Interesting fact thread.
 

Oh, also, about all this stuff about looking at aggregate stats, win stats, or particular aspects of a player\'s stats, don\'t you guys think that it depends on what you are trying to demonstrate? I can\'t understand why you\'d have such a universal policy to ignore one or the other aspects of the stats.

Interesting fact thread.
 

No this year was NOT a rebuilding year. This year was supposed to be the year that Haslett finally got all of the pieces that he needed to take us places. Don\'t believe me, just ask Billy about teams in recent history who have revamped their defense in a single year. He\'s got all of those stats. Just b/c we didn\'t make the playoffs doesn\'t mean the year was a rebuilding year. It means it was a failure. Just like last year was. I\'m tired of failing. I\'m tired of squandered opportunity. Get me someone who can suceed.

Interesting fact thread.
 

I argue with WhoDat all the time and I know he will agree with that. But, this was NOT a rebulding year. This TEAM was supposed to do much better this year. I don\'t think the COACHES are totally at fault, but if blame has to be directed somewhere, then it MUST be directed at the coaches. Who else are we to blame? The players? That doesn\'t make much sense to me.

Like I said, it\'s not all the coaches fault. There are other factors, like injuries, but I think Jim Haslett himself would tell you that he thought this team had the talent to make the playoffs this year. Also, the injuries on defense had some effect on losing games, but mostly it\'s been the offense that has cost us. I have to place a lot of the blame for that on e the coaches. Not all, but they deserve a lot of it....

Interesting fact thread.
 

Well said gentlemen. Of course, I\'m just considering the argument. Let me concede to you now, but still play devil\'s advocate here.

What constitutes a rebuilding year then?

Here is a list of things I think one should look for to identify a \"rebuilding year\" - I think when some critical number of these are present, then you have a \"rebuilding year\":
1- The coach, management and media say \"it\'s a rebuilding year\".
2- There are many retirements of aging vetrans (3 or more) - though this doesn\'t happen so much anymore, what with FA and all.
3- At least two of the core offensive starters leave (QB, RB, WR).
4- The defense has more than 6 new starters who were not on the team the year before.
5- There are more than 10 new starters on the team who were not on the team the year before.
6- There is a new coach who sends more than 8 starters packing.

Ok, there are some thoughts. Hopefully someone will help ammend this list. I grant that only one of these was true for our boys this year, and this is not sufficient for our year to be considered a \"rebuilding year\", but I thought it was worth thinking about. :)

Interesting fact thread.
 

Every year is a rebuilding year with Haslett as head coach .

In the Haz tenure we have heard repeatedly .

1. Locker room distraction
2. Time to gel
3.We felt the need to get more speed at that position .

That is why the Saints have the highest payroll in the N.F.L. , signing bonuses .