Offense-unit analysis
 

OFFENSE-
RB-
McAllister is one of the very best weapons in the NFL.
Smith is a great blocking FB. I'd like him more if he could run and catch, but he's a keeper.
Add a dependable back-up or two and this unit is as good as it gets. A multi-dimensional fullback would be a nice addition though. My grade is assuming they will sign a decent back-up or two for Deuce.
Grade: A


QB-
Brooks is a top 10 QB that I think will improve in 2004.
Bouman is a solid back-up. We could still win if Brooks were to falter or get injured.
O'Sullivan is a developing 3rd QB who reminds me of a young Jake, only fiestier.
This unit is definitely not the weak link on this team.
Grade: A minus


O-line-
Good potential with young interior. Bentley, Holland, Jacox (at center) gives us a solid interior that should be a better run-blocking unit next year. Riley and Gandy played well enough at tackle to hold their own. An upper middle-of-the-pack unit that should improve next year. Not great, but not bad either. Age is a concern at LT but Gandy should be able to perform well for a few more years.
Grade: B minus

TE- .
Boo will only get better. His blocking improved and should continue to next year. He is blossoming into a pro-bowler.
Conwell was solid after a shakey start. He should improve in 2004. He and Boo should scare a lot of defensive coordinators.
Hilton- The youngster may develop into a weapon either in 2004 or 2005. He has great upside. I was happy he made the roster.
Rasby may stay but he's a very replaceable blocker/special teamer anyway.
A solid unit from top to bottom. Best TE group here in a while. Re-signing Boo was a smart move by an often criticized staff.
Grade: A-minus

5. WR-
Horn still has a few solid years left. I hope he feels guilty about the WR coach being fired. Maybe he focuses more on catching the ball in 2004 than planning stupid TD stunts. He drops too many balls to be considered elite, but there are quite a few teams that would take him right now as their #1.
Stallworth's nagging injury problems should start decreasing as it has with other WR's who had similar probs. He's a awesome threat when healthy.
Pathon is versatile and can play all 3 positions well. He may be kept but there are plenty of free agent WR's just as good. His price will determine if he stays.
Lewis shocked me. No way he should have been as good a WR as he showed. I'm happy for him but he's small. While he's tough as nails his size raises injury concerns.
Gardner is still a 2-3 year project with HUGE upside. His effort to improve will decide if he develops into a stud or another Oneme Ojo.
We need to add a sure handed vet free-agent for depth. They were the weak link on Offense and they are probably the reason their WR coach was fired. A healthy Stallworth would give this unit an A, but until he proves it, and until they add another sure-handed vet...
Grade: C

Offense-unit analysis
 

I wonder if anyone here really disagrees with that statement.

Offense-unit analysis
 

I think I know about 3 people that might. ;)

Offense-unit analysis
 

I agree %100. I\'m tired of Joe Horn running his mouth and not backing it up and I\'m also tired of Donte Stallworth missing half the season with a hamstring injury.

Offense-unit analysis
 

This is a great topic. It\'s also one I agree with. Problem is it seems hardly anyone wants to talk about the REAL problems on this team.

I\'d like to add that I don\'t particularly care for our offensive line. I think Fotenot needs to be a back-up and I\'m very unsure about Wanye Gandy. Gandy might benefit from a years experierce on our O-line, but it still is a conern for me.

Oveall offense isn\'t a REAL BIG concern, not nearly to the extent of the defense.

Last, I am looking forward to seeing Boo Williams play an entire year as our starting TE. If our receievers can return to form, Boo will be unstopable!!

Offense-unit analysis
 

Inconsistant Argument Alert!

How is it simultaneously possible for Brooks to have his best stastical year at QB and a horrid receiving corps at the same time?

I suppose the new empahsis on TE could have something to do with it.

Offense-unit analysis
 

Words in Mouth Alert!!!
Did anyone say they were \"horrid\"?

Offense-unit analysis
 

Totally Missing the Point Alert!

I\'m not so sure that the WRs are the \"weak link\" (this really is a quote) on the offense nearly as much as the TEs became a \"stronger link\" (this is me coining a phrase).

The passing yardage is within 300 yards of last season and Conwell and Williams caught FAR more yardage this season than the TEs did in 2002.

