has anyone noticed?
 

anyone noticed what a great offseason we've had? our linebacking corps (an obvious glaring area of need) has been overhauled with some very quality lb's... fujita, simmons, polley, and foreman are saavy veterans who still have plenty in the tank and even more to prove.... bockwoldt and fincher are young guns who are very eager to get on the field and prove their worth... getting bush is the biggest thing to ever happen to the saints since the inception of the team, and it barely overshadow the acquisition of drew brees.... our offensive line was solidified with a couple of quality lineman that can be plugged in anywhere in the interior and with a couple of studs (although they may take a season or two to mature to nfl caliber players).... with the exception of lecharles leaving (we didn't have a pot to piss in as far as that's concerned) and the lack of addressing the cb position (although may 1 or 2 of the ufa's we have may pan out, keep your eyes on anwar phillips from psu and ray williams from purdue) this has been a great offseason.... i love the fact that payton's mentality of "no bullcrap" is now in-grained into this club.... even with losing dwight "toast" smith, our club is all the better, especially considering we have 3 very good veterans at safety (b.scott, bellamy, and stoutmire) and 2 future all-pro's in harper and bullocks... that tandem is going be great for years to come....

RE: has anyone noticed?
 

I agree with alot of what you are saying, but I think you took a sip of the koolaide with us losing D. Smith makes the team better. Anytime you lose, no, when you give away a good young starter you don't get better. And Harper and Bullock may pan out but who Knows.

RE: has anyone noticed?
 

I think we have had a solid offseason, but there are still too many questions before I could say we had a GREAT offseason. The LBs corps was certainly upgraded in my opinion and Bush was certainly the highlight. Brees will be successful and was the good addition, but really the only big splash we made in free agency. I dont consider the offensive line to be solidified by any means. They have a lot to prove before they can be considered a formidable unit. I think the "giving away" of Dwight Smith is a big loss. At the very least, he could have been moved to CB to provide some help there. He's too versatile and good a player to just let go like he was. I agree that we have made several improvements, and if all pans out as we hope it does, then Ill look back and say we had a GREAT offseason.

RE: has anyone noticed?
 

I have noticed. All of the positives far outweigh the negatives,as far as all the changes go. I don't mind losing Dwight Smith so much, although he seemed like a very good player to me. There are a lot of questions on the offensive line, but with a real quarterback who can get rid of the ball quickly(and accurately), and the quickness of Reggie Bush in the backfield I'm not sure how good the line has to be. Average, might just be all they need to be. As long as they don't have a lot of penalties, I will be happy. Anyhow in the past few years it didn't seem as if they were blowing anybody off the line. Deuce had a lot of yards off of his own skills more than a great offensive line.

RE: has anyone noticed?
 

chRxis....here let me pour you a nice tall glass....AAAHHH aint that refreshing....I agree patdog wish we had not lost Smith or atleast gotten something more than cap room for him...Bullocks will be a stud I just dont think this year...of course they said the same thing about Polamalu....Its going to be a better and exciting season, this I am sure of....

RE: has anyone noticed?
 

we did essentially give away dwight smith, but we do have plenty of quality veteran safeties and really good young ones as well.... this just allows the saints to get their younger safeties, whom they like and feel will be a really good tandem, on the field sooner... don't get me wrong he was good while with the bucs, but when he needed to be the heart of a lagging defense, he didn't step up to the plate, and now he's going to be paired with sharper in minnesota on a team with a great defensive line and adequate lb's, so he'll look good again and everyone will say, see what we lost.... don't let that be the case... see him for what he was, which was not a lot of ints. and plenty of td's given up on his side of the field.... although he was far better than tebucky jones...

RE: has anyone noticed?
 

I'll wait and decide at the end of the season Win vs. Losses to say how our offseason went.

RE: has anyone noticed?
 

When a body's heart stops beating, you give it a shock and a few dozen thumps. Sometimes you get a pulse but there's a lot of brain damage. We've seen a lot of thumping and shocking, now we wait to see if there's intelligent life.

I am not going to base this season's level of success on wins and losses. It is hard to fix all the holes of a 3-13 team in one season. I would just like to see the Saints be more competetive week in and week out and just be fun to watch. Even two years ago when they went 8-8, they werent any fun to watch till the very end of the season. The offense should be fun to watch.

What flavor is that Kool-Aid? Cherry? Or Grape?

The offseason, so far, IMO has been very good. I think however that it has the option to swing to either a famous offseason, or maybe even an infamous one. There are several players (Brees, Simmons, B. Scott, Stoutmire, Hollis Thomas, and some others) that have the ability to make a very positive impact. When healthy, these guys have been some of the bright spots on their former teams. Brees has obviously been terrific, being voted into the Pro Bowl is proof of that. However, nobody honestly knows if he will be able to take shots (maybe a lot if J Brown has a big learning curve on the left side) and still get back up. Anthony Simmons has the raw talent to be, IMO, one of the best LBs in the NFL if he can stay injury-free and focused on the game on the field. He can be great, but he also has the potential to be a bust if he gets hurt. I think Brian Scott is a guy who has been flying under the radar so far this offseason. He's got all the ability in the world, but the Falcons coaching staff could never get him to put it all together on the field. If our coaches can, watch out. But maybe he will be the same guy who got torched A LOT last season. Stoutmire is old and not very athletic, but maybe we need a savvy guy back there to compliment Bullocks' athleticism. Hollis Thomas has been great for the Eagles in the past, but he is old. Will he be effective, or a bench warmer? Who knows about any of these guys? Not me, that's for sure, I can only guess. However, what I do know is that some of our best offseason moves have come by releases, not additions. We have released so many cancers that it's hard for me to remember them all. Getting rid of Brooks automatically bumps our team IQ up about 5 or 6 points. Also, his ineffectiveness to be a leader is almost as great as Brees ability to be THE leader. I think this team is really going to come together with the departure of Brooks and the introduction of a guy who has shown in the past he believes in accountability and teamwork. I also think the overhauling of the coaching staff will be huge. For years we have been known as one of the most "talented" teams in the NFL, and it made me cringe everytime I heard it because everybody knew we were wasting what we had gotten. I think this new coaching staff is all about work ethic, fundamentals, accountability, reliability, and teamwork. I think they will get the most out of guys like Mayberry, Karney, Stallworth, and others who have been known to have the talent, but have either been misguided or underutilized. I'm very optimistic right now, but we still haven't played anybody yet, so I warn you to be careful about getting too far ahead of yourselves.

Tropical punch please.,,, Smith for nothing grrrrrrrrrrrrr
Well if we use that money for Medows or a seasoned CB then I will go with lime. Still is tough to take.
B. Scott and Stoutmire are the key. Stoutmire must give payton some real warm fuzzies and they must see some thing in Scott I have missed. not to say he is bad. Both of our young guns better step it and be ready by year 3 is all I can say. the starting postions have just been handed to them in 2008.
The OL is a concern. more one the lines of the time it is going to take to get them working as a unit. We still got some building to here also for the future.
LB is set of a year. then what? hope next year we get a big name from the FA market that is young. Briggs (Chicago) is on my short list right now. With simmons AWOL.
Talk to me after 2 years and then we will see