AT LEAST THEY DIDN'T LOSE ON MY BIRTHDAY.

When I (and I'm sure many of you) looked at the schedule at the beginning of the season, I penciled in the Saints for two victories against the Falcons. That's a key part of the reason I thought the Saints would finish 10-6. During the bye week, I still thought 10-6 was a possibility. But that hinged on, once again, sweeping the Falcons.

Now, I picked the Falcons to win the game. As the season has developed, it's become evident that the Falcons were solid and far from the pushover we expected. Clearly, they are the winners of the who-will-be-the-surprise-team-of-the-season question. (With the Dolphins right behind them. Look at the schedule for the Fish. Easier than those chicks on Airline.)

I think there's a good chance a 10-6 team won't make the playoffs in the NFC. To even get to 10-6, the Saints have to go 6-1. Including games at Tampa and at Chicago. Hmm. You just wait till next year. That doesn't mean I won't be watching every play of the rest of the season. 

Thoughts, notes and observations of the Black and Gold.

1) The past couple of games, the Saints have started with plenty of running. They always end up forgetting about it, but at least they were starting with it. Sunday, they go deep two out of the first three plays. OK. That makes sense. 

2) Saints record when I'm there: 3-0.

Saints record when I'm at home: 1-0.

Saints record when I'm at work: 0-2.

Saints record when I'm at Fox & Hound: 0-3.

Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the problem with the Saints here.

3) Let's be positive about the game for a second. I was pleased with the performance of two players. That's better than none, right? Pierre Thomas and Marques Colston.

-- Sure Colston dropped a touchdown early and had another go off his fingertips. But overall, he played a nice game. He made some tough catches in traffic. Reminded me of his old self. 

-- In his limited runs, Thomas ran hard, broke a few tackles and fought for yardage. He even provided a good check-down for Brees. As a color commentator would probably say right now, that guy is just a football player.

4) Two plays that made my blood boil.

a) Brees' second interception. 

-- If the Saints score on that drive, it's a one TD game with right over four minutes left. The defense had done a better job in the second half. It's possible (though certainly not definite) that the Saints get the ball back with enough time. The offense would have been rolling by that point and probably would have scored the tying touchdown. Then, it's a toss-up in overtime. 

Brees, however, threw an interception. Why am I making it sound like it's his fault. It wasn't. Lance Moore hesitated in the middle of his route. If he keeps running, he runs right into the ball for a touchdown. That slight pause caused the interception. Way to go, Lopes.

b) Norwood's long touchdown.

-- I know that boy is fast. I know he can make a defender look silly. But Scott Shanle's approach to that tackle was atrocious. He started in the right direction, then all of sudden, he slowed down. That had nothing to do with Norwood's moves. He just slowed down. Before he could restart, Norwood was by him. That tackle could have been made. And would have been by someone who doesn't suck.

(I'm not saying the Saints win if both of these plays are made. It might still have been a blowout. But they both made me drop my head, put my hand on my forehead and shake.)

5) I knew the Falcons would score fairly easily. I thought the Saints did still have a chance to win, though. They just didn't keep up. There's an understatement. Not counting the garbage-time touchdown, the Saints had six deep penetrations into Falcons territory. Deep. How many points did they score off those? 13 freaking points. That's how many. THIRTEEN.

Here's my worst-case scenario for SIX deep drives: one mishap and no score, three field goals and two touchdowns. That's 23 points. If you count the pick-six as negative-7, the Saints scored six points on those six drives. Not 23. Six.

6) The Saints final touchdown pissed me off in multiple ways.

a) I'm playing Drew Brees in one of my fantasy leagues. That last pass gave my opponent 7.28 points. If I lose, I better lose by more than that. Or so help me. 

b) I love Drew Brees. Like a lot. But by no means am I cheering for him to break Dan's all-time passing record for a single-season. The whole fourth quarter was infuriating. Big passing numbers. Not very close to a comeback. Lose. Lose. 

I did a Dan-Drew comparison chart, so I know the numbers. Brees needs to average 299.9 yards for the final seven games to surpass Dan. By the way, here's a look at the game-by-game of Kansas City's yards allowed passing: 152, 55, 192, 361, 236, 123, 290, 339, 316. We couldn't play the Chiefs early in the season?

7) The fan who sat behind Paul and me at Fox & Hound on Sunday was some aggravating. His voice reminded me of Beetle Juice. He kept trying to explain to me (even though I wouldn't acknowledge his "hey you") what the Saints needed to do to win. Live every ten minutes. I felt like saying: They're down by three touchdowns. Shut up.

He yelled at me at one point to sit down because I was blocking his view. The game was on commercial. He also wanted to bench Brees. Boy, we got some bright fans out there.

8) Paul delivered three clueless moments. (Keep in mind, he's a Dolphins fan.)

a) Paul: New England just scored.

