Frenzy's What Ifs
 

I know it's early in the process, after all we've got a lot of off-season left in front of us, but I've been looking over our "new" team and something occurred to me. We might be great this year! There are just a few "ifs" that affect that outcome.

Offense

If D. Brees’ arm returns to a competitive level,
If D. McAllister’s knee returns to a competitive level,
If J. Brown can play LT at a competitive level,
If J. Faine’s bicep returns to a competitive level,
If J. Stinchcomb’s knee returns to a competitive level

Defense

If J. Sullivan can motivate himself,
If H. Thomas has gas left in the tank,
If C. Bockwoldt can transition to MLB,
If A. Simmons can stay healthy,
If we can find a #2 CB

There's also a question about who will be playing as our safeties this year, but that's all. If this list seems like a lot of questions, you are not alone. Nevertheless, I am somewhat optimistic about this. The picture will get clearer as we get closer to the season, but I'm interested in what other fans think about this, and what other "ifs" may occur to them that I haven't thought of.

Not to dredge up horrible memories, but my biggest what if for the season is the weather. Hurricane season starts in a months and I pray for the safety of the people currently in the city, and the pray for the emotions of all the new guys we just brought onto the team, and how they would feel if we have to endure another season like last year. It seems like we have had a lot of pretty good fortune since the endof last year though, and hopefully the man above stays on our side. Barring that, seeing the new attitude on the team parlaying onto the field every Sunday, win or loss, will cover each and every one of your what ifs in my mind.

What is Reggie Bush is the biggest bust in NFL history? This has had to cross someones mind since Saturday.

Anything can happen thib but we can't approach it that way. Look at these 2 scenarios.

Heath Shuler was very highly touted for success in the NFL...end result??? One of the biggest busts in NFL history.

Dan Marino was drafted at the end of the first round because of his pot smoking history...end result....greatest QB of all-time. (or one of them at least.)

Truth....anything can happen.

But we have seen what he(Bush) can do on film and you can't help but feel optimistic.

Look if the offensive line can gell and hold up while eliminating penalties and we have a QB that will be effective throwing the ball (I hope Brees is but there are no certanties that he will in my mind until I see him working out in preseason) then we should have a vastly improved and dynamic offense. Our defense will improve just by meer fact that venturi is gone and if the offense can effectivly move the ball. I think our D will be greatly improved under new coaching and some of the additions we have made. I still think Fincher and Watson will make solid Backers under the new regime

I wasn't really being serious here. I am just as optimistic as you are, we have to be. And yes, IMO, Dan Marino is the Greatest QB of all time, and Im not trying to start a greatest QB agument here, this is just my opinion.

I've only been worried about 2 things for New Orleans and the Saints since last year.

1. The levees. The city isn't adequately protected.

2. Reggie's health. My nightmare on Friday night was the Reggie would blow his achilles getting down from the stage after we drafted him. He won't be very exciting from the sideline. I want him to have a healthy, productive, rookie of the year/league mvp kind of season.

you people seriously worry too much...........
i suggest take up drinking for starters..........
and for expert guidance, please consult b&b and papz...........smitty :wink:

ps, i'd help but i'm on the master level............

And so you think... I'm an ox. 8)

right....right.....

ghosts, im seeing ghosts...................
quick papz, look in the mirror........................lol smitty

I'm with you here Whodi. Nothing could be more devestating to the city than having to deal with another big storm. That would be like kicking a guy in the nuts while he's down.

I agree that there are a lot of what if's for the upcoming season. However, for some stupid reason, I can't help but feel optimistic about them.

