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Well guys, tell me what you think. I'm trying to get my head around this off-season so far and I'm having a hard time. Let's consider...

I was bitter in the early goings when the Saints let Delhomme go without even making him an offer (although I'm really glad he'll get a chance to start), and I wasn't big on what we paid Gandy (although I like the guy), and I am still concerned about how and why Turley got to be so disgruntled that we had to let our second Pro Bowl caliber tackle go in as many years.

HOWEVER - I'm happy with the signings of Tebucky Jones and Ernie Conwell. Bouman was as good a move as we could have made after Delhomme left and I've only heard good things about Berger.

Again, back to the down side. Ruff is not the solution at MLB... well, at least I have a hard time believing he will be. After letting two of our more talented players go (Knight and Clemons - yes he is a very talented OLB), we didn't do much in free agency to improve our talent on defense.

The draft was so-so to me. I like most of the players we got, I am just concerned that we may have overpaid for a few. This is not something we will be able to figure out for a couple of years, which is why I haven't "graded" our draft, but my initial feelings are decent players, but fairly poor values.

We came into the off-season needing help at basically every defensive position. I like what they've done up front, though one more DT might not hurt. At LB, I'm scared sh-tless. I don't think these guys we have can hack it. We're OK at corner, not great, and I like our safeties... even more so if we sign Green.

I guess I have to agree with Mike Detillier. Two more signings on D will make me feel much better. I still think we need help at EVERY LB position but I'll take a MLB. I'd like to get Horn signed and Green would be nice. Otherwise, if there's room, another DT would be nice. We should wait until next year to go out and find a real shutdown corner rather than making a stretch for someone this year. What do you guys think? I still can't decide. I'll tell you what though, Green and a more proven MLB would make this off-season for me.

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so.........are you jumping back on the bandwagon or off? personally, i never got off.......sorry to jack with you wd but i don\'t think anyone on the board has the answers you seek nor i........time will tell where we stand when the season starts and ends. we will get more players, but no one but the saints know who.......all we can do is wait and hope........smitty

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So I guess what you\'re telling me is that this is what we have and let me see if I can get this right?
We have running our team,
1 A car dealer for an owner, you know what people say about them.
2 A bean counter for a general manager numbers, numbers, numbers
3 A coach that can\'t coach
Boy are we ever in trouble. LOL
Makes you wonder how this team was ever 6-1 at one point last year doesn\'t it? LOL :D

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WHODAT, i am actually agreeign with you a little bit. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
Everyone lamented the departure of Jake Delhomme but it also makes perfect sense to me. The fact is for better or worse we are locked into Aaron Brooks as the starter for a few years because of his contract. When he has bad games everybody screems for Delhomme. Letting the hometown hero go alleviates that pressure from the coaching staff. That may be a chicken s**t way to deal with it but I promise you that factored into not trying harder to resign Delhomme. Nobody is going to yell \"PUT BOUMAN IN!\"
Also you are right.. we overpayed Gandy but we had to. He had other offers out there and if we didn\'t juice the contract he wouldn\'t have come. The front office is smart enought to know you need a top flight left guard and knew they had enough of Turleys crap. I know I did! I want Fontenot gone too.

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WHODAT, i am actually agreeign with you a little bit. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
Everyone lamented the departure of Jake Delhomme but it also makes perfect sense to me. The fact is for better or worse we are locked into Aaron Brooks as the starter for a few years because of his contract. When he has bad games everybody screems for Delhomme. Letting the hometown hero go alleviates that pressure from the coaching staff. That may be a chicken s**t way to deal with it but I promise you that factored into not trying harder to resign Delhomme. Nobody is going to yell \"PUT BOUMAN IN!\"
Also you are right.. we overpayed Gandy but we had to. He had other offers out there and if we didn\'t juice the contract he wouldn\'t have come. The front office is smart enought to know you need a top flight left guard and knew they had enough of Turleys crap. I know I did! Part of me wants Fontenot gone too.

