HEY, A GUARD!!

WhoDat · 04-27-2003, 05:09 PM

Hey JOE - I hear what you\'re saying and I can\'t disagree with you. The guys we drafted to play OL may be able to come in and play right away (a la LeCharles Bentley - last year\'s second round pick who may have been the best rookie we had last year).

HOWEVER, defense was the need coming into free agency. I\'m not saying that we should have ignored the offense... actually ignoring the defense was how we got ourselves in this situation. Still, I believe that the Saints could have done more to improve the defense. Whether it be through free agency, the draft, suiting Jim Haslett up at linebacker... whatever. My point is that the key to the Saints\' success in \'03, at least in my mind, is how much the defense can improve.

That being said, you can\'t look at our moves thus far and be happy. Well, maybe you can, but I\'m not. Sullivan - good player who we may have overvalued. Tebucky Jones - good player who hasn\'t quite proven to be consistent yet, that we may have overvalued. Don\'t get me wrong, I like both of those moves. Ruff seems like a bust to me. Granted, I haven\'t seen him play. Hopefully the coaches are right... but the fact that he was beaten out for a starting spot last year, and his best numbers EVER are worse than Clemons\' numbers last year at MLB make me very nervous. As for our corners... well, we\'ll see. I am doubtful that Dale Carter will ever return to form. He\'s the perfect second corner, playing behind a true shutdown guy in the mold of Woodson, or McAllister, etc. Thomas and Ambrose should do OK, but neither will ever be better than average in the NFL again. Craver is a total wildcard, but what else is new, our whole defense is wild cards. I just hope the inexperienced guys like Mitchell, Allen, Hodge, Sullivan can play well... and the new guys - Ruff, Jones, Ambrose - can play to potential.

04-27-2003, 05:09 PM	#1
WhoDat 5000 POSTS! + Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 5,631	HEY, A GUARD!! Hey JOE - I hear what you\'re saying and I can\'t disagree with you. The guys we drafted to play OL may be able to come in and play right away (a la LeCharles Bentley - last year\'s second round pick who may have been the best rookie we had last year). HOWEVER, defense was the need coming into free agency. I\'m not saying that we should have ignored the offense... actually ignoring the defense was how we got ourselves in this situation. Still, I believe that the Saints could have done more to improve the defense. Whether it be through free agency, the draft, suiting Jim Haslett up at linebacker... whatever. My point is that the key to the Saints\' success in \'03, at least in my mind, is how much the defense can improve. That being said, you can\'t look at our moves thus far and be happy. Well, maybe you can, but I\'m not. Sullivan - good player who we may have overvalued. Tebucky Jones - good player who hasn\'t quite proven to be consistent yet, that we may have overvalued. Don\'t get me wrong, I like both of those moves. Ruff seems like a bust to me. Granted, I haven\'t seen him play. Hopefully the coaches are right... but the fact that he was beaten out for a starting spot last year, and his best numbers EVER are worse than Clemons\' numbers last year at MLB make me very nervous. As for our corners... well, we\'ll see. I am doubtful that Dale Carter will ever return to form. He\'s the perfect second corner, playing behind a true shutdown guy in the mold of Woodson, or McAllister, etc. Thomas and Ambrose should do OK, but neither will ever be better than average in the NFL again. Craver is a total wildcard, but what else is new, our whole defense is wild cards. I just hope the inexperienced guys like Mitchell, Allen, Hodge, Sullivan can play well... and the new guys - Ruff, Jones, Ambrose - can play to potential.
WhoDat 5000 POSTS! + Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 5,631	\"Excuses, excuses, excuses. ThatÃ¢Â€Â™s all anyone ever makes for the New Orleans SaintsÃ¢Â€Â™ organization.\" - Eric Narcisse \"Being a Saints fan is almost like being addicted to crack,\" he said.[i]\"You know you should stop, but you just can\'t.\"