- I think Deuce will realize that uh-oh, he's not just going to be handed the job. He's going to have to compete with a guy who could be the next Marshall Faulk. I believe this will push him to get in the best possible shape he's ever been in.
- I do think Stinch will be a good player at RT. Last year he was in line to win the starting tackle job before his injury. I think he's gotten enough time to rehab, and with a little bit of competition from some young guys, he might just have even more incentive. I think he's going to be a good, solid player.
- You can call me stupid, but I believe Drew Brees when he says his shoulder is feeling great and he'll be back on time. The guy is throwing something like 40 passes a day right now, and that's a full month before training camp. The guy is one of the most competitive players I've seen. Everything I hear about him is how hard he's working and how badly he wants to be out there. Not to mention he's going to be the leader on offense that we've been missing for so long. We have a guy who called Reggie Bush before we drafted him and told him that he understood Reggie was probably disappointed about not being the first pick, but he was excited to have the opportunity to be his teammate. That's really pretty amazing. We have a veteran quarterback calling a rookie to tell him welcome. If that doesn't scream leadership, cohesiveness, and humility, I don't know what does. I have a feeling Brees is going to pull that whole locker room together under the single goal of winning a Super Bowl. It might seem out of reach now, but with some of the talent we now have, and some of the new leadership we have, I think it'll be realistic very soon, if not this year.
- I think Hollis Thomas is glad to get out of Philly, and will be energized by the new surroundings and a youthful coach who seems intent on no-nonsense fundamental football. He's a welcome upgrade over our other DTs (minus Brian Young who always goes hard and is pretty effective).
- Does anybody know if Simmons is playing on the outside for sure? I remember his best years were playing ILB with the Seahawks. I think with him in the middle, Fujita on the outside, and then Watson/Allen/Bock competing for the other outside LB spot, we should have a pretty solid corps.

Well that's my take on the what if's right now. If that was too optimistic for you, here's a little dose of pessimism. I think Sully will be the same fat, lazy slob he's always been and he'll never change. Is that enough?

Gotta say I am pretty surprised by the responses to this post. Seems the most common worry for our football team is the weather. Only one guy posts about the actual issues with the team, and his prediction is that 90% of them will resolve in our favor. Interesting.

When I listed my "Ifs", I didn't even get into the coaching "ifs" - like the fact that Payton's never been a head coach before and that he filled our coordinator positions with his friends. I don't know most of these guys, and maybe they're great. I don't think anyone knows though, since they are basically all rookie-coaches.

I didn't mention the fact that Stinchcombs never started before and Faine has been a disappointment his whole career - I only talked about whether their injuries would recover. I could go on and on in this vein, but what's the point. I basically overlooked a lot of HUGE concerns, and that still wasn't optimistic enough for this crowd. I'm surprised Joe Horn's prediction (16-0 with SB win) wasn't considered pessimistic with this crowd.

I hope you guys are right.

Living in Miami has taught me a lot about storms and devastation. I was a senior in high school when we were hit with Hurricane Andrew. For those who don't remember...Andrew was a Category 5 that blew in with 155 mph winds. It took us a while to regroup and get our lives in order not to mention the fear of the following years. Since then we have learned that being prepared is the key my friends. Obviously we have no say so in the matter as far as the weather. This past year we were hit with 3 storms....Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. By us the people and the city being totally ready....things were back to normal in no time. Just a week or two of delay due to lost power. Unfortunately I can't speak for the levee situation since we really don't have that issue down here but for the most part guys....be strong....don't even worry about the storms...but please...make sure all of you are ready for anything.

My 2 cents on the matter.

From the plywood state...lol Good luck to all of us this hurricane season.

I hope Horn's prediction is true. a $200 bet in Vegas would land me $8000

WTF?!?!?! Did you just make a post to piss on people? You listed your what ifs, others listed theirs. Did you want people to get down on the team with "oh yeah we don't have this and we don't have that" talk? What for? We were a 3-13 team, what does listing the problems prove except what we already knew, it's gonna take a while to get this team together, but we ARE on the right track it appears. So what if someone's concerns are more for the weather than the team? If they DO have a weather situation, it WILL affect the team and city greatly again. To ME, that's bigger concern than any on the field stuff. You listed stuff like we don't all have those same concerns, I didn't see anyone predicting a Superbowl victory next year, and the one guy who predicted playoffs I tried to temper his enthusiasm. NExt time, headline the post, "I want you all to crap on the team like me" so we know what direction we should follow with our posts in order not to get pissed on.

We did not get hit by a worse case senario anyways. If that happens there is no point in talking football. We have all known it and our parents have known it. God is weather so be it.
Now back to football. 8-8 is what I think and no serious injuries to key starter is a winning season right now. It will take 8 games at the least to get the team to gell. We will see what gems have been locked away in Haz's dog house, if any. What players can play what position when not playing out of position and play at a natural playing wieght that is comfortable to them. Slimming down not fatting up. FA on June 1st, next years draft and 2007 FA will make this team or break it. Till then so be it.

