The Wide World of Dirt

I know this might come as a surprise to some of you, but I’ve never been a fan of New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas.

I can’t really explain it, but I just don’t like the cut of his jib.

In real life and online, I engaged with many people over the years about how I don’t think he’s all that good in spite of what the numbers say.

There were people I trust and hold near and dear to my heart that told me I was wrong, and while it hurt at the time, I knew they would figure it out sooner or later.

Pyrite shows itself for what it really is eventually.

Mike Thomas showed who he was tonight.

The Saints took on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Divisional Round, and after two previous meetings between the two this season, it was expected that New Orleans would take Tampa out behind the woodshed, especially with Thomas in the lineup.

Just being transparent, Thomas missed significant time this year due to injury, but he played well last week against the Bears, putting up a TD on five receptions and 73 yards.

For a guy likely facing bracket coverage for at least half of the game, those are good stats!

Having said that, that put any injury concerns for him to bed coming into the Tampa game.

Mike Thomas played an entire 60 minutes of football and recorded no stats. No catches. No yards. No touchdowns. He was rendered useless.

This is a man who came into the season being hailed as the best receiver in football because of his record-breaking season last year, and he put up no stats in one of the biggest games of his football career. Sheesh.

I’ll even give Mike props for what he did in 2019.

He caught 149 passes, surpassing Harvin Marrison’s mark of 143 set in 2002*, 1725 yards, and 9 touchdowns, all while dealing with two different QBs throwing him the ball after Drew Brees sat out a month with a broken finger on his throwing hand.

It was a supremely impressive season, and no one can take that away from him.

What I would like to point out is that the entire offense was crafted around him to put up numbers last season. That’s not an opinion.

Jared Cook was the next closest receiver on the team with just over 700 yards on the year, and Alvin Kamara lined up in third with 533 yards. Ted Ginn Jr. finished fourth on the team with 421 receiving yards.

Do you see a discrepancy here?

The two closest pass catchers on the team to Thomas were a tight end and a running back. The next closest wide receiver played in all 16 games and barely cracked 400 yards.

Kamara also suffered nagging injuries all year, so it was clear that the Saints’ only path to victory that season would be on the back of Thomas. To be fair yet again, that’s a tall task for a wide receiver playing with two different QBs, and Mike stepped up to the plate.

Thomas and the Saints faded in the postseason as Brees’ arm fell off, and Thomas, the only viable receiver on the team, faced tougher defense, which was to be expected.

The man was the center of an offense for a 13-3 team out of necessity and became a black hole. It ruined the chemistry of the team because Brees didn’t trust the other wideouts.

That’s not Mike Thomas’ fault, let me be clear.

What is his fault is the shit he talked all offseason going into the 2020 season.

He changed his handle to @cantguardmike on Twitter. He took shots at DaVante Parker for stating something pretty obvious. He gloated about being the best receiver in football.

That’s his right to say that, but it’s also my right to say he’s wrong.

He continued talking shit into the season. He got injured in game one as the Saints attempted to run up the score, and while sitting on the sidelines, he projected that the matchup with the Raiders was gonna be a cakewalk. Wrong again.

Even after starting four regular season games and playing in seven, Mike Thomas finished 2020 with 438 yards on 40 catches and no touchdowns.

All things considered the yardage and catches are respectable, but how are you 6’3”, 215 lbs, and you can’t get a touchdown in the red zone? The back of your jersey doesn’t say Jones on it, does it?

To talk all that shit over the past few seasons and into this year, put up no touchdowns in the regular season, and then lay a goose egg in the playoffs against a division rival?

You cannot call yourself the best receiver in football.