WhoDat's Halftime Take
 

Not bad overall. I am very happy to have heard Ruff's name and Green's name a lot in the first half. Those two are contributing. Still, I feel lucky to only be down 7 at the half. Davis doesn't fumble and this is an ugly game.

Now, let me say this - I'm sure I'll catch a lot of ish for this, but GIVE ME BOUMAN!!! Brooks looks BAD. Yes, Conwell dropped a pass over the middle - the first one doesn't count for him b/c if a QB throws 2 1/2 yards behind a TE on a five yard out it is the QB's fault. Brooks is missing open receivers over and over. I'm sure Billy and Saintfan will disagree, but Brooks looks poor. He's had good protection, especially considering how good Carolina's front four are.

McCarthy has finally opened up the offense and aside from a few bad calls, the O is calling the right plays. Horn is pissed. Conwell is unhappy. Stallworth looks dangerous, and he's one step away from breaking one. Give me Bouman and the Saints win. That's my halftime take.

WhoDat's Halftime Take
 

PS - Delhomme is proving what I said. He is a leader and a game manager. He\'s not spectacular physically. He IS teaching Brooks a thing or two about being efficient and making the right read. I\'m sick!

WhoDat's Halftime Take
 

If Brooks can\'t hit Stallworth on a play that simple, then he has no business being in the NFL.

WhoDat's Halftime Take
 

And now for the really good news...

The Bears actually looked good today in a WIN over the Raiders. Next week, we may shore up the first pick in the draft by losing to the Bears and proving that we are the worst team in football.

Key Matchup: Week 16 - vs. Jacksonville. This game may determine whether or not we get the first pick of the draft or not. It will be nice to see the Manning name back in black and gold. Anyone think they\'ll give him number 8?

WhoDat's Halftime Take
 

WhoDat,

You aren\'t bitter are you bud?

PS--If we do have a top 5 draft pick, should we go that high on Eli?

PPS--Do you think we could trade Brooks? Who\'d take him? What could we realistically get for him?

WhoDat's Halftime Take
 

With his salary, a third rounder. But we could always just cut him. A Manning in New Orleans will have the Saints marketing staff drooling - not to mention that the kid is good. If we\'re even within striking distance then yes, we go get him. Even if we\'re stretching and taking him too early.

WhoDat's Halftime Take
 

I agree 100% with Gator- there will be some damn fine 1st round prospects at LB this next year. If we do not grab one, I might need to borrow a straightjacket from one of you gents.

WhoDat's Halftime Take
 

Gator, I\'m with you.
At this point I really have not one friggin clue about what to do. Where do you go from here? How do you improve? Or even, How can we at least stop the bleeding?

Yes, we made a TON of poor decisions this offseason. Yes, we brought in a lot of guys who were basically affordable, but aren\'t making plays. And the one guy we did drop big coin on, has been a total wash. (I\'m speaking of T-Sucky here). The deal is that our free agents are all kind of middle of the road, but no one is really exceptional. Even Conwell, who was without doubt our best offseason pickup, is dropping key passes.

The worst part of it, is whatever inane \"explanation\" that Hazlett makes tomorrow. Will he call another afternoon press conference to say, \"We didn\'t make the plays we needed to make.\" But what\'s even more disturbing is why are they quitting?!?! Crap we\'re just 5 games in and our guys are sleepwalking through games. They sleepwalked through the preseason and they are still dead men walking right now. The only guy with an ounce of fire in him is Joe Horn and if he\'s not careful, he\'s going to be labeled the next \"locker room cancer\" and shipped out. Because honestly, I don\'t see Benson firing Haz and paying all that money from the contract extension. And I can\'t really see Haz quitting.

So where does that leave us?

Billy\'s going to love this, but benching Brooks isn\'t the \"magic bullet\" for this team to turn things around. He\'s not the long term solution at the QB position for this club, but dumping him now doesn\'t make our guys wake up and play. What I can\'t figure out is why our guys are so lackadasical about the whole friggin season. Why didn\'t we see some fire out of them in week 1 even? I\'m totally confused by the whole thing. Nothing adds up, nothing makes any sense. The only thing that does look clear as crystal is going 1-15 with this kind of play from the offense. The D did seem somewhat better today, but they aren\'t the kind of D that generates points like a Tampa. But the offense is totally zoned out, it\'s like zombies out there playing.

The only other thing that seems clear as crystal is that it seems like a lock that the bagheads are coming back this season.

WhoDat's Halftime Take
 

Gator, you know as well as I did , my dissatisfaction over the picks we took this year. The picks were at best questionable. I remember voicing frustration over our lack of quality activity in free agency. Maybe Turley was a cancer, maybe Roaf was old and wanted too much. I remember stating that we have not bettered ourselves, but never did I imagine that we had made ourselves this much worse. The offense needs last years production, to help our defense. The Saints lack of production will only make it worse to lure players to want to come to a loser and it will make it more difficult to hold anyone we may want to keep. Millions or not, they still have the urge to win. This does go beyond fingerpointing, I haven\'t enough fingers.

WhoDat's Halftime Take
 

Me too subguy. In fact, I remember getting blasted when I showed shock and outrage at our free agent moves. When I complained that they didn\'t go after any proven playmakers on D, when I complained that they didn\'t use their draft picks wisely, when everyone promised that we\'d get the guys we needed during the summer cuts period and I scoffed, I was laid into by the optimists and almost everyone on this board had a little something for me. Well, looks like this team has made a genius out of me, b/c, much to my dismay believe it or not, just about everything I said in the offseason and preseason is turning out to be true.

Notice how quiet Billy and Saintfan have gotten? Or they\'ve just changed their tunes. Oh, I forgot, Billy\'s gonna be real quiet this week. hehehe. ;) Sorry Bill.