Me: Who scored it?

Paul: Some guy with a long name. I don't know him. 

(You mean local product BenJarvus Green-Ellis? One of only two healthy running backs for the Patriots, a team you hate and that the Fish play twice a year.)

b) Brees throws an incompletion to Shockey in the fourth quarter.

Announcer: That's not going to help the Brees-Shockey relationship.

Paul (to me): There's a problem between Brees and Shockey?

(Have you seen any of this game?)

c) Paul sees that the Bears and Titans (last remaining undefeated team) are tied.

Paul: Do the '72 Dolphins still get together if the Titans lose? 

Me: Uh, yeah.

Paul: OK. Because I didn't know if they counted the Patriots last year as undefeated.

(Uh, who won the Super Bowl?)

THE TINA CURSING CORNER

The faucet in the kitchen is giving us problems again. My mom is not happy about it. "This thing is fucking pissing me off." (We replaced the faucet today. That's the second faucet we've replaced in the past three months.)

Mom can't understand why David Archuleta (who she doesn't like) has a CD coming out before David Cook (who she likes). "How the fuck did that happen?" Then, thirty seconds later. "I hope it fucking bombs."

I'm taping Family Guy on the DVR. I click on "record this series."

Me: Now, I don't have to tape it every week.

Mom: No shit, Sherlock. 

A PRIEST, A BLONDE AND A FORMER TEACHER 

I went to Mass at St. Agnes on Sunday because they have an 11 a.m., and I don't have to miss any of the Saints game. I haven't been to that church in some time. I didn't recognize the priest. I did recognize his voice, though. It sounded like the bad guy from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

He had quite the sense of humor. He told a blonde joke during the homily. It's kind of long and not very good. But it was interesting to hear during a holy about the spirit of the Lord being inside of us. He also explained his confusion about women taking so long in the bathroom to get ready. "If any man here has figured this out, raise your hand, and I'll come wash your feet."

During the sign of the peace, I turn around to shake the person's hand behind me. It's my ninth-grade English teacher Mr. Ferry. I smile. He looks at me quizzically. "Is that you, Gene?" Speaking of Mr. Ferry, I sometimes use a line that I got from him. Whenever something is in question or unknown, I'll say (as he did): "Why don't we ... look it up."

PARTING SHOTS

I announce to the department that my new term for a pick-six in football is a Jarrett Lee. As in Drew Brees threw a Jarrett Lee to Chevis Jackson late in the game Sunday.

Bake: You mean, J. Lee.

Me: That works too.

Bake. Yeah. It's almost like Jelly.

A family is sitting in front of me at Mass.

Little girl (about 5): What's communion?

Mom: It's bread.

Little boy (about 7): When do I get it?

Mom: Next year. And once you make your communion, then you can get communion."

Retro quote: November 9, 2004

My phone rings. It's Minkus.

Minkus: Happy birthday.

Me: OK.

Minkus: Why aren't you more excited?

Me: Call me in 24 hours, and I will be.

Minkus: Today's not your birthday?

Me: No.

Minkus: But Paul told me your b-day was today.

THE DAILY TOP LIST

My top five birthdays.

5) 13. 1996.

Mom got a whole bunch of little presents. But she hid them throughout the house and yard. She left the first clue to find the first present in my birthday card. The next clue was in the first present. What an adventure! There's a home video of this somewhere.

4) 8. 1991.

As mom said in the TCC yesterday, it was fucking freezing. But it was one of the best times of my life. I had a slumber party with seven of my closest buddies. We played football for like three hours. We invented balloon volleyball in my dining room. We watched Home Alone. 

On the bad side, two of my friends got into a fight and one left. Plus, my dad got up at midnight, yelled at us and made us go to bed. 

3) 24. 2007.

I hosted a come-as-your-favorite-NBC-character party. That was a blast. Especially when I got drunk and did the worm. Chuck still has the video on his phone. How is this not on YouTube?

2) 18. 2002.

David and mom threw me a surprise party. I had no clue. Regina and I had just started dating. She was somehow there. We watched football all day. 

1) 21. 2004.

I've never felt so good about myself and life in general as I did on this day. My birthday was a Wednesday. But Joe, Chuck, Bob, Nick (one of them might not have been there) and I went to the casino late Tuesday night. I stood by the entrance, and at 12:00 a.m, I handed my license to that guy who checks IDs. I spent the first three hours of my being-able-to-gamble life gambling.

Wednesday itself was only brought down by the fact that it was a Maroon production night. That hardly stopped the awesome day. My mom made me cupcakes. Kaila made me a chocolate cake. Lisa got me a king cake. Then, I left in the middle of production (perk of being a manager) and went to dinner with Amanda, Amy and Christina at Slice. 

Beat that 25th birthday.