Offense-unit analysis
 

Make that 4 Danno.

:P

Offense-unit analysis
 

Is the question: \"Were our wide receivers a weak link?\"

Hmm. That\'s what everyone on here was saying all year. Did you guys change your minds?

Joe Horn, who had the best year of any receiver was terribly inconsistant. Donte\' hardly played all year. Paython did hardly NOTHING. Michael Lewis did what he could.

Please. This unit was the most disappointing on the whole team!! How can anyone deny that?

[Edited on 27/1/2004 by BillyC]

Offense-unit analysis
 

Words Mean things Alert
I think there\'s a big difference in \"Horrid\" (your quote) and \"Weak-Link\" (my quote). On a unit thats pretty good to begin with a weak link may be far from horrid.

All ribbing aside, the TE position did improve over last years sub par performance. And the WR\'s did not improve. I believe they regressed. If our WR\'s had improved as much as our TE\'s did Brooks numbers would have been Marino-esgue off the charts.
Its debateable which was the weaker link between the O-line and the WR\'s. But if you notice I gave the WR\'s a C and the O-line a B-minus.
I don\'t see how anyone could argue that the WR\'s regressed. Especially looking at the constantly injured Stallworth and key drop after key drop.

Offense-unit analysis
 

Ok, I\'m going to the numbers then (hehe, I can\'t believe I\'m posting a string of numbers)

By the way I\'m taking these numbers from NFL.com
http://www.nfl.com/teams/stats/NO
http://www.nfl.com/teams/stats/NO/2002/regular

Ok in 2002 Brooks threw for 3572 yards in 2003 he threw for 3546 yards

Horn 2002 caught 1312 yards and in 2003 he caught 973 yards, a big drop

Pathon 2002 caught 523 yards and in 2003 caught 578 yards, seems about the same rather than \"hardly nothing\" (an actual quote)

Stallworth 2002 caught 594 yards and in 2003 caught 485, a drop to be sure.

Reed 2002 caught 360 and wasn\'t really replaced for this season.

Deuce 2002 caught 352 and in 2003 caught 516, a significant increase

Lewis 2002 caught 200 and in 2003 caught 226, about the same

Sloan 2002 caught 127 and Conwell 2003 caught 290, a significant increase

Williams 2002 caught 143 and in 2003 caught 436.

In 2002 the RBs and TEs accounted for 690 yards. (I\'m adding Fenderson and Smith to this total, but they only had 68 between them)
In 2002 the WRs accounted for 2889 yards.

In 2003, the RBs and TEs accounted for 1286 receiving yards, about double the total from the previous years.
In 2003, the WRs accounted for 2346 yards receiving, about 500 fewer.

I would guess that not having a Jake Reed type player may have hurt, but it seems more likely that the OC had more confidence in the TEs than in years past. At any rate, the WR\'s basically did what they did last year with the exception of Horn. It looks like the OC wanted to spread the ball around more.

Offense-unit analysis
 

Why do you think this? Is it because of his age or the fact that he was selected as a pro bowl alternate and not a starter?

Offense-unit analysis
 

Because I saw him getting pushed in the backfield too much for my liking.

Offense-unit analysis
 

There\'s nothing wrong with our offensive line, except for some young prospects that we need to groom for the future. As for our starters, they are fine. I\'m not going to get into a conversation about how well they execute, I\'ll leave that up for the coaches to decide. Lineman will get pushed around, unless your name is Ogden. He\'s the only one that I can think of that I\'ve never seen man-handled. Gandy has been put on his ass and he has put people on their ass. You can\'t win every battle in the trenches, you just can\'t.
And you can take Pathon off that list of WR\'s that didn\'t perform up to their caliber. He dropped a few passes, but no more than he has dropped in years past. His drops were accentuated by all the other drops that others were making. He had his best year as a Saint in 2003, despite starting one less game than he did the year before.

Offense-unit analysis
 

I can understand why some fans say the offensive line is fine. If you look at the numbers Deuce put up, that would certainly indicate we have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL.

But, there\'s more to it than a back having great rushing stats that make a great offensive line. One thing I think makes a great offensive line is being able to rush the ball in the redzone and score TD\'s. When Emmit was in Dallas, the offensive line allowed Emmit Smith to become all time scoring leader for rushing TD\'s.

