Saintz08
 

Hey bud,

You've always got good thoughts. What should we do given this point in the season? What options are open to us? Is there any way to right the ship?

I'm still stuck in my football Vietnam funk right now, so I'm not very constructive.

PS--Did Billy have a stroke or something?

[Edited on 30/9/2003 by BrooksMustGo]

Saintz08
 

Think Billy got a little overstuffed on crow , he had quite a bit left over after the Colts game . Looks like he will be eating leftovers for awhile .

1. Put Venturi in the box . Have him review photo\'s or something . Haslett must take control of the defense to reestablish any control . He must assume full resposibility for defensive practice and play calling throughout the game .

2. Mc Carthy has to come out firing in Carolina , if Brooks cannot get the passes deep then move to Bouman . Bouman has struggled at times , so he needs the majority of snaps in practice this week .

3. Replace Smith with Kijana Carter , a thunder and lightning combo will make the defensive coordinator of the Panthers rethink his plan .

4. Sit Stallworth , he has earned the pine ride and Pathon is capable of playing .

A few off hand .....

Saintz08
 

I agree with all of these. I\'d go a step or two... or four... further.

5. Blitz 60+ percent of the downs. We are getting torn up in the \"read and react\" BS system. That is made worse by the fact that we\'ve got a Division IAA team playing defense for us. Just send the house and hope you can get the other team to make enough mistakes.

6. Come out in the hurry up offense and don\'t stop until you\'ve scored a minimum of 24 points. This team needs to spread defenses and play with urgency. How can this team possibly stop a lineup that contains Horn, Pathon, Stallworth, Conwell, and Deuce? I don\'t care who the QB is - you spread the field and don\'t let the D make substitutions with that lineup and we WILL score.

7. Throw the ball more than 7 yards down the field. That doesn\'t necessarily mean air it out every play, but where the hell are the 15 yard outs, or the deep crosses?

8. RUN THE WEDGE TO THE MIDDLE.... Note: that\'s MIDDLE... of the field!!!!! Lewis has run just about EVERY return to the right sideline. Last night he ran all the way across the field to run through the wedge two yards off the right sideline. When you do that you HELP the defense. They can converge on the sideline and Lewis has nowhere to go. Run it to the MIDDLE and let him cut any which way he wants!!! This pisses me off to no end. Jesus - how F*cking hard is it to figure this out?!!!!!

Saintz08
 

No offense to your buddy Jake here WhoDat, but you are right that this is the time to send the heat at the QB. Jake is still a very inexperienced QB in this league and we need to be in his face to force errant throws and get turnovers. For once we need to win the turnover battle. Our only hope in this game against Carolina is to have a signifigant field position advantage throughout the game. They are going to run Stephen Davis down our throats and oddly enough it\'s the rush defense that has the most success so far. But it will open up their play action and that will kill us. Get all front 7 hitting the gaps and play the RB and the QB on every snap.

We are by no means going to establish a ball control position on the Panthers defense and it\'s futile to try. Saying that, it is likely that is what McCarthy will want to do. Carolina\'s secondary looks good because their D-line is so dominant. Spread formations to draw nickel umbrella coverage and isolate man match-ups. Like you said, no one should be able to match up against us and expect to win that battle. You get the downfield passing game working and Deuce can run draws on the front four that will leave them sucking wind. He will eat those DB\'s alive when he hits the secondary. Carolina needs to be put in the position to have two choices: 1) Get nickel and dime coverage in to match our outside speed and make their DB\'s tackle Deuce, or 2) stay at the 4-3 and get exploited in coverage.

Saintz08
 

If Haslett is going to attempt to salvage any part of the season , it is going to be through disciple , leadership and execution .

If I am Halett I want separation between the lines , defense left and offense right . I want Mc Carthy in the lines working with the team . I want Mc Carthy to stimulate conversation between the players ( Horn says they are playing 10 yards off me , get me the ball on the slant ) make the adjustment and give Brooks the 411 ..... Man jumps off sides Mc Carthy finds out why ??? I am Mike Mc Carthy and this is my system , players you are accountible to me , BOOM .

Mike Sheppard is promoted to assistant head coach / Quarterbacks coach . Do not underestimate the value of experience . Sheppard has it and it can be useful to Haslett .

Haslett works the trenches with the defense .
Mc Carthy works the trenches with the offense .
Sheppard is assistant and keeps them aware .

No more standing there watching the team collape , polishing your rehearsed speech of injuries and we do not know what is wrong we are not playing well .

Get in and get it done .

Saintz08
 

Gator - I agree, but Lewis got to the sidelines after cuts. Most kick returns that go the distance look they same. They are sort of diamond shaped. The returner hits the wedge and cuts one way or the other, beats everyone to the outside, and then outruns them down the sideline. There aren\'t a whole lot that start on the sideline and go untouched all the way down it. Occassionally there\'s a punt return that looks like that, but rarely kickoffs.... but I get your point. I think we\'re on the same page here.

Lumm0x, 08... agreed completely.

Saintz08
 

Laughable really. McCarthy is totally lost at this point and \"come out firing\" isn\'t in our vocabulary. We should be looking ahead to next years draft and coaching prospects. That\'s really all we have to look forward to at this point.

