Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Having had the benefit of seeing the Saints and the Panthers win, it is now time to put in some serious season ending (potentially) debate on how this weekend will play out.

Can we stop Jake?

Can Aaron get out of his own way?

Can Jim select a play without 64000 people (including 53 Saint players) disagreeing with the call?

Will the franchise pin all its hopes on a Panther special teams breakdowns?

Great Holy Missed Tackles Saints Fans!! Where will this next episode take us?

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

The key to victory against the Foulcoons yesterday was with two emerging factors:

1. The play of the defense.
2. The stellar play of the Special Teams.

I nominate Al Everest as my pick for Saints Coach of the Year. Throughtout all of the ups and downs this has been the steadiest, and best coached and motivated group on this team. Period!!!!

Probably the best personnel move of Hazlett\'s tenure was picking up Mike McKenzie. It looked like he was not only playing, but having fun doing so. I believe that we have to go through Atlanta again, assuming that we make the playoffs. That said, we always, and I mean always, are up for this team. It is personal. I think that the additions of Willie Whitehead and Mike McKenzie have made a vast improvement in this team. It is just possible that we will go to the playoffs as we seem to be picking up steam. The foulcoons were flat yesterday. The Panthers will not be. But, there is an off chance we can make it. :cool:

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

And some insiders suggested that Haz wasn\'t really all that fired up about acquiring him. Loomis kinda pushed the deal on him.
Figures. Even when Haz makes a good move, its not really Haz.
LOL

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Question: Has Aaron Brooks ever beaten Jake Delhomme head to head? And has his play even in the wins inspired anyone to think he could?

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Nope, neither has Deuce.
Occasionally. He can be great at times, and bad at times.

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Correction Danno, he can be bad often and great seldom. Seems more accurate.

I answered your \"has Deuce\" query in the other thread, unless you have found a way Deuce can hand off and throw the ball to himself. Then he should go head to head against Jake.

[Edited on 27/12/2004 by saintswhodi]

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

As urgent as it was to get off to a good start, 3 series of 3-&-outs are not encouraging going into the Panthers\' home court:

Passing - 1/5 for 6 yards and 1 sack
Rushing - 2 for 14 yards
2 presnap penalties

Starting Field position at NO15, NO38 and NO41.

A simple analysis of the facts here seems to indicate that the ball seems better advanced, at least in the beginning of a game, if it isn\'t in Brooks\' hands for very long.

However, I\'m going to bring up an option that went little discussed in another thread:

Wouldn\'t the Saints offense improve if \"artificial urgency\" be instituted in the form of running a 2-minute offense right from the beginning?

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

artificial urgency?
I kinda like that.
Also can be view as a Pre-Emptive Urgency.

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

xan, no truer words have ever been spoken.

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

I\'ve got news for everybody on this board. It is going to take an ALL OUT TEAM EFFORT vs. Carolina, in their house. No more AB threads, Deuce agenda, Horn crap, it\'s gonna be balls up and play. Who can execute better, who has the heart, who\'s gonna light a fire under this teams a$$. So enough w/ the this player, that player...

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Absolutely, our 53 better be prepared to play some ball.
All 53, or whatever the actually activate at kick-off.
Carolina is the hottest team in the NFC right now, every stinking player, coach, ballboy, and saintsation better bring their A-game or its gonna be another painfully bitter woulda-coulda-shoulda.

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Saintswhodi, unless Brooks and Delhomme have been sneaking into the game at linebacker or safety or something, there hasn\'t been a case yet of the two going \"head-to-head\". Brooks has gotten to face the Carolina defense, while Delhomme got to play against the Saints defense. I think we will all agree on which unit we\'d rather look across the line and see if we were under center.

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Outstanding assessment!-also,I don\'t get to see many SAINTS games,but having been outscored A BUNCH to NOT MUCH in the first quarter... have they ever tried starting the first series in the 2 minute offense? If you can get the playmakers involved early, that\" could\" jumpstart them into something that might produce desirable results... if it doesn\'t- well nothing else has either, so WHY NOT TRY IT!!!

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Hey Puddinhead, why don\'t you also write a letter to ESPN who has Ben Roethlisberger 1-0 over Eli Manning? I am sure they would also like to know that you should not keep head to head statistics for quarterbacks and will change their whole way of looking at games. And actually, I would prefer our defense to Carolina\'s or anyone else\'s in the league, cause they are ours, bottom of the league or top of the league. You take the Panthers D if you like.

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

They tried it a few games ago, but a few illegal procedure penalties turned that into a three-and-out, too. LOL

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

I used to bet on them a lot(finally gave up after I paid up) and they only started winning AFTER I stopped betting! Not that it was me who turned them around but it seems like when everyone gives up on them and starts raggin\' on them- they want to prove everyone wrong. I\'ve never played in the NFL but when i did, if you made a mistake the coaches got on you... if you made the SAME mistake again \"you got a reminder\" to help you focus. If you made the SAME mistake again... you hit the bench! From what I have seen of our team this year,they are their own worst enemies,meaning they really play dumb ball.You can count on them to screw up plays almost as much or better than you can the other team stopping them. Eliminating the penalties and becoming more focused on EVERY PLAY is all they need to do. You play like you practice,simple--- goes back to coaching. This week, they\'d better play every down like it\'s their last or the best December they\'ve played in years will come to a sour close!

