CheramieIII

Who's he trying to convince, like we have'nt been doing this for years:

Once again, Saints aren't playing up to their potential
Thursday, September 23, 2004
John DeShazier
When was the last time 1-1 felt and sounded so much like 0-2? Because that's how it seems with the Saints, who split their first two games but were so spotty in defeat and victory little good could be sifted from either.

"I grew up here, and I know," said cornerback Ashley Ambrose, a New Orleans native and 13-year veteran, with a hint of a smile. "You have to blow a team out. Every win you get around here is an ugly win. That's just part of it."

Ambrose said that when he was with the Colts "and we'd win by 20, my friends would be like, 'But you got beat on that touchdown.' . . . that's just the people around here. They're very competitive."

Or it could be that Saints fans, having been promised by the franchise that they would see a competitive, playoff-caliber football team, want and expect to see just that.

Yet the sinking feeling is that the Saints aren't nearly as good as advertised, and since not enough argument to the contrary has been offered all that's left to believe is what we've seen with our own eyes. Which, mostly, has been enough to prompt self-gouging or the purchase of a blindfold.

"I know what we're capable of doing," defensive end Charles Grant said.

The problem, of course, is that the Saints always say that. And they so often don't do enough of what they're supposedly capable of doing that one has to wonder just what they are capable of doing.

The season-opening flop against Seattle -- a highly anticipated, highly promoted game against a potential Super Bowl contender -- was a blow to the ego, not so much because of the loss but because of the lack of competitiveness.

The Game 2, skin-of-the-teeth victory over San Francisco, which pushed New Orleans to the wire and nearly won with a lineup laced with castoffs and rejects who resembled fourth-quarter exhibition game mop-ups, was disheartening because lambs should be dominated.

And yet some Saints dared to call fans on the carpet for conduct unbecoming.

Players routinely can't hear the snap count, but always hear boos. They regularly can't see the football they're standing over well enough to stay put before it's snapped, but can see empty seats and people heading for the exits.

http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index...4060827200.xml

CheramieIII

Hey Gator thanks for keepin it real.

WhoDat

Man, this is one of the best written articles I\'ve seen on the Saints in a LONG time. Perfectly on-target.

Gator, reread this one and you\'ll see that DeShazier agrees with you. He\'s got some of the best quotes about a Saints team I\'ve seen in a LONG TIME.

[Edited on 24/9/2004 by WhoDat]