fellow lineman, Jason Kelce wore during the Super Bowl parade. I'm sure as they were celebrating all of those wins, they weren't very worried about the feelings of the players on the teams that they beat to get to that parade.
When Kamara scored the touchdown that Peters was talking about, there was 13:15 remaining in the game. The drive that ended with that touchdown actually began in the third quarter. Does scoring on a pass with less than two minutes gone in the fourth quarter really count as running up the score? I can't agree with Peters that it does. Like I said, they are the defending champs, so teams were ready to play them all season. It wasn't like the Saints were going for a touchdown on 4th down with 10 seconds left in the game from the one yard line. I would consider that running up the score. Is scoring on a 37 yard pass on a drive that didn't even begin in the fourth quarter so bad that Peters should still be insulted by it months later? I don't think so.
I can't believe I'm going to use the Cowboys as an example here, but I looked at Philadelphia's schedule from last season and found a game in Week 11 (the same week that the Eagles and Saints game was this year) and found a case of what Peters must consider running up the score then too, and I don't believe he apologized for it a year ago.
The Eagles began a drive in the third quarter that went into the fourth quarter and ended with the Eagles scoring on a 17 yard touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffrey to go up by three touchdowns. There was 12:02 left on the clock when they scored that touchdown, so there was actually less time on the clock than when Kamara scored against Philadelphia this year. To make Peters' claim even more laughable, the Eagles actually tried to convert a two-point conversion after that touchdown instead of kicking an extra point, but failed to score.
What does Peters think teams should do? Run the fullback up the middle every play once a team gets ahead by a few touchdowns? Take a knee for the entire fourth quarter so the other guys don't get their feelings hurt? This is professional football. You're supposed to be tough both physically and mentally when you play. If you can hand out a beatdown and celebrate and dance, then don't be mad when the other guys do the same thing.
I feel the same about pitchers in baseball who complain and get angry when they give up home runs. You know how to stop the other guys from celebrating? Stop them. Strike them out. Don't complain that you aren't good enough, because you are getting paid to be good enough just like your opponents are.
Peters is a very good player. When he retires, I think he could possibly be a Hall of Famer. That makes it even more ludicrous that he claims the Saints were running up the score with nearly an entire quarter of football left to play. Peters has played plenty of games in his career, and he should know that crazy things can happen. Crazy like a huge fourth quarter comeback, or crazy like a team wanting to beat up on the team that beat up on the entire league the season before. It's easy to be on top, but when you aren't there is when you need to be even tougher.
Peters is certainly using that game and what he perceived to be disrespectful as motivation for the game this Sunday. And he should. He should also be happy that his team is getting a chance to avenge that loss. When the Eagles scored 51 points against Denver last year, the Broncos never got a shot at revenge. I'm sure everyone on Denver was pissed off about that. But they had to deal with it.
Now, Peters has to do the same thing. If they throw a pass that ends up resulting in a touchdown with 13:15 remaining in the game to put his team up by four touchdowns, I'm sure he won't be writing an apology letter to the Saints. He is going to be celebrating and most likely rubbing it into the faces of everyone on the New Orleans sideline. And he will have earned the right to do that. If you want to dance and pose for the cameras when you win, then don't be upset when the other team does the same thing. Go ahead and win this weekend Jason. If that is happening and you want the team to run up the score, then that's perfectly fine. We'll see if that happens on Sunday.
Daily Rangers Update: The All Star break cannot come soon enough for this team, as it has now been six losses in the past seven games after a 4-3 loss to the Islanders last night.
Daily NBA Update: LaMarcus Aldridge had a huge game in a double overtime thriller against Oklahoma City, and Nikola Jokic continues to be really good as well.
Daily Giants Update: Kyler Murray, despite my advice, seems like he is headed into the NFL Draft. I hope he does well, but I also really hope the Giants do not take him because, in my opinion, he is way too small to be a quarterback that lasts long in the NFL.
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