[Edited on 28/12/2004 by broadmoorintheatl]

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Here\'s the deal. The Saints have more talent than the Panthers and have played well on the road this year. Does the entire roster have the ba**s of Joe Horn? I just don\'t know. I know that Duece does. I know that McKenzie does. I don\'t know if Brooks does. I don\'t know if Victor Riley does. I don\'t know if any of our linebackers do. To win this game we must control the clock with Duece, have no turnovers, have another excellent special teams day, and control Julius Peppers with double teams or even triple teams.
Also McKenzie must shut down Mohammed. If he wants the big money contract renegotiation he needs to earn it this week.

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Wrong question. Can we stop Muhammad? I think the defense needs to plan to bracket the guy all day and make Delhomme throw to someone else. Personally I\'d have McKenzie and a safety be Muhammad\'s personal escorts for the entire game.Carolina\'s pass rush is serious. Brooks simply isn\'t going to have a lot of time to look to throw the ball down the field. It\'s going to take patience. And unfortunately with our offense patience often leads to mistakes. And not just Brooks. False starts. Dropped passes. Missed blocks. Holding. The whole nine.

Our offense plays better as a big play offense because it minimizes the possibility of mistakes. It\'s when we start that conservative, pound the ball mentality that we get in trouble.

And that\'s what\'s Carolina\'s defense is going to give you: the 3-4 yard run and the 3-5 yard dink/dunk pass.

McCarthy calls the offensive plays. Unfortunately he\'s a better play caller when the team is behind, because he is forced to open it up. He should script the first 15 plays of the game as if the team were down by 11 with 4 minutes to go. I\'d bet that the offense would put up between 10 and 14 points on that script.
Special teams will play a part. The Saints have put up 21 points in the last two games due to two TD returns by Stecker and Lewis and a great punt return by Lewis in the RB game. Again our offense doesn\'t do well dinking and dunking on a long field. So we need at least one superior return during the course of the game.The Saints defense has their work cut out for them: limit the run and make someone other than Muhammad beat you.

I think (think mind you) that the Saints secret weapon has finally, finally arrived on the scene: Stallworth. His ability to run after the catch may turn out to be the difference in the game.

McCarthy is going to have to plan this game around slowing the rush, getting Deuce, Horn, and Stallworth out in space, and giving Brooks a run/pass option by moving the pocket.

If he brings his typical pound Deuce with the ball and drop Brooks into the pocket... we\'re dead. Plain and simple.

Look for screens, delays, draws, slants, and dumps. Pray that Riley and Gandy can minimize the false starts and holding penalties. When they come to work this week McCarthy and the O-line coach should be whispering two words to each of them: two seconds. We need you to keep Peppers, Buckner, Moorehead, and the rest of the defensive line off Brooks for two seconds.

The Panther\'s D-Line already is what out D-line is aspiring to be: dominating. So we\'ll have to game plan to keep everything short until the big play opens up.

Remember that on Donte\'s TD last Sunday that the route was just a couple of yards past the LOS. The run after catch was the big play.

SFIAH

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Guys, everyone\'s tired of the Brooks vs. Delhomme debate. Members need to be extra careful where they tread here, if I find that it\'s starting up just to be an annoyance I will have to start pressing buttons again.

This has been going on for 2 years on here and I personally, along with many many many others who emailed me this morning, am sick of it.

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

I\'m pretty sick of it, too...and yet it seems to be a topic that just sort of sucks you in like a black hole.

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Halo,

I always treat the topic as a generic Saints vs. Panthers thread. Note my eariler reply to it here.

Folks need to remember that the Panther D kept us out of the end zone the last game of the 2002 season, keeping us out of the playoffs. These guys now have 4 straight wins against us. They are really the arch enemy, not the Falcons.

We have a chance to get a huge measure of revenge this week. We can get into the playoffs. We can knock them out of the playoffs. We can end the regular season on a 4 game winning streak. We can finally finally shut up all the TV pinheads who have their lips planted on the Cats\' collective butts.

It\'s more than Brooks vs. Delhomme.

And so I treat it as such.

SFIAH

Aaron v. Delhomme v4.0
 

Ok, some things to think about from the last Panthers/Saints game...(I didn\'t have the benefit of watching this game as the NFL and TV powers that be had me watch the Jets smoke Houston.)

On Four 1st quarter series:

Starting Field Position - NO22,NO23,NO28,NO29

Rushing - 4 planned, 0 net yards + Fumble
Passing - 1/5, 7 planned, 1 yard
- Sack for 1 yd loss
- Scramble for 7 yard gain (no fd)
2 holding penalties on first down.

Total Time of Posession: 4:42

Score - Panthers 13, Saints 0

This looks remarkably like the lines of every game so far this season. Realizing that some of these issues have been addressed in previous posts immediately after the game, is there any additional insight we can apply now that we have distance, more perspective, and additional data? What are the Saints NOT doing here? And please please please, don\'t say \"stop the penalties\" or \"switch qbs,\" because it\'s fairly obvious that the lack of production is indicative of more insidious causes.