What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

On WWL this morning the poll question for the day was "How do you feel about the Saints season, Proud Disappointed, or angry? After thinking about I decided I was disappointed. But I'm proud that 11-5 is disappointing.

Before the season I predicted that we'd finish between 11-5 and maybe as high as 13-3. I definitely believed we'd take the division. A lot of people were making predictions based on what we did in 2012. Lots of 8-8s and 9-7s. I felt like that was wrong headed and said then that we should forget '12 and go by what we did in 2011. Maybe I was over optimistic but I think I was closer to mark than most. I never believed our D personnel was as bad as the record indicated. I never invisioned the type of turn around we saw though.

So why am I disappointed? For starters we had the best defense we've had in decades and we still have a great offense. But that great offense let us down when it mattered most. Yeah the defense gave up a TD with 1 second left in N.E. and did it again in Carolina. But those are two of the best teams in the League this year. They went from laughingly horrible to the fourth ranked D in the League. How much more can you ask? Next year they'll be even better.

We should have won the division. That we didn't is probably the the biggest failure of Payton's career as a head coach. Beat the Rams and the Jets and we're 13-3, second seed and probably playing in the NFCCG. Payton would be coach of the year and we'd still be dancing.

But I don't want to end the season on a negative note so I have to say that I'm very optimistic about the future for a lot of reasons

1) We have Drew Brees. No he isn't over the hill. He hasn't lost his edge because he got paid. His arm is fine and since it looks like the O Line got it together at the end of the season I see another great year by Drew in 2014.

2) The O Line. It was a rough year for them. Evans was injured all year and he is the heart of that unit. He started looking like his old self in Dec and Ben Grubbs and Zach Streif are solid to outstanding players. Terron Armstead is a stud and will only get better. Center needs help. No reason to believe Payton won't make it happen.

I look for this unit to get back to being first class. If they get back to protecting Brees and continue to look dominant in the run game we'll be back to setting records again.

3) Who has four better RBs than the Saints? Nobody! So many people are counting PT and Sproles out but I think they're way off. PT was running behind the same bad line that Ingram was but only Ingram gets to use that excuse? He had a good year. So did Sproles. Go back and look at the plays these two "old men" men made this year. Robinson is a hoss and Ingram finally broke out. We're in great shape. Talk about depth!

4) I love our defensive line! If Foster and Walker keep developing and stop getting injured we could have six starting caliber linemen and 3 Pro-Bowl caliber young studs. Jordan, Jenkins and Hicks can be as good as any starting 3 in the game. Add Gallett (who plays DE as much as LB) and these guys could be a force for years to come.

5) I thought our defensive backfield was excellent before everybody got injured. Jenkins looked good as long as he Harper weren't playing together. Harper (who's probably gone) looked a lot better too. Sadly Greer may not be back. If he does come back at the same level and P Rob can pick up where
he left off we'll be in great shape. KV is another Pro-Bowl type player Bush is like a guided missile out there. Unlike most i think White is going to be a solid #2 CB. I like his toughness too.

6) ROB RYAN!

LB, WR need some attention and OL could all use some quality depth but there's no reason to believe Payton and Loomis wont make it happen.

Next year is the year guys. Book it.

(Sorry to ramble but I needed to get that out.)

Re: What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

for the first time it was the offense that let us down. i think that is why the shock was hard take

Re: What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

This season was a helluva turnaround (specifically on defense) however I'm still disappointed at the end result. We have a lot of play makers on offense who simply didn't bring their A game, especially on the road.

Our defense needs to be commended on how hard they fought.. all season long. With a few tweaks on both sides of the ball, I still say this is a Super Bowl caliber team.

Re: What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

We never gave up.....I like that.

Re: What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

You really begin to question if Brees is beginning to lose it.

I dunno, 35 is that age for a QB where you start taking notice of it, but if its his arm or not, I dunno, I think his family and 3 kids could be why hes taking a step back and little less time in the training room. The SB year and years prior he had less stress of that.

I also believe part of the problem is we got no WR's. We can continue to believe Lance Moore, Meachem, and co is great WR's, but they tend to go Roddy White all season, if they show up they show up big, other than that they disappear all game long and it leaves Colston carrying the load, when Colston vanishes, makes things hard, go look at film of any loss this year and you see the offenses problem is exactly that. Graham gets a pass only because teams plan for him, which is why things should open up else where, Colston is the only one who takes advantage of it.

Re: What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

I couldn't have said it better myself. The disappointing thing for me is that all of those losses were because of stupid mistakes. If we had played good football with minimal mistakes and just got beat by a better team that's one thing, but losing because you shoot yourself in the foot is another. Unlike bad coaching, lack of talent etch which are hard to fix over the course of a season mistakes can be fixed.
I agree about Brees. He didn't have near the protection he needed. How many times was he able to step up in the pocket and just nail one? Not many.
We have to upgrade center and maybe right tackle. We need some help in the secondary for sure.
I am not worried about all this talk that graham is soft, he was hurt, before his injury he was balling. Its hard to plant feet and push off with that kind of injury which is why he seemed to get handled.
We have a lot to look forward too. Give Brees a half way decent line and with our defense the sky is the limit.
It is imperative to start running the ball more. It will extend the life of Brees if nothing else. I don't see Ingram back. Yea he did well in the playoffs but he was basically invisible the 3 years prior. I think KRob is the future there.

Re: What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

You're right Dude. A fumble and a bad was the difference in the Seattle game.

I don't know why people still think we need to upgrade Streif. Grubbs and Evans made the Pro-Bowl but Streif was our most consistent lineman. He had a great season.

Re: What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

I don't understand why Saints fans are so disappointed. Do your realize most analyst didn't give us 6 wins @ the beginning of the season. Hell the coach himself even said hey don't be mad with us if this season isn't a playoff one. Last season I was far more pissed, 7-9 with the worst defense in team and league history, at least statistically. In one season, you brought your defense out of the dark ages, made it formidable... and found @ least 4 bonafide stars 2 of which were here all along... BTW you've lost more starters on Defense than I can count and still boast a top five D..... You are another CB, an OLB, and a FS from being Seattle... Offensively... You did the most important thing for this offense going forward... You found a LT... He's been so good in fact that if you get someone better to replace him in Free Agency you probably could move him to RT. House Money people, your playing with house money!!!!

Re: What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

Disappointed sums it up the best for me for the most part. Pissed at Jets and Rams. We kinda gave away a huge lead and our chance for home field in the playoffs.

Re: What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

We had a 5 game lead and still blew the chance to take the NFC south and a first round bye, so yeah im disappointed

Im disappointed in Payton, brees and the offense though, the D was outstanding all year and showed heart every game

Re: What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

Who cares what the analysts say. They're clueless. It's almost like they forgot thatwe played the entire previous season with out a head coach or that the previous season we were 13-3 and set about 900 records.

Re: What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

We've come a long way as saints fans I see. I think this team since 2006 has finally begun to spoil us. We now consider a 5000 yards passing season and top 5 passing numbers all around to be a sign of a QB who is declining. And a one year turnaround from worst defence in the history of the game to too 5 statistically and visibly when you watch the game.

We definitely have some issues but this team is a top 5 team in this league that needs to achieve better balance, upgrade a few spots and cut down on fundamental errors. The changes are minimal to be right back playing this weekend next year.

Re: What I think. (For whatever it's worth)
 

I think I'm only disappointed because I know we could win it all.. doesn't matter that the analyst say so and so.. if ur a real fan u know ur team and we all knew we were better than a 8 or 9 win season. But can't beat progress.. I expect great things from this team.