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Good point on Jake FW. It makes sense to me. AB has really sensitive feelings. I\'m not sure i\'d like to get booed by 70,000 screaming coonasses either.
Only one thing, Gandy is a left tackle. Getting him was what enabled us to unload Turley.

[Edited on 29/4/2003 by JOESAM2002]

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DAMMIT JOESAM. I meant Left Tackle and you KNOW IT LOL

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Just gigging you a little. LOL :D

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i agree with whodat on this one, as much as it doesn\'t seem like it we have been taking the right path this offseason, now we just need to:


sign green
pay horn
get a LB or two from somewhere
maybe a corner if one falls into our lap (sounds like a lot to do but it\'s not really)

if we fall short of at least the second round of the playoffs then i\'ll doubt haz, barring any injuries of course, don\'t forget our schedule doesn\'t look very easy

[Edited on 29/4/2003 by rusta]

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I\'ve got two words for everyone....Rick Venturi! I don\'t care if we get the top players in the league at every position. We won\'t be going ANYWHERE on defense with him as D. Coordinator. I may be losing light of the topic at hand, but I guarantee if Zook were still in New Orleans, he could take these guys we have and make them a top-10 defense. Then with the offense we have now, who could stop us? 16-0, maybe? I know it\'s wishful thinking, but I\'m a Pisces. I\'m supposed to be a dreamer. As I was saying, the defense IMO is LOADED with talent, speed, and potential. Under the right tutilege, these boys could be amazing. I\'ve been saying it all off-season. BRING ME THE HEAD OF RICK VENTURI!!!!! Sure we can all say that Hand and Jackson bloated to 400 lbs and that cost us, but they really didn\'t have much of a rush on the QB all year. Exit Hand, enter Sullivan. Sullivan is quicker, stronger, and more athletic than \"The Big Wiggle\". Will it matter? I\'m not so sure it will. I just don\'t have ANY faith in Rick Venturi as a defensive coordinator, or even a funeral cooridinator for that matter. I think that is a fitting illustration of Venturi, though. If his defense doesn\'t succed this year, it\'ll be HIS funeral. Possibly Haslett\'s as well.

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i really didnt read all of the posts in this topic, but i just wanted to say that our D is very talented, and they are also very young, this will be howards 4th year, grants 2nd, sullys 1st, our line will be solid for a very long time, our LBs are also young hodge allen ruff all under 5 years in the league.... our only aging area on D is at corner where experience helps out alot... what im getting at here... with time... our young D will gel and will get better with experience and i beleive that they will become a very solid Defense within the next couple years... im not at all saying that we will suck this year.. i think our D will be much improved b/c of the addition of sully, if he lives up to potential and gives us some pass rush up the middle it will take alot of pressure off our young linebackers and allow the ends to make plays and our secondary the ability to do more coverages and im looking forward to seeing this new D play together...

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BOY, DO I MISS ZOOK AND MUELLER. I KNOW IF IF ONE OF THEM WAS STILL HERE I WOULDN\'T HAVE SO MANY QUESTION BOUT OUR DEFENSE :( . I STILL HAVE HOPE THAT THEY WILL FIND ANOTHER LB, AND THE SECONDARY CAN HANDLE JUST ONE MORE YEAR WITHOUT A \"YOUNG\" PREMIER SHUTDOWN CORNER.

NOW THAT I HAD TIME TO COOL OFF I PRETTY MUCH THINK THIS DRAFT WAS, OK MAINLY CUZ OF CIE GRANT, BUT I AM STILL SKEPTICAL BOUT TAKING TWO OL. I JUST HOPE IN THE LONG RUN THESE GUYS WILL BE ABLE TO COMPETE THIS YEAR AND NOT JUST BE A BENCH WARMER. I READ UP ON BOTH OL AND HEARD PRETTY GOOD STUFF MAINLY ON \"HOLLAND\".

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Wud up ya\'ll,

First off, thanks for letting me know I \'m not the only Saints fan out there. We are few, but at least not bandwagon (hear me ATL. and T.B.!)

