Khyber53

Okay, so grab a couple of bags of the frozen meatballs available at the store. (Aldi has some great 32 oz. bags of them for like $4.) Put them in a crockpot on high while you get everything else going. In a separate sauce pan put in two cans of cream of mushroom soup, a cup of milk, a few heavy dashes of Worchestershire sauce, a tablespoon of dried thyme, a tablespoon of dried parsley and a few dashes of Texas Pete to taste. Bring up to temperature (just below a simmer) and put in an 8 oz. container of sour cream. Bring back up to temperature and add fresh ground black pepper to taste (there should already be plenty of salt due to the soups and Worchestershire). Once it is up to temperature again, pour over the meatballs in the crock pot. Set heat back down to low and let it go for a couple of hours. If you'd like you can mix in some chopped fresh button mushrooms. You can also turn this into a great cold winter night meal by serving it over egg noodles. Pickles make a nice accompaniment cutting the richness. In no way should this be considered a healthy meal or one to be done regularly, unless you are trying to put on weight. ;D

Just put the phone down. Walk away. Quit calling people.

Gamble was the silent assassin. He just completely took one half of the field away from a team's passing offense. After the first couple of seasons he quit getting many interceptions simply because no team would pass anywhere within 15 yards of him. Never barked, never trash talked, never self promoted -- just took his opponent's number one receiver out of the game.

True, but when it is a big deal, whether you are getting up in front of 10 reporters or 52 players plus coaches, you need to be able to say what needs to be said, inspire confidence and lead with nothing but your words. It makes a huge difference. For the Panthers alone, you can look at Jake Delhomme's best seasons and see that kind of leadership and ability to speak to people. Even with that Cajun accent, Jake could rally a team or a fanbase by just being so genuine and earnest.

I often wonder what happened to Jordan Carstens. Hated that his career got cut short due to kidney problems. That was one country strong guy and he could do some damage from the DT position. I think he'd have had an outstanding career otherwise.

Wasn't his illegal contact issue that he was accused of assaulting some guy late night at a Denny's restaurant and breaking the man's laptop in 2006? Oh and getting into a fight with two male cheerleaders outside a bar in 2002. That kind of illegal contact can just ruin a career. (Sad, too, because he was a heck of a player for a while there. Basically won us that game in Philly before the Super Bowl).

Meatballs stroganov. Cooked in a crock pot with a mushroom and cream sauce. (Don't worry about noodles or anything). The only problem is there's never any leftovers to bring home.

Sometimes it's not how they say things but what they say, what the subject of their narrative is. What impressed me there about Trey Lance (and I hadn't been thinking of him as a good choice until now) is how quickly he deflected the praise not just to one teammate, but to others who were in supporting roles. His own accomplishments didn't seem to be on his verbal radar. In this day of self-promotion and branding, it's pretty darned refreshing. He came off not just as an intelligent guy, but a thoughtful one, too. He seemed aware that he was part of something and not that there was a team hanging onto the hem of his cape. Teams like KC are winning big right now because it is a team performance. Not to say Mahomes isn't amazingly skilled (because he certainly is), but there is definitely a feel that this a team from the coaching staff down to the special teams players. Lance seems to be that kind of guy. And it sure sounds like Rhule is that kind of coach. It could be very good to have them both here.

A shining example of being the guy who does the job well over and over again! (That's so much nicer than my original statement of "Thanks JJ for being the guy who bends over on fourth down and gives his all for the team.)

Maybe the climate of the world's conversation has gotten to us all. Let's just step back, take a breather and not go back in looking for fights. That one wasn't very bad at all. Perhaps a bit snarky, but not exactly telling the guy to quit wasting oxygen... yanno? How about we all just let it go for a bit. We're being way too serious heading into that long, useless stretch between the Super Bowl and the Combine.

And really, even the great teams just manage once every few years to make it to the big dance, much less win it. But there they are, swinging away in the main event. I'm tired of us being the mid-carders only to make it a couple of times to the championship round only to find out they've set us up as a squash match.

You're a good guy, with excellent takes and a lot of insight.

Let's just give him enough time to do it. It took Andy Reid how many years to win one? And don't forget to add the Eagles years on, too. Good coaches are competitive year in and year out. I want to see the Lombardi here soon, but it doesn't have to be every year for the coach to keep his job. Building teams that have a shot at it and make a run for it year after year is hard enough to do.

I agree wholeheartedly with both of you. In the end, we will just have to see. I get the feeling he knows what he is doing and a HC gig in the NFL seemed to be where the trajectory of his career was headed. I don't think anyone could get bored with a 12-14 win team, but if he did... well, no one said you couldn't blow up your own winning team and start over just to show that you can do it. I like Rhule, I like how he is coaching and building here. Will he be the "One" in Carolina? We're just going to have tune in and find out.

I'm not sure we can say if he's been able to sustain success or not. Seems that as a HC, he has taken dumpster fires, fixed them, made them into winners and then been promoted to the next big gig. What happens after he leaves may not have anything to do with him or what he built. Still, what you say has some wisdom to it. Can a hard nosed coach sustain a team? Does he transform into something different as the culture transforms? I'd like to think that's the plan, but you are right that we don't have any real info to go on for that yet.

Nah, man. That was some Tinderbox level poo. You're a moderator.

They hired Rhule to turn this into a winning franchise. This is how he is doing it. Apparently, this is how he has done it at Baylor and Temple. If he gets the same results here, then we have nothing to complain or worry about. This is how he builds a team. Rivera built his differently and folks will have to get accustomed to the new way or move on. It will take time to get to the prime spot in this arc, but I think we're seeing growth here. This wasn't going to be an overnight fix, although I can't help but think had CMC been healthy, we'd have had four to five more wins over the season. Give it time.

The Saints salary cap thing is a magical and evil beast that needs to be slain. There has to come a day of reckoning for them eventually, right?

1. Oh, we could make a big splash in the draft with TE, but we'd need to ride another season with Teddy. 2. True and he probably will, but it is a signal that we're probably done with the Ian Thomas project. (And he should have been good, we all wanted him to be so, but he just never made that leap). 3. Not sure we're looking to replace Armah, but even though I like the guy, not sure he's a top end Full/H-back. 4. Well, there are some pics that are just priceless. And some available for a price. Some available on a lifelong installment plan.

Let's just hope they don't grab someone good in the draft. What they have on the books there should be plenty.

That may say more about us than them...

I sure hope he does. It'll be good for the rest of the division. He'll revolutionize the Saints like he revolutionized the Bucs.

I'm going to say that had CMC been healthy this season, we'd probably have gotten five more wins. We'd probably also be talking about how Bridgewater was able to eat opponents alive with the short passing game thanks to CMC. We have to remember that the offensive plans for the season centered around utilizing CMC to his full potential. Even though Davis was able to come in and serve as a really good RB1, it still wasn't anything like having CMC back there. CMC is a game changing athlete and requires a ton of defensive resources to keep him under some sort of control. Teddy's short game was good, but with CMC coming out of the backfield, those eight yard pass plays suddenly turn into 12 yard plays, 15 yarders, 65 yarders... The run game increases to the point where the other team has to bring a safety into the box opening up downfield opportunities. A lot of those three and outs become long, scoring drives. Yeah, the CMC injuries wrecked the season for us.

It's not like there's anyone really standing between him on the PS and being our first string TE, as things go right now.

I believe you've hit the nail on the head there. Lot of teams with big contracts are going to be just floating things out there, seeing if there's any interest. If something gets traction, they roll with it, if not, they say "Bah, there was never anything to the rumors, he's our guy."