Making Ourselves Feel Better By Making Others Feel Worse

Atlanta: Alge Crumpler went off on the Falcons coaches yesterday after their loss to Tennessee. It was pretty sweet.

"I've never been in a game where we had that many opportunities - and a miracle, with a [botched] punt - and we still couldn't score," tight end Alge Crumpler said. "When we cross the 50, we're the worst offense in the National Football League.

"We're trying to trust them. They keep telling us, ‘Trust us, trust us.' We've been trying to trust them the whole time."

The "we" would be the players. The "they" would be the coaches.

Crumpler goes on to accuse coaches and management of phasing out veterans and trying to get the young guys more playing time. The implication is that the Falcons wrote this season off as a loss from the beginning, which is just the kind of breakdown in chemistry that could lead to a mutiny of the veterans. Hell, they may even stop trying to win games. It's funny because they haven't won one yet.

Carolina: Will Smith rocked David Carr's house yesterday and delivered such a devastating hit that Carr is reconsidering his career choice.

Said Carr: "When I got hit, I got sat on and then twisted. Every bone in my back popped all the way up to the back of my neck. It was by far the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. ... I didn't know honestly if I'd ever play again."

The worst pain he's ever felt. This is the same David Carr whose career sacks have to be expressed exponentially, so that's really saying something. Carr came back into the game and he'll probably recover to play again. It doesn't matter a whole lot, though, since it's either him, Jake Delhomme with a bad throwing arm or an undrafted rookie free agent. Awesome.

New Orleans: The Saints are in pretty sorry shape after losing to the Panthers. Olindo Mare is about to get sent packing because he's so inconsistent (remember, they canned John Carney,) Reggie Bush has yet to have a breakout run and is hovering at about 2.9 YPC, and Drew Brees has now thrown 9 INTs to 1 TD this season.

"We got beat in the first three games," Brees said. "This one we gave away."

That's probably true since they were playing the Panthers. There's no winner there; just the lesser of two fuck-ups.

The Bucs could probably go 6-10 and still make the playoffs in this division. And once the playoffs start, it's a whole new season and anything could happen. Hey, it worked! I do feel better. Thanks, guys!