If I recall, the Saints were looking towards their next opponent last year. It did not work out too well for them.

If the Saints lose and the Giants win, the 9ers will play the Giants. Just saying.

End_Of_Line: If I recall, the Saints were looking towards their next opponent last year. It did not work out too well for them.

The difference being, when San Francisco doesn't show up to play this weekend, they're still in the playoffs next week. Kind of the advantage of having a bye...

Lions and Broncos are going troll the shiat out of the NFL this weekend.

Wyckyd Sceptre: Jesus, the Lions and their coach are the biggest bunch of whining, biatching, arm-stomping cheap shot artists in the game. Who do you expect him to prepare for? The team that already beat you once and is unstoppable at home, or you - the team both SF and NO already beat and only made the playoffs because of a weak NFC? Shut up and play - you'll get respect if you earn it.

Oh, and your city farking sucks.

lolwut

Wyckyd Sceptre: Jesus, the Lions and their coach are the biggest bunch of whining, biatching, arm-stomping cheap shot artists in the game. Who do you expect him to prepare for? The team that already beat you once and is unstoppable at home, or you - the team both SF and NO already beat and only made the playoffs because of a weak NFC? Shut up and play - you'll get respect if you earn it.

Oh, and your city farking sucks.

...Uuuuh?

End_Of_Line: If I recall, the Saints were looking towards their next opponent last year. It did not work out too well for them.

I don't know a single fan who thought we were going to run over the Seahawks other than bandwagoners, and I wasn't surprised whatsoever at the result. Plus, the Trollhawks turned on hax with that farking run

god damn
that was some farking tecmo bowl shiat

Wyckyd Sceptre: Jesus, the Lions and their coach are the biggest bunch of whining, biatching, arm-stomping cheap shot artists in the game. Who do you expect him to prepare for? The team that already beat you once and is unstoppable at home, or you - the team both SF and NO already beat and only made the playoffs because of a weak NFC? Shut up and play - you'll get respect if you earn it.

Oh, and your city farking sucks.

I think you have your leagues mixed up. The NFC is by far the toughest of the 2 leagues - if the Lions were in the AFC, they would be killing everyone.

/Matt Stafford - 5th most passing yards all time behind Dan Marino, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees
//never thought I'd ever see a Lion's player there

I'm looking forward to ESPN's handshakegate retrospective.

Precious Roy's Horse Dividers: Oops (new window)

don't know how I didn't see that before. awesome.

So what you're saying is Harbaugh isn't giving Schwartz a fair shake?

4NSpy: So what you're saying is Harbaugh isn't giving Schwartz a fair shake?

Done in 16.

Wyckyd Sceptre: kukukupo: Wyckyd Sceptre: Jesus, the Lions and their coach are the biggest bunch of whining, biatching, arm-stomping cheap shot artists in the game. Who do you expect him to prepare for? The team that already beat you once and is unstoppable at home, or you - the team both SF and NO already beat and only made the playoffs because of a weak NFC? Shut up and play - you'll get respect if you earn it.

Oh, and your city farking sucks.

I think you have your leagues mixed up. The NFC is by far the toughest of the 2 leagues - if the Lions were in the AFC, they would be killing everyone.

/Matt Stafford - 5th most passing yards all time behind Dan Marino, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees
//never thought I'd ever see a Lion's player there

Just because the top teams in the NFC are stronger than the AFC doesn't mean this is a power year for the NFC. Only 6 teams above .500 does not a power conference make.

I really hope you are trolling. The AFC only has 6 teams above .500 as well.

Sargun: End_Of_Line: If I recall, the Saints were looking towards their next opponent last year. It did not work out too well for them.

I don't know a single fan who thought we were going to run over the Seahawks other than bandwagoners, and I wasn't surprised whatsoever at the result. Plus, the Trollhawks turned on hax with that farking run

god damn
that was some farking tecmo bowl shiat

I thought we were going to whoop the Seahawks bad to be honest. All credit to the Seahawks for bringing their best football of the year to that game. They earned that win. I do think this year will be different with the Lions. The Saints have been peaking in performance and playing their best offensive and defensive football right at the end of the season. Also, besides making fewer dumb mistakes they are pretty healthy (for the most part compared with most other NFC playoff teams right now)

All that bodes well for a lopsided score, but I'll be happy with any kind of win against Detroit ( and no bad injuries) .even if its an ugly and lucky win.

