Did the Rams change the course of the 2011 season?
Let’s take a little stroll into the land of hypotheticals
about a potentially VERY important game that occurred in week 8 of 2011. In what turned
out to be the biggest upset of the 2011 season, the St. Louis Rams defeated the
New Orleans Saints.
Yes, one of the Rams’ two wins was over the red hot Saints.
It is still hard for me to wrap my mind around it months later, but I believe
it is a perfect example of the parity in the NFL. Anybody can win on any given
Sunday. The Rams’ atrocious offense only averaged 12.1 points per game all
season (dead last in the league), and yet in this game they were able to
manufacture 31. What was happening at Edward James Dome that fateful day? More
than what anyone could realize at the time.
Why is this game so important? Both the Saints and the 49ers
finished 13-3, so they were put to a tiebreaker to determine who was the #2
seed. The Niners edged out the Saints due to conference record, as the Saints
had lost against 3 conference opponents and the Niners against only 2. What
happens if the upset doesn’t happen in week 8 between the Rams and Saints?
Besides that the Rams go 1-15, which would really have shaken up the draft (Do
the Colts still get Luck? Do the Redskins trade up to #1 and still select RGIII
as they claimed they would’ve?), the Saints would’ve finished 14-2, meaning
they would claim indisputable ownership of the #2 seed in the NFC. Let me delve
into how I think this would’ve affected the entire NFC half of the playoffs and
quite possibly, the Super Bowl XLVI champion.
The Giants still would’ve rolled through the Falcons and
Packers, as those two matchups are unaffected by the Saints and Niners swapping
#2 and #3 seeds. Instead of playing the Lions for wild card weekend, the Saints
get a bye week, and Jim Harbaugh’s boys host Jim Schwartz’s boys at
Candlestick. (Uh oh, let’s just hope there’s no firm post-game handshakes between the Jims again...) I
think it’s fair to say the 49ers would’ve won; if the 49ers could
contain Drew Brees at Candlestick, they could’ve contained Matthew Stafford.
But the winner of that game is actually unimportant, as I truly believe the
winner would’ve gone on to lose against the Saints in the divisional round. Brees
was a monster at the Louisiana Superdome in the 2011 season, generating 41
points per game at his home venue. He was a perfect 8-0 at home in 2011, and he
has never lost a playoff game hosted in NOLA. This is not the place you want to
play in the NFL.
This means the New York Giants would’ve faced the Saints in
the NFL Championship game instead of the 49ers. As much as I believe in Eli, I
do not think this is good news for the now two-time Super Bowl MVP. Why?
Because the Giants only lost to the Packers by 3 in the regular season. They
only lost to the Niners by 7 in the regular season. We knew they could hang
with these teams if they needed to come playoff time. They lost by 25 to
the Saints in the regular season. To me, that shows that Drew Brees had the
Giants’ number, and he knew how to dominate them. You give Brees a bye week and
two home playoff games and yes, I do believe the Saints make the Super Bowl and
knock off the Giants. The Saints were the one team in the NFC (and possibly the
league) that could have meant big trouble for the Giants during their Super Bowl run.
We then would’ve had an offensive showdown in the Super
Bowl, Drew Brees against Tom Brady, the top two passers in the league with the
top two offenses in the league by yardage. Tom Brady either gets his fourth
ring and makes a much more convincing argument on his resume that he is the
greatest QB of all time, or Drew Brees takes home his second, and the Saints
are crowned with somewhat of a dynasty, two Super Bowls in three years.
