Will we miss Gandy?
 

Before you moan and complain about how over paid, slow, and how he under performed as a Saint... do you think we'll miss him?

I'll give you my answer first and we'll go from there. The answer is yes. With the reasons that I stated above, this answer might puzzle you. Yes he was all of those things but he's the best we had regardless of how average he was. Although Jammal Brown had a solid rookie season, he was at times inconsistent and had frequent mental lapses with the false starts. He has yet proved he will be able to handle that left tackle position in only his second season. He needs more seasoning and needs to prove he can hold the fort down at right tackle first. I'm not saying he won't be able to make that transition, but he's going to be facing our opponents best pass rusher and right now I don't think he can do that. And with him moving to left tackle, it also creates at hole at his old position which will be manned by Stinchcomb. No matter how much I like Stinch, he hasn't done anything to warrant a roster spot much less a starting spot. With the strong pass rushing abilities by all the teams in our division, there's a strong possibility we're going to be in for a long season. Drew is coming off a shoulder injury and if he's not protected well, our big investment will be a bust because he won't able to do much lying on his back.

So, do you think we'll miss Gandy? Can Brown hold down the fort? How much faith do you have in Stinchcomb?

Abraham, Kerney, Coleman, Peppers, Jenkins, Rucker, Rice, Spires, Brooks, etc... are some of us overly optimistic about our season?

One reason we won't miss Gandy, the draw play. I would LOVE if defenses just thought they could pin their ears back and speed rush up field on us. Having Reggie hit holes underneath them will be huge.

Also, Stinch was beating out Gandy in training camp last year. Outside of injury, I have faith in him holding it down.

Third, Brown may have had some mental lapses last year on the line, but he still held it down. And in his rookie season, he only had to deal with a hurricane destroying the city he just went to, in addition to the normal NFL pressures any rookie feels. Not to mention the QB he had to try and block for. I think he can be given a pass on some of those "mental lapses."

Now I am not gonna sit here and say I feel all is peachy with our line, but in regards to the will we miss Gandy thing, I think not. At all.

Good points as always sw...

Draw plays with Bush could be very entertaining. I like our interior line, but our tackles are unproven and look suspect right now. And with Brown now comes his legal distraction which could also affect his play and transition to his new spot. I guess we'll find out a bit more as camp gets underway. Stinch right now is essentially a rookie and it will be interesting to see how he performs after a full year off. Hopefully he can build on his previous training camp showing, but I wish we had more competition in camp to light a fire under him.

Although Gandy was up in his years and performing at an average level if that, I think we will miss his veterean experience. Brown has the ability to block guys like Peppers, Rice, and Abraham but he does not have the experience to consistently hold up against the veteran DEs that arent just big and fast, but also know every pass rushing technique in the book. For a point of reference, I think that Brown can hold up well against a guy like Dwight Freeney who is pure speed and has one move on the line. Guys like Peppers and Rice have similar speed, but can throw more at a young tackle than just a spin move. Based on that, I would say we will miss Gandy, but only to a certain extent.

Brown can finish his blocks in the run game much better than Gandy did in his past few seasons. Also, Whodi makes a great point that screens and draws, which we will want to run with Bush anyway, will keep the pass rush from pinning their ears back and attacking Brees every play.

Another thing to think about. Depending on how much Hilton plays, does he have the blocking savvy to be able to help Brown and Stinchcomb on the initial burst of those DEs and then be able to release and get open for a pass? This is something that if you watch Antonio Gates, you will see. The Chargers line isn't all that great, but Gates' ability to be able to get his hands on speed rushers to help out and then release and still make something happen helped to give Brees more time and then also give him another receiver. Can Hilton successfully accomplish the same task??? Just something to think about.

Brown more than held his own twice against Peppers last year as a rookie.

After seeing that, I don't worry about him at all.

Very well said in your first paragraph BRSaintsFan which is pretty much what I feel. As far as Hilton is concerned, we all know blocking isn't his strong suit which is why we signed Campbell. Hilton isn't on Gates level (not even close), but he certainly gives Brees that middle of the field pass catching threat as Gates did for him in San Diego.

look at our record last year. hurricane or not, changes needed to be made....lots of them

Will I miss gandy no..... Stincomb will do fine just fine ....

FAT OLD and OVERPAID...nope wont miss him at all