Saintz08
 

This season really is a waste.Haslett has lost this team,and I don\'t see him getting it back.Haslett is as confused as the rest of us,and he has no one to turn to for advice.The people above him don\'t have a clue.I\'ll bet Mickey Loomis couldn\'t tell you what our strengths and weaknesses are on either side of the ball.Benson surely doesn\'t know.The players are looking to Haslett who can\'t give them an answer.Incompetence from top to bottom.

Saintz08
 

Right on, man. Couldn\'t have said it any better. I\'ve already ordered my Ourlads for next years draft.

Saintz08
 

WhoDat!....amen brother, I said basically the same as #6 in another thread. WE MUST BLITZ THE QB! and keep blitzing until the other team is trying to figure out which way we`re coming from this time, instead of wondering which corner they`re going to burn next. (why did we not go after Peyton every down? did daddy pay Haz off?)
It`s almost like we had no plan going into this season. We have no trickery plays. Can`t we run a flea flick, a reverse, snap to Duece...something? We can`t even flood a side on an on-side-kick for crying out loud.
I`m hoping Haz is realizing that his game plan (if he had one) is poop. Time for a new plan.

Saintz08
 

Big bull ,

That is precisely why Haslett must assume total control of the defense . Look at the total collapse in the defensive schemeing and awareness since Zook departed for Florida . If Haslett cannot get the defense going at least with the players in position to make plays , then the chaos continues . Manning audibled out enough times to get players in play making positions because he new he could exploit a weakness in the defensive line up .

Saintz08
 

That sounds great and all, but the only way that will happen is if Haz has some kind of epiphany. Haz was asked if he had a choice of having Zook back or keep Venturi as the DC, he said, \"I\'m not just saying this because Rick is our DC right now, I wouldn\'t trade Rick for anyone. He\'s a great coach\". See, so no matter what we think of RV, Haz thinks he\'s gold, so we\'re all screwed.

Saintz08
 

Venturi... great guy, terrible coach. Haslett was a D coordinator. He needs to go back to being one, otherwise... buh-bye Jimmy. We\'d keep Brooks, but Haz\'s head is so far up Brooks\' azz that it\'ll have to be a two-for-one deal. ;)

Saintz08
 

Is the season really a total loss? I don\'t know if I\'m ready to believe that here at week five.

Does anyone believe that Haslet just might thrive under this kind of pressure? Maybe last year ended badly because we had (I can\'t believe I\'m saying this) too good of a start. Haslet may not be able to handle the pressure of success.

I\'m not saying that Haslet has proven that he deserves another year at this point. However, I\'m not going to root for the opposing team every week just so Haslet can be fired, and the team can waste a number one pick.

I hope that since we are off to such a horrendous start that the coaching staff totally revamps its approach to games and possibly even gives some new faces a shot at game time. That\'s kinda where we were during Haslet\'s first year, right?

Just some thoughts....

Saintz08
 

Maybe I\'m hearing him wrong, but Haslett said that he will not make changes to the defense in his press conference. Apparently the Saints just need to execute better, and he can\'t understand why that hasn\'t happened yet.

\"I can\'t understand why this happened\" should be the quote Haslett uses on his tombstone.

Saintz08
 

I, too, believe this season is over for all practical purposes. We need to be thinking about a GM that will keep this team focused, a head coach that has a clue how to motivate and surround himself with a staff that will make him look like a genius. And,I know I\'m going to take flak for this one, we should shop Brooks around before it\'s too late to get the full worth for him, get some nice draft choices for him and plug this offense in with a real leader. On the defensive side of the ball it all starts with a great DC and we\'ll need to pick one up if we expect to go anywhere consistently. Say what you want, Mueller kept this team with a purpose, a direction, and if he stepped on anyone\'s toes, then he did it for a reason. That reason seems to be making itself more apparent with every game gone by.

Saintz08
 

Keeping the team focused should fall into the laps of the coach. The way the NFL is these days, the GM has to either be a lawyer or an accountant, whose main responsibility is to structure the contracts that will best work around the salary cap or find loopholes in other contracts. There are other day-to-day things, but as far as the team goes, this should be the only influence a GM has. The only drawback with Loomis is that he relies on the staff to inform him who we should pursue, which again, falls on the coaching staff.

Saintz08
 

After Sunday night , even Haslett might have to question the defensive play calling . I will say this , Peyton was laying out some beautiful passes , but he picked up on something in the defense that made him audible to it to get that exposure in the secondary .With the starters out the Saints have out , I would have thought The Saints would have gone into a cover 2 scheme more so , then allow Peyton the ability to pick apart man coverage . It seems with the lack of a real running game from the Colts , you knew Peyton was going to have to air it to get the yards .

To me the jury is still out on Loomis , not sure of exactly what fallout occured in the front office after the Mueller incident and how that might have effected the power ratio between owner and manager .

Think Rick Mueller has done a good job .

I know this much , if by week 8 Haslett has done nothing to rectify something on either the offensive or defensive side of the ball .

Get a rope ......