I wanted Haslett gone. But...
 

I wanted to be leading the "Fire Haslett" crowd. I wanted to be leading the charge. I wanted him GONE GONE GONE!!

But after seeing all the heart and fight in this team, I just can't go there anymore.

Does winnning the last 4 games mean nothing.

Well, it means it wasn't good enough to make the playoffs.

I suppose that's all that matters to some fans. They really don't care if Haslett is a good coach or not. We didn't make the playoffs and the hell with everything else.

I was sceptical until the Panthers game. I didn't give the Saints much of a chance going up against the Panthers in their house. Afterall, the Panthers were the HOTTEST team in the NFL. They were kicking everyone's ass.

I thought they were going to make short work of us. But, they didn't. We punched them in the mouth from the begginning and never looked back. The Saints left it all on the field.

To be honest, we could have won the game and would have still wanted Haslett fired if we would have played poorly.

My hat is off to the coaches and players. They did something no one thought they could do. And did it in a way that left no doubt. There wasn't any luck in what they did.

It was all about heart, baby!!

And my heart tells me to believe my eyes and not listen some fans who wanted Haz gone anyway and refuse to listen to anything other than what they want to hear.

I wanted Haslett gone. But...
 

There is something I\'ve always liked about Haslet so I have supported him in hopes that he would do great things with our team. Unfortunately, he hasn\'t gotten it done. If the contract situation were different, I would be all in favor of firing him. 4 years without a playoff appearance is too many to justify him keeping his job regardless of what the team did in the last 4 games.

Since the contract situation is not otherwise, then we might as well keep him. I\'ll continue to root for his success and hope that he makes the appropriate changes to his staff this offseason.

Regardless, I hope the 4 game winning streak is a sign of things to come and not a mirage born from playing lesser competition.

I wanted Haslett gone. But...
 

I see it\'s been the same ole same ole around here, while i was gone.

After three dismal seasons in a row, I don\'t see how you can justify that statement. But if you\'re perfectly happy with a mediocre team, by all means, keep whistlin dixie.

I wanted Haslett gone. But...
 

Again, the only victory of merit in the \"streak\" is Carolina.
Dallas 6-10
TB 5-11
Falcons - don\'t hurt me, I\'m in the playoffs and seeded.

so no, was not convinced the past 5 years, I\'m not convinced now, and honestly I don\'t think I\'m going to be conviinced next year... but again, the law of averages...

I wanted Haslett gone. But...
 

By \"some fans\" who \"refuse to listen to anything other than what they want to hear\" were you talking about me, or did you mean every member who has responded to your thread?


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4 years without a playoff appearance is too many to justify him keeping his job regardless of what the team did in the last 4 games.
-ScottyRO

I see it\'s been the same ole same ole around here, while i was gone.After three dismal seasons in a row, I don\'t see how you can justify that statement. But if you\'re perfectly happy with a mediocre team, by all means, keep whistlin dixie.
-BnB

I\'m not for more of the same and nothing that Jim Haslett has done over the last FIVE years makes me believe YEAR 6 will be any different....But hey....maybe YEAR 6 is the charm....if not YEAR 7 or 8 or 9 through 20. Lets just trust Haslett.
-Gator

so no, was not convinced the past 5 years, I\'m not convinced now, and honestly I don\'t think I\'m going to be conviinced next year...
-Tobias
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I wanted Haslett gone. But...
 

It\'s hard to agrue for Haslett keeping his job. Missing the playoffs the past 4 seasons is certainly enough evidence for his firing.

It really all comes down to how much stock you put in the last 4 games. Was it a mirage? Was it luck?

Or was it a sign of things to come?

If you think it was a mirage, then Haslett should be fired.

But, if you think they showed real progress, then maybe Haslett should stay.

I believe they showed real signs of progress.

Am I satisfied with a mediocre team?

Of course not. But that doesn\'t necessairly fall all on Haslett\'s shoulders.

Mike Holmgren and Shanahan have both had mediocre teams over the same time period and I think most of us would be glad to have them as a head coach. Or did they just forget how to coach? If we held both of those coaches to the same standards .... all you of guys would have to vote in favor of firing them.

Again, it\'s hard to ignore the last 4-games of the season. I think even Haslett\'s harshest critics could see the team respond in a way that was very surprising.

Who thought we would dominate the Panthers in thier house?

I wanted Haslett gone. But...
 

I think Billy did...

As for the optimism:

I don\'t see that we\'ve turned a corner or made any significant change that merits any major optimism.

Unlike other seasons, we didn\'t have more than 2 decisive wins. But we had a lot of decisive losses. Our most consistent and only elite player (Horn), has played through nagging injuries for the past 2 seasons, has gotten on Haz\'s bad side, has a big cap number and is getting no younger.