Our offensive line loses the battle up front and RARLY moves the line of scrimmage. Deuce makes most of his yards with very little help form the offensive line. We can never rush for those 3 or less yards needed on 3rd down. At least that\'s what I saw.

Furthermore, I think our pass protection was shabby a lot of the time.

[Edited on 27/1/2004 by BillyC]

Offense-unit analysis
 

I think if you go back and look at the number of different offensive line players we used you might think different.

[Edited on 27/1/2004 by ColdFusion]

Offense-unit analysis
 

Good point Joe. If this unit had stayed healthy (Bentley mostly) I think our rush and pass blocking would have been much much better.
KC used the exact same line-up on the O-line for all 16 games. If we had done that I think Deuce would have had a shot at 2000 yards...maybe.
If Holland progresses as expected and Bentley stays healthy this unit may move into the B-plus / A-minus category for 2004

Offense-unit analysis
 

Our run blocking was better when Spencer Folau went down and was replace by Montre\' Holland. Overall the starting offesive linemen were inconsistant in run blocking an pass protection, IMO. Losing Le\' Charles to injury hurt.

I said all year that our offensive line got pushed around and I really concentrated on watching them play. Too many times I saw defensive linemen in our backfield and most of the time the pressure came right up the middle where Fotenot resides.

We need more power up front and less finesse.

Offense-unit analysis
 

We didn\'t execute very well, that is obvious. I don\'t know that I would rate our receviers as the weak link. I will say that they were inconsistent this year. Some games, Joe Horn just couldn\'t lose and he came up with so many third-and-longs that it became generally accepted that he would be the guy Brooks would go-to when he had to make a play. Stallworth-less (at least this year) was just as injury-plagued as ever despite yoga and all the other crap he supposedly did to work on that. Pathon was as he always is, dependable and making a few mistakes.

Our O-line was also inconsistent. Some games they opened holes and Deuce was able to exploit it. Other games, we had guys meeting Deuce coming out of the backfield. In my opinion, it was a game-by-game thing and we had a stretch of good ones there in the middle of the season. By the same token, I can remember AB having all day to throw in some games, and having guys hanging all over him right after the snap in others. Inconsistent.

However, I hesistate to call inconsistency as the reason for saying a particular unit is \"poor.\" That way lies every area of our team this year, and particularly AB.

Offense-unit analysis
 

Sure the WRs underachieved this season. Welcome to Jim Haslett football. If it\'s not one group it\'s the other. Horn played poorly early, but the whole team played poorly early. Horn was hurt for a while, as was Stallworth. Donte\'s injuries are certainly becoming a concern, but it\'s hard to say the receivers let the team down when your two starters were hurt for more than half the year. We certainly need more production out of that area, but I can\'t think of any other time in Saints history in which our receivers have been as productive as they have been the last three or four years. Our WRs are better than they\'ve ever been, but I will definitely concede that there is room for improvement.

As for our O-line. I think it\'s fine. If anything, we need a stud at LT and let Gandy play out his career on the right. Our interior is good, and will only get better. Whenever Fontenot decides to retire he will be replaced with someone younger and probably stronger, but less experienced and less of a leader on the line. Our line is fine guys - maybe a stud LT, but that\'s about it.

Offense-unit analysis
 

I\'m not saying our offensive line played terrible. But I\'m not saying it played well either. Just like most other units on this team, I believe this unit was very inconsistant and that\'s with all the starters in. I do not think they are a great run blocking line, but rather an average one. It\'s hard for me to evaluate this unit though, because it was just so inconsistant. I guess that goes for the whole team.

I still say Jimmy Haslett is the problem and that\'s why no one ever knows what they problems are.

Offense-unit analysis
 

Well, I couldn\'t agree more. I\'ll say this about the line - they seemed to do fairly well in the zone blocking and off-tackle sprint plays, but they are bad in short-yardage mainly b/c they don\'t get a ton of push. Part of that might come down to the fact that every team knows that Bentley is our stud and when we go short yardage we\'re going at the gap between him and Fontenot. Thus, they plug that and it\'s not like we ever attempt to run anywhere else. In other words, play calling might be as much the culprit in short yardage as anything else.