Well hagan.....if you want football..then I'll give you....wildcard....10-6. I think we actually have an offense capable of scoring A LOT of points. Our defense will be the reason for the 6 losses. We simply still have no real answer to stopping the run. Our LB corps is still avg...I'm not sure about our secondary and our d-line is great but a d-line alone never won a championship. Since we probably won't stop the run very well....we won't stop the clock either.....and if we can't stop the clock...our offense will end up on the sidleines more than I'd like. Now...I am not a big fan of talking about a team solely based on whats on paper but....thats the way I see this year happening unless we get a stud LB.

What are you talking about? Character and 137 safety's should be plenty enough to stop the run.

Not there's some pessimism, and it was GOLD. Quote of the day right here.

:cheers: I will drink to that

Wait and see what Payton, Gibbs, Bonamego, and Hayes have up their sleeves with all these safties.

My "formative" football years were during our "Golden Age" with the Dome Patrol, Hebert, Hilliard, etc., and because of that (I think) I'm usually one of the idiot Saints optimists (when Brooks isn't the QB), but the rationale for some of our picks and the lack of addressing our most serious issues on defense through the draft (yes, we signed some LB's and DT's as rookie FAs) is getting on my nerves.

We're just not going to get a roster of 53 kind hearted souls and win in this league.

Sigh......ahh the good ol' days.

But kids with a love for the game for a change is a heck of a start. we are so much better off now than last year i have hope. Not for a superbowl but a shoot at being back in the play offs. If we make it god help who ever faces us. we are coming out of what is the best division in football.
Sounds like the days of the dome patrol again.
doesn't it LSUJeremy.

Uh. no, definitely DOES not sound like the days of the dome patrol. One key difference: DOMINATING defense with DOMINATING LB play. We won't be seeing those days anytime soon. More like the early Brooks lots of offense days, minus the mistakes, and a defense doing just enough. Still, no playoffs. Let's be real.

I agree we're in much better shape than last year just because of Brees. If we didn't make one other move other than getting rid of the King of the Lateral Pass and bringing in Brees, we'd still be way better than last year.

As for the Dome Patrol, we're not anywhere close. The excitement the new staff has brought was brought down a notch this weekend (Reggie aside) after not seeing us do something about our greatest needs with the 2nd rd pick, and instead adding to the deepest posistion numbers-wise.

I'll feel confident when we have the ball, but I'll feel the same way I've felt the last few years when our defense steps on the field, and it's not a good feeling.

No it is not the dome patrol but it is the division.

Oh, you're saying the way we had to deal with the Rams (go to hell Flipper Anderson) and 49ers (hate everyone that played for them in the '80's) :biggun: back then?

Wow. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, did we?

I don't think I am asking anyone to crap on the team. This post was about our football team, and on our board for our football team. I asked (in English) for people to express their concerns going into the season in the hopes to start a dialogue about how far along some of these "ifs" have been mitigated. A lot of people on this board have interesting viewpoints that talk to football and raise thoughts that change the way I see these concerns. If I make a post to mine for those ideas and the mods don't like it, they will let me know.

I don't think I pissed on anyone, but you seem to think its raining on you. I can't do anything about how you feel. To be honest I simply don't give a cr@p about that. I normally wouldn't even reply to this "hijacking" of this thread, but your accusatory tone and general "f&@& you" you threw my way ticked me off - so I throw it right back. Further, I don't plan to influence my future posts worrying about what "offends Saintswhodi."

Are you serious? Let's see:

Fair enough and some did, and this is what they get:


Still wasn't optimistic enough for this crowd? Surprised Joe Horn's 16-0 superbowl prediction wasn't too pessimistic? Get real. And you said 'this crowd" twice. Please. You didn't get the response you wanted, and pissed on "this crowd's" responses. I could give a crap how you feel about my posts, but if you are gonna lay out someconcerns, then take shots at people when you don't get the answers you want, expect a re sponse back every time. Capice? You got in a little tizzy cause people's responses weren't to your liking, and basically called everyone a bunch of overly optimistic idiots(Joe Horn 16-0 considered pessimistic). Like I said, a clear labeling of the thread "my concerns are the only ones that count, so address only those or i'll piss on you," will help next time. Thanks from a amember of "this crowd."

Same way I felt about your attitude toward "this crowd's" responses.

those were your and I qoute: My "formative" football years were during our "Golden Age" with the Dome Patrol, Hebert, Hilliard, etc.,

those were mine too. Thats when I started buying my own tickets. I cut my teeth with Billy Kilmer and the gang

Still hate the rams and 49ers to today. Rivals never die

ive seen enough....