1. What we see instead is that the good offensive line Haslett inherited has been allowed to atrophy into utter ineffecitveness whether we run or pass.

2. The defensive line which has gotten more free agents and draft picks than any other area of the team over 5 years gave up more rushing yards than anyone else in the league and it looks like we still need to sign a NT to even begin to fix this area.

3. Linebackers--we have said so much about this and still it hasn\'t really been fixed. Watson has me cautiously optimistic, but the kid can\'t do it all on his own.

4. If we play man, I feel OK about the secondary. With MM, I\'m no longer convinced that we are abysmal at the CB position, but I don\'t think we have the personnel to play zone.

5. Wasn\'t this supposed to be Boo\'s breakout year? Will we ever be able to use the TE in this offense?

6. QB--the same mistakes as last year and the year before and the year before and the year before. If the guy is going to develop, when will it be? Can a guy with such a nutty, out of control ego even be persuaded that he still needs work?

7. I feel OK about the backfield with Karney and Stecker. Deuce needs to get back to form--but Haz and company also need to figure out whether Deuce needs to gain or lose weight and stick with it--quit making your franchise RB an offseason yo-yo.

8. The WR\'s are a huge question mark. If we keep all 3, and Henderson can learn to run a friggin route, then we should be alright. I don\'t have a lot of confidence in the front office to keep the unit together.

I just don\'t see this team \"putting it all together\". But even if we were, I think we\'re 4-8 starters away from being more than an 8-8 team.

I wanted Haslett gone. But...
 

The common trend for those coaches you mentioned Gumbo seems to be one thing, inconsistent quarterbacking. Holmgren went from Favre to Hasselbeck, who couldn\'t beat out Dilfer at first, lit the world on fire last year, and was up and down all this season. Shanahan went from Elway to Griese(nuff said) and Plummer, who is way up and then way down as well. So maybe their good coaching was tied to having hall of fame qbs. And maybe, Haslett\'s coaching tenure is marked by inconsistent quarterbacking also. He certainly has never had a hall of fame qb to coach. But in all fairness, Haslett has had opportunities to do something about it, and he hasn\'t. So maybe all three should be fired. Shanahan and Holmgren should be out for not remaining elite after losing hall of fame qbs, and Haslett should be out for backing an inconsistent qb and eliminating all his competition year in and year out. If either were to come here, they would be in the same situation, so they probably could not improve upon what we have. I will agree with you on that. Denver always has a top rated defense, but their qbs have been inconsistent since Elway left so defense doesn\'t seem to be the only answer either to solving the coaching problem.

But along with everyone else, I agree it is time for Haslett to go. I am glad he tried, but come on, 5 years to get this thing right? 5? That\'s half a decade. But seems he is staying. We all have to live with it. Here\'s hoping that maybe, just maybe, consistency will come out of the number one position, and he will justify the faith you still have in him. I am gonna be as positive as I can about the next season.

[Edited on 6/1/2005 by saintswhodi]

I wanted Haslett gone. But...
 

Couldn\'t disagree more.
We have more than enough talent here to be a perinneal playoff contender. If its true we\'re still 4-8 starters away from being more than an 8-8 team then Haz and company must have coached their asses off this year.
I am not about to give them that excuse.
Haz has already implied he wants some more input into the players we pick, meaning its not exactly Haz\'s players.

If personnel is the problem then point the finger at Meuller (Randy as well as Rick) and Loomis, not Haz.
My own personal opinion is that coaching is the MAIN problem. ALL the other problems are a distant second.

I wanted Haslett gone. But...
 

Amazingly, I agree with Danno. Haslett has had more than enough talent to succeed. Give Jim Mora this kind of talent and we\'re in the NFC Championship. Haslett and his staff can\'t coach. That\'s the problem.

I do see BMG\'s point though, and he has a good one. He\'s talking about one of my biggest fears - how long can we keep this talent together? Three years ago this team was a MLB, DT, CB, and consistent QB away. Now we have o-line problems, our WRs are iffy... this is what happens in the NFL. Players leave, teams raid others rosters, you cannot keep everyone together forever. Not only have Haz and co. failed to fix the problems at MLB, DT, or QB, other problems like the o-line and WRs have popped up. This team isn\'t making forward progress, and that\'s the problem. Every year they find a new way to f--- up...

As for Holmgren and Shanahan, I think both deserve to be fired. There are two important differences between those two and Haslett. They\'re called Super Bowl wins. Both have PROVEN they can succeed. But sometimes, people have to move on. Sometimes things change and the environment is no longer right. Whether it\'s players, management, cap trouble, or just plain bad luck (ha ha), sometimes coaches need to move on. It may not be all Shanahan\'s fault that the Broncos are poo, just like it may not be all Haslett\'s fault in NO, but both need to go, IMO.