BakoSaint

At the rate we are going lets say we finish 5-12 or possibly 4-13 or worse. The Saints finished 7-9 five times during Drew Brees prime years. Drew Brees is the reason they didn't have a down year, take him out one of those seasons and 4-5 wins or less is what you get. Derek Carr ain't Drew Brees, and under pressure he ain't close.

I hated Haslett. He was a worse excuse factory than DA. DA would say we need to keep chopping wood but Haslett would talk about how if the ball bounced differently. Its very possible DA could have won more than 3 games with the 2005 roster. The receiving core of Horn, Stallworth, Henderson, and Hakim is much better than the injury mess we have now. Brooks is comparable to Carr and Rattler. The defense featured Smith, Grant, Whitehead, Howard, and McKenzie, although perhaps my remembering none of the linebackers is a bad sign. Overall, the Saints 2005 roster is one that was able to go to the NFC championship game a year later, a lot of pieces were there. And more importantly there was the cap space and draft picks for a new coach to remake it, something we need to free up to attract the best new coach.

A big problem with the Saints of this era is that the whole 'lol the salary cap doesn't exist' act has left us incapable of smoothly changing coaches. When Sean Payton came in, he could remake the roster in his image. When Klint Kubiak came in, we told him sorry we are broke, run your smash mouth offense with the ultimate finesse personnel. Use this 34 year old as a battering ram until his ribs go out. We have this tiny juco speedster WR, have him run screens and block down field and make contested catches. We have the best 3rd down back in the league, who we have always limited on snaps because his isnt a smasher, run him every 1st and 2nd down to keep the defense honest, so he leads the league in carries. Good luck buddy.

The problem with both DA and Haslett is that they are mediocre. Haslett had one playoff season because the roster was tired of Mike Ditka, and excited that he wasn't Mike Ditka. DA could have been not Mike Ditka too. Other than that they are .500 guys if you give them a decent roster and lose a lot with a weaker roster. We broke the bank to give a mediocre coach a decent roster to go .500, and now we will struggle to give our next coach the same chance Sean Payton did to have money to bring in his own players.