There is no way on God's green Earth the Lions will beat the Saints in NO this weekend. Look for a 42-17 beatdown.

/and Im a Lions fan.

Of course they are spending extra time preparing for the Saints. They have already played the Giants this year, so have done plenty of work on them already. That leaves the Falcons and the Saints as the two possible eams they will face that they haven't played yet this year. The most likely one is the Saints.

I personally hope they play the Falcons. I'm still pissed about the last two games, in which retarded 49ers cornerbacks fumbled the ball after Roddy Whites crazy ass chased them down. One of those games it's the reason they lost. The other its the reason they got blown out.

kukukupo: Wyckyd Sceptre: Jesus, the Lions and their coach are the biggest bunch of whining, biatching, arm-stomping cheap shot artists in the game. Who do you expect him to prepare for? The team that already beat you once and is unstoppable at home, or you - the team both SF and NO already beat and only made the playoffs because of a weak NFC? Shut up and play - you'll get respect if you earn it.

Oh, and your city farking sucks.

I think you have your leagues mixed up. The NFC is by far the toughest of the 2 leagues - if the Lions were in the AFC, they would be killing everyone.

/Matt Stafford - 5th most passing yards all time behind Dan Marino, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees
//never thought I'd ever see a Lion's player there

You don't honestly think the Lions would be "killing everyone" if they were an AFC team, do you? I mean, that's just a reactionary post to an questionable comment about the NFC being weak, right?

Lions would be the 4th best team in the AFC, behind NE, Baltimore & Pittsburgh. The NFC is definitely the tougher conference, but the Lions are mediocre regardless of which conference they're in.

Wyckyd Sceptre: Jesus, the Lions and their coach are the biggest bunch of whining, biatching, arm-stomping cheap shot artists in the game. Who do you expect him to prepare for? The team that already beat you once and is unstoppable at home, or you - the team both SF and NO already beat and only made the playoffs because of a weak NFC? Shut up and play - you'll get respect if you earn it.

Oh, and your city farking sucks.

Jim is trying to give the Lions some bulletin board material. No doubt McCarthy will chime in tomorrow about how the Lions have no chance and should not even show up this weekend.

End_Of_Line: If I recall, the Saints were looking towards their next opponent last year. It did not work out too well for them.

Wasn't that the game with the greatest run from scrimmage in NFL playoff history?

You might even say he's spending the lion's share on the Saints

Wyckyd Sceptre: Just because the top teams in the NFC are stronger than the AFC doesn't mean this is a power year for the NFC. Only 6 teams above .500 does not a power conference make.

I think the NFC beat the AFC two more times this year than the AFC beat the NFC. They are both equally shiatty after the top few teams.

So he is spending more time on the 3rd seed that he might play than he is the two teams playing in the other wild card game? Seems the obvious way to go. He will have a whole other week before he actually has to play anyone to prepare (for the Giants/Falcons winner) if he gets it wrong and New Orleans loses.

tortilla burger: You might even say he's spending the lion's share on the Saints

Yes. Headline had me trying to figure out if there was a different version of whatever that song is called - "Oh when the saints come stomping in"

If you had to chose one to focus most of your energy to prepare to play out of the Giants, the Falcons, and the Saints, who wouldn't choose the Saints? Regardless of who you think is going to win or lose that first week, why wouldn't you focus on the best team? Best case scenario, Lions win and you don't have to play the Saints, just the Falcons or the Giants.

Also, where the fark is the Lion's outrage in the article?

Still, Harbaugh's semi-prediction didn't sit well in the Lions locker room.

"I don't know if it was meant as a slight," defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said.

Doesn't scream outrage to me. I think the team thinks the same thing the fans are thinking - They know they're a long shot against the Saints, but they'll give it their best effort. Most longtime fans are happy enough to get to see a playoff game and a winning season. After the last 12 years, its great to get out of that losing rut.

I'm a New Orleanian, and just hosted a shiat-ton of Michigan fans for the Sugar Bowl. Most were Lions fans as well, and of those, they all expressed respect for the Saints. It was nice talking with them as compared to the douchebags from Atlanta I had to listen to last week even as we were slaughtering them on national television.

