from PFW today
 

Saints WR Joe Horn is saying that his comments criticizing the front office for letting WR coach Hubbard Alexander go is water under the bridge and, given time to reflect, he is looking forward to working with new WR coach Jimmy Robinson.

The way we hear it, the Saints believe they have the pieces in place to reach the playoffs next season and are counting on the frustration of the past two years to serve as motivation for the 2004 season.

http://profootballweekly.com/PFW/The...ispers1828.htm

Also

QB Aaron Brooks quietly put up monster numbers — 3,546 yards, 24 TDs vs. eight INTs, 88.8 QB rating — last season, but he still was considered a disappointment because of his inability to make big plays in crunch time and his nasty habit of fumbling. Considering those stats, however, the Saints aren’t about to make a change at quarterback, and sources say there isn’t much the team can do to help his development. Brooks missed time last offseason as he recovered from surgery on his right (throwing) shoulder, and there are hopes that he will be more efficient next season. But there is little Brooks can do to work on his fumbling problems and even less he can do to improve his leadership in the offseason. We’re told the Saints will push him to come into camp in tip-top shape and try to lead by example in offseason workouts to better establish himself as the team’s unquestioned leader.

http://profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFL...ns/default.htm

from PFW today
 

Am I the only one noticing that the emporer has no clothes here?
Isn\'t this the same thing they were plugging last off-season. \"Joe Montana will spend one on one time with Brooks on the issues of leadership and consistency.\"
Is every off-season going to be a new emphasis on \"Brooks becomes the leader of this team.\"?

from PFW today
 

Still behind Hasselbeck I see .

Matt Hasselbeck SEA 3841 513 313 26 15 80 88.8
Aaron Brooks NO 3546 518 306 24 8 76 88.8

Do not forget leadership school in the off season last year .

Kind of 2 big points here .

from PFW today
 

\"and sources say there isn’t much the team can do to help his development\"
Thats kind of an odd statement isn\'t it?
Is it he\'s peaked? Or this staff will be unable to get anything else out of him?

from PFW today
 

Danno, That had me scratching my head too. I wish there was some real live New Orleans media that even had a phone number to the training facility.

Seems like every other team in the league has some inside scoop every now and then, I wish someone could confirm this stuff.

from PFW today
 

Brooks is not a real cerebral player , he plays the game as the game was played 20 years ago . Similar to sandlot football .

Brooks reacts to the defense , he does not make the defense react to him .

If you have ever heard a commentator say in reference to a quarterback \" he is a real student of the game \" , this is not Brooks .

Brooks is a reactionary quarterback .

from PFW today
 

From E.S.P.N.

\"I don\'t know how you can win a conference championship game throwing just 14 passes, but God bless (Carolina quarterback) Jake Delhomme, he did it. It\'s got to kill the fans in New Orleans, who always wanted to see the kid play. And it ought to kill the Saints people, too. They paid a lot of money for (Aaron) Brooks and, when it comes to leadership, he isn\'t nearly there yet with Delhomme.\"

Saintsfan link :http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playof...len&id=1712528


Go get it turbo !!!!

[Edited on 19/1/2004 by saintz08]

from PFW today
 

You can\'t, unless you design your team around a strong defense and a strong running game, therby minimizing the necessity of a superior QB.. If you do that even one of our old Billy Joe\'s could go to the SB.

Jake is simply another cog in a well oiled machine.
He wouldn\'t have won 7 games with the 2003 Saints.

from PFW today
 

If this is the case, then why not trade Brooks for Urlacher, pick up Champ Bailey in free agency and trade up to get Sean Taylor at Safety. Then we could either get the Billy Joes back or let Bauman hand off to Deuce all next season. Why bother passing if the QB is truly disposable?

from PFW today
 

A machine that did not do much without him last year .....

And I am assuming not much in the Play offs ??

Indianapolis 3 108 36.0 71 65.7 894 298.0 9 4 5 41
Carolina 3 70 23.3 43 61.4 643 214.3 3 1 4 21

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah .... ;) ...Not much at all

Peyton Manning IND 918 103 67 9 4 87 106.4
Jake Delhomme CAR 664 69 43 3 1 70 102.6
Brett Favre GB 499 66 41 3 1 44 94.2
Trent Green KC 212 30 18 1 0 25 92.6
Tom Brady NE 438 78 43 2 1 41 74.6
Jake Plummer DEN 181 30 23 1 2 34 74.4
Steve McNair TEN 369 49 32 2 4 49 67.5
Matt Hasselbeck SEA 305 45 25 0 1 34 67.4
Donovan McNabb PHI 348 61 31 2 3 45 58.6
Anthony Wright BAL 214 37 20 1 2 35 57.7
Quincy Carter DAL 154 36 21 0 1 28 56.9
Marc Bulger STL 332 46 27 0 3 28 53.9

Except handle the position in a smart , effective manner for a first year starter .......

from PFW today
 

I\'d trade Brooks and our defense for Carolina\'s defense. Think they\'d bite?

[Edited on 19/1/2004 by Danno]

from PFW today
 

Uhhh, do you think Steven Davis, a healthy Muhammed, and Steve Smith had anything to do with improving last year\'s team, which was picking up steam as 2002 closed?
Naw, I guess it was all Jakey-poo huh? Funny, a lot of experts picked Carolina as a team to watch in 2003, before they ever signed Jakey-poo. Hmmm.

Once again, I have to address simplistic static logic of another jilted Jake lover... When will it all end?

Also,
Carolina went from 1-15 to 7-9 without Jake. (a 6 game improvement)
Carolina went from 7-9 to 11-5 with Jake. (a 4 game improvement)
Seems to me that little Jakey cost the Panthers 2 games on the ole improvement scale.
So I guess you could say they\'ve regressed since Jake came on board!

[Edited on 19/1/2004 by Danno]

from PFW today
 

I think it is different to last year before training camp. The \"leadership classes\" were meant to transform Brooks into the vocal leader of this team. The coaches were dreaming of someone else, at least now realism has set in. They see his limitations and evaluate how he can contribute as a leader - which is \"leading by example\".
This is step 1, evaluating REALISTICALLY what your players can do and help them develop their strengths and work on their weaknesses. Leadership will NEVER be Brooks\' strength. So in order to earn at least the respect of his teammates he has to come in and work hard (which he does, at least in the off-season). IF the reports are true - and they might be totally bogus - I whole-heartedly agree with what the Saints are trying to do.
Brooks will be the quarterback next year, now find a way to make him as productive as we can.

By the way: Local boy or not, I don\'t want a division rival to win the Super Bowl two years in a row. Bad enough they beat us twice this year.

from PFW today
 

Did you calculate the increased strength of schedule , or did you just figure it did not matter ?? ;)

from PFW today
 

If the Jake worshipers only look at the one or two stats they want to look at, so can I. ;)