I don\'t know, I think the Saints did a pretty good job on the draft this year. Last year panned out and set the foundation for a whole new direction for us (how many of us remember the last time the Saints led the NFL in scoring?! ;) The off season saw us let some good folks go, but at least we addressed our needs in return. Knight was great, but when you can\'t stop the run any better than Arizona can do...well...anything, your SS is bound to get great numbers.

I see this draft as adding depth. Our line is much younger, stronger and deeper now than last years. Deuce should put up phat numbers again. If Aaron can settle in and be consistant, we got it made. Those last two kids we picked up in the draft (WR\'s) should help. \'specially Gardner. (long as they keep him away from guns and trouble.)

Defense we got rid of Norman \"I eat my weight in crawdads a day\" Hand and went young with Sullivan. Coach\'s job to get the most out of his players. I don\'t see us complaining about last crop\'s effort. I too would have loved to have seen Bailey in a Saints jersey. Oh well. Grant is an athlete that let us address more than one area as well.

Call me crazy or just an optimist. I think it\'s from years of having my hopes beaten into submission. Haslett has it this year I think. LB\'s do scare me, but we\'ll see. I can always trade them off myself when Madden \'04 comes out! ;)

BTW -- wonder if Zook misses us too....

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Thank you D, I bow to you in reverence for remembering the BIGGEST problem with our defense. I agree with you completely. A good D coordinator could probably do much more with our current players than Venturi will prove able to do himself.

HOWEVER, my point is that even with Venturi, a strong MLB pick up and possibly a mid-level experienced DT or a high-level CB can still make the off-season for me. I am always nervous when the season starts. It\'s just my nature. If the season started today and we were filling our defense with the guys we have right now I\'d be REALLY nervous. However, signing Green, and a proven LB, and either a CB or DT would make me comfortable. Comfortable for me = optimistic. A couple of key signings, or the lack thereof, has the ability to make or break this off-season to me.

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Picture this......Buddy Ryan on the Saints sideline!!!!!
Doesn\'t he have a son that coaches D in Alabama or somewhere?

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I do agree with you WhoDat. I\'m not saying our defense is going to be totally crap next year, but if they don\'t pick up at least two more defensive free agents (a LB and Green preferably), then we could be in for another long season. Like I said, the defense is loaded with talent and potential just waiting to boil over, but if we don\'t have the right man at the helm, then I don\'t see it being much improved. Albeit I\'m more confident before this season starts than I was at the end of last season, I still think those missing pieces should be addressed. There is one thing I can definitely say about the Saints defense this year.....it\'s going to be FAST. Now lets just hope that they can use their heads AS WELL AS their legs. If so, then maybe it can compensate for Venturi\'s lack of coaching. I know I stated in a previous post a while back that I didn\'t think this was Haslett\'s make or break season, but if that defense doesn\'t improve markedly, it\'ll be on HIS head that he kept that waste of space around.

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I\'m right there with you D. We\'re of one mind on this one.

Let\'s see how many pot shots that comment brings. ;)

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whodat, i have a ?... are you saying that if we sign green, then we have no more defensive needs besides LB?

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Hot dam Pak. You and me agreeing on something twice in the same year? There\'s hope for all of us after all. LOL. Ok guys, my take on Venturi, I have to agree with all of you. He\'s a very loyal team member, a nice guy amd many other things but he ain\'t no defensive co-ordinator. I love the guy as a position coach but he\'s out of his league at this.
Lumm, boy that would be scarey, Buddy Ryan? wonder who he\'d pick a fight with here? LOL. The man does know defense though.

BigPoppa, you must be a wrestling fan LOL welcome to you. The linebackers scare me too.

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No, no, not at all Pak. I\'m saying Green, a quality LB, and a DT or CB means I feel OK going into the season. Venturi is still a problem in my mind no matter who we have playing defense. Great players might make him look better, but he\'s still out of his league. In any case, right now I am still pretty nervous about our defense. There are just too many quesion marks. A couple of key signings could make me feel better. That\'s what I am trying to say.