Anyway, I smelled fear on Lions fans' breath. Told them all that I'm really happy for them as fans, to finally see a serviceable product on the field. But I just don't see this Saturday being anything but another Saints fortyburger. People keep bringing up that humiliation with St. Louis and Tampa, but the thing is - teams who play hot in December are the ones who plow through the playoffs. I just don't see another Seahawks troll (an epic one, admittedly) happening this year. If we lose, it will be to the weather and freakish offense in GB.

The Saints can handle the 49ers. I wouldn't bet the farm on it, but there's no reason to believe we can't win that hypothetical game, even without the Dome as the 12th man.

mikaloyd: I thought we were going to whoop the Seahawks bad to be honest. All credit to the Seahawks for bringing their best football of the year to that game. They earned that win. I do think this year will be different with the Lions. The Saints have been peaking in performance and playing their best offensive and defensive football right at the end of the season. Also, besides making fewer dumb mistakes they are pretty healthy (for the most part compared with most other NFC playoff teams right now)

Remember the '07 Giants? Mid-season they were all but written off. Coughlin was was considered a lame duck. And then the whole farking team - especially the defense - just lit up and barreled through everything in sight. And, oh yeah, they won the Super Bowl.

The stats are in our (Saints) favor. When you start firing on all cylinders late in the year, you tend to fark up anyone you meet in January. We're definitely not infallible, and our defense can still be trolled hard. But the bottom line is that we're on fire now as opposed to riding a strong start. Historically, you can't ask for better odds.

kukukupo: /Matt Stafford - 5th most passing yards all time behind Dan Marino, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees

I love stafford but this is why people dont think brees setting the record is a big deal, at the rate the league is going the record will broken every year for the next 5-10, so why get excited about one person passing it?

robsul82: Yep, I'll take anything we can get as long as we're healthy afterwards. As long as there's no injuries and we win, I'll book my ticket up to Boston to watch the Saints-Niners divisional round game with my Niners fan best friend and I'll be cool.

One of my best friends is a Whiners fan. We've known each other since the old NFC West days when SF routinely humiliated NO as a matter of course. For the most of the past decade our sport loyalties haven't been an issue outside of my occasional sh*t-eating-grin reminders of how good the Saints are, but this year the sh*t-talking on his end has been ramping up exponentially with each passing week. I love it!

Life is too short not to have a good friend who hates your football team, particularly in a potential playoff scenario. Like politics, I enjoy having someone around to disagree with me.

steamingpile: kukukupo: /Matt Stafford - 5th most passing yards all time behind Dan Marino, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees

I love stafford but this is why people dont think brees setting the record is a big deal, at the rate the league is going the record will broken every year for the next 5-10, so why get excited about one person passing it?

Why is the memory of losing your virginity so strong compared to all the other times you got laid?

You're right that the league is pass-happy and the record will likely be surpassed sooner than later. But Brees broke a nearly 30 year-old milestone, and that's why it's such a big deal.

Meanwhile, instead of winning playoff games, Phil Rivers is winning another season of Norv.



This is Norv's happy face.

Look, either he's gonna spend time on the team he's most likely to play instead of the other 2 that they've already beaten.

robsul82: Tardface went and begged for Norv to keep his job. He deserves that idiot, haha.

One of the Chargers made a comment about how unless you're with them in the locker room, working every day to win a Super Bowl, you can't understand how much all of them want to get a ring. When you take away the Penn State aspect, it makes sense his players might really believe in him.

CrazyWhiteBoy311: If you had to chose one to focus most of your energy to prepare to play out of the Giants, the Falcons, and the Saints, who wouldn't choose the Saints? Regardless of who you think is going to win or lose that first week, why wouldn't you focus on the best team? Best case scenario, Lions win and you don't have to play the Saints, just the Falcons or the Giants.

Also, where the fark is the Lion's outrage in the article?

Still, Harbaugh's semi-prediction didn't sit well in the Lions locker room.

"I don't know if it was meant as a slight," defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said.

Doesn't scream outrage to me. I think the team thinks the same thing the fans are thinking - They know they're a long shot against the Saints, but they'll give it their best effort. Most longtime fans are happy enough to get to see a playoff game and a winning season. After the last 12 years, its great to get out of that losing rut.

As a lifelong Lions fan, this. We aren't used to this. We haven't won an NFL championship since when?1945? And we've only won one playoff game since then and that was 12 years ago. (Thank you Barry Sanders) Us Lions fans will just stand back and see how all this plays out. We've been disappointed too many times before to hope of too much.