This is my third crack at this - turns out GameCenter's neurons aren't firing on all cylinders right now, kind of like Jake Delhomme's arm in a clutch situation.

Anyway, some of this is saved and is exactly as I wrote it, some is being rewritten for the third time.  Hope it all makes sense.

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Whatever, yeah we won, I'm happy, Delhomme played better than people are going to give him credit for, we made no real mistakes other than one they didn't capitalize on, but a win is a win.

That's pretty much all I want to talk about with this game, because this organization is (or should be) all about what it's gonna take to make us a perennial playoff contender going forward.  So I enjoy each game in that I'm a happier guy when they win, but since the arrow is pointing away from down for the first time in years, I'm much more interested in 2011-2050 than 1996-2010.

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A tale of two football games.

Late November. Carolina rolls into town, they miss a final field goal to lose a game they could have won. Eric Mangini, despite the win looks angry and irritated.

Early December. Cleveland rolls into Miami, they make a final field game to win a close game they could have lost. Eric Mangini takes the win with a smile.

It then occurred to me - Eric Mangini's tragic flaw. It's not that he's happy that he got the win in a game that Miami lost for themselves, that doesn't bother me. In fact, I'm tickled we won that game, because I think Miami is better than us almost everywhere. Some of the greatest coaches of all time don't win 100 games in their career. Wins are precious, you should enjoy every one of them, even if you get lucky. That's no flaw. But there IS a flaw there. Read on for more...

Panther time!

I don't much care to talk about the Panthers, I'll save that for Jeffrey on this edition of tBf - but look at this.  This is unbelieveable.

Week 1
Tampa Bay, 0-0, 1st place NFC South

Week 2
Kansas City, 1-0, 1st place, AFC West

Week 3
Baltimore, 1-1, 2nd place, AFC North

Week 4
Cincinnati, 2-1, 2nd place, AFC North

Week 5
Atlanta, 3-1, 1st place, NFC South

Week 6
Pittsburgh, 3-1, 2nd place, AFC North (only because 1/2 game behind the Ravens, as Pittsburgh had a Bye already)

Week 7
New Orleans, 4-2, 1st place, NFC South

Week 8
BYE - thank god

Week 9
New England, 6-1, 1st place, AFC East

Week 10
New York Jets, 6-2, 1st place, AFC East

Week 11
Jacksonville, 5-4, 2nd place, AFC South

So hell yeah I'm glad to see this pop up on the schedule
WEEK 12
CAROLINA, 1-9, 4TH PLACE, NFC SOUTH

Every single opponent so far, 1st or 2nd place in their division when we played them.  Every one with a winning record when we played them (Save for Tampa Bay, who is 7-3 now).  Ain't nothin' finer, than playin' Carolina.

I hope.