Before I get to my analysis of the divisional playoff game between the Denver Broncos and the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday at 3:30 pm in Denver, I must digress for a moment to a comment I made in my column last week - "based on their (the player's) respective prior injury history, use their greatest strength against them – the athletic mindset of pushing beyond the limits of human performance to win - even to the point of sacrificing one's body for the team."

I was referring to the fact that even if a highly competitive athlete has a recent injury, he will, if you let him, hurt himself again trying to return to action to win for his team.

Well, it's that great time of year again. The NFL playoffs have finally arrived to the delight of fans around the world. The magical, yellow brick road leading to the land of Oz (the Super Bowl) ends up this season in New Orleans.

Sadly, our Saints (7-9) will be spectators watching the magical mystery tour culminate on their own turf on Feb. 3. Glad to have Coach Sean Payton back for next season.

In the early days of the ABC's "Monday Night Football" telecast hosted by Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, and Frank Gifford, it would be Meredith, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, who would break into a rendition of "Turn Out the Lights, the Party is Over," when the losing team was in the fourth quarter with time running out and no chance of a comeback. Well, it's about time to turn out the lights on this, unique, sometimes chaotic, but never uneventful New Orleans Saints 2012 season, because the party is definitely over.

What was going to be a continuation of previous successes which Saints fans have come to enjoy under the Mickey Loomis/Sean Payton era, quickly turned into a horrific example of a collapse of a former champion by the self-destruction within the organization, starting with Bountygate -- that awe-inspiring example of damage control at its best and worst.

Practice makes perfect is phrase that brings back memories for me of the sixth grade, when I had to continue to recite the math tables to make them become indelibly ingrained in my brain forever. In sports, I have heard it said more often than not "perfect practice makes for a perfect outcome."

And a Navy Seal friend of mine says he lives by the concept of "train like you fight and fight like you train, and train and train" - one of my favorites.

Last Sunday, The New York Times ran a story in its sports section, "In the N.F.L., Practice Can Make Perfect, but Then So Can the Lack of It," to discuss the theories on just what level of practice is required "to become a true expert at something."