pakowitz

i dunno gator... i have a good feeling about this year... like always... but then it just ends up in disapointment

deadflatbird

Yeah I don\'t know if I can settle for just a play-off birth this year. NFC Championship or else I\'ll be ready and ok with the dismissle of Jim Haslett. I love the man but damn... when its time to go its time to move on... change is good sometimes. One move I wish I would have seen this year is Dave Campo as D- coach

billybignuts

Wow, I can\'t believe what i\'m reading. Heck I had to check to see if I was on another team\'s site. This team has only had one playoff win in team history, and it was our current coach who got it for us. I will agree that the last two seasons had really crappy endings, but Haslett is not the only one to blame. In 2001 we had a flake for a starting RB, the whos your daddy scandal, and Albert Connell being a guest star on Americas Dumbest Criminals. Offensively this past season we had injuries to Deuce and Aaron, and were basically playing without a TE for the entire season. Defisively our two starting tackles were one OREO cookie away from a heart attack, and should have been on a Richard Simmons video rather than a football field. Darren Howard is a stud but he was hurt most of the year, and the linebackers were exposed because of no pressure up front. I want this team to win the Super Bowl just as much as anybody, but calling for this coach\'s head for anything short of that victory is insane. Do you really want to get a coach who cries out the word \"Diddlypooh\" at the drop of a hat, or how bout a coach who styled a set of dreadlocks on draft day. Haslett is a good coach, and he will be an even better coach in the future. Just be careful people, because you just might get what you ask for. Do yourself a favor and give the man a chance.

LordOfEntropy

Bignuts is right (wow what a great handle!). Expectations have certainly changed from the 3-13 Ditka era. We\'ve won a playoff game for the first time in franchise history, and we\'re rated 6 and 10 in two different current power rankings.

I think we\'re in much better shape than I ever remember seeing this team. And as such, I\'m sticking by Haslett. He\'s done a lot in a short time, more than any coach so far, I believe.

Now, support for the current defensive coordinator on the other hand may be a different story..... we\'ll see.

can anyone help me id this tune? it goes thwap thwap boom tch boom tch boom tch.

Qui a laissez sortir les chiens!

WhoDat

Are we so much better now because our coach is better? Or is the front office as a whole better? Frankly, I think we finally got good managers and scouts. That has improved the talent level on the team. Haslett has certainly been a part of that - I will give credit where credit is due.

HOWEVER, his primary purpose, his reason for being with the team, is to convert the pool of talent into a single unit. The end goal - a championship. Has Haslett helped raise the bar significantly in New Orleans? Absolutely. I still have a hard time looking at this question without considering the trend.

If the Saints don\'t make the playoffs this year. If they falter down the stretch... Haslett SHOULD go. Think about it this way - If you bought a stock at $30 and it soared to $100, then fell to $70, then soared again, only to fall again, how long would you hold it before you sold it and went looking for another stock to buy?

I cannot see any excuse this year. This team needs to take one big step forward, otherwise it\'s time to go looking elsewhere for a leader who can give us a shot at a championship.

\"Excuses, excuses, excuses. That’s all anyone ever makes for the New Orleans Saints’ 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.\"

billybignuts

I have been riding that wave of ups and downs ever since i was a small kid, hell im sure everyone that visits this site has. The fact remains that it isnt as bumpy as it used to be. Look what happened in San Francisco, Mariucci is a great coach, but he didnt bring the 49ers back to the promise land so the fans and the front office nailed him to the wall. Now look who they have, a coach who was a bust his last time in the NFL. I believe this team has the potential to be great, hell we could win it all if we play up to potential. No team out there scares me anymore and alot of it has to do with our current coach.

WhoDat

Pardon my french, but bullsh-t! You\'re not scared of any team out there b/c of our players. Same reason I think the Saints can play with anyone. But are you trying to tell me that if we had Mario Bates at RB or Dave Wilson at QB you\'d feel just as confident b/c Haslett is on the sideline?!

Granted, there is something to be said about a head coach and his ability to strategize, out think his opponent, and accept nothing but the best from his team. Are you saying that describes Haslett? Is he better than past coaches? Some, yes. I have a hard time saying that he is better than Mora or even Ditka. He may be better now than Ditka was when he was in NO, but can you really tell me that a guy with a 26-22 record and one playoff win to his name is a better coach than Ditka?... the \'85 Bears may be one of the best 5 or 10 football teams ever.

Anyway, that\'s neither here nor there. The point is that Haslett was instrumental in bringing this organization to a new level. However, he is yet to prove that he can lead the Saints to the ultimate goal - the Super Bowl. He deserves a lot of thanks and appreciation for his work thus far. However, that doesn\'t mean that he should get a free ride. Mora was the first coach to ever have a winning season in black and gold. He was the first guy to bring them to a playoff game - first to win a conference championship... and eventually, he had to go. Look, Dungy did incredible things for Tampa - but when push came to shove they had the talent and he couldn\'t get them over the hump. If the Tampa situation didn\'t prove that a great coach can make the difference with a team full of talent then I don\'t know what will.

Haslett\'s poured the foundation - the question is whether or not he can build the house. I have serious doubts about that - and if the frame falls down one more time I\'m ready to get another contractor.

\"Excuses, excuses, excuses. That’s all anyone ever makes for the New Orleans Saints’ 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.\"

roughneck

Ditka better than Haslett? Serious B-S! With the team Ditka had in Chicago he should have won at least 3 Super Bowls. The reason he even won 1 and no more was his Defensive coordinator. Anyone remember Buddy Ryan? THE most talented and revolutionary D-coordinator in our era. When he left in 86 the bears promptly went to poop. Ditka is a character, a cartoon not a great or even a good coach. I say give Jim a fair shot. He is learning as well. He is a young coach. I think a talented one as well. I sure would love to compete for the Super Bowl this year and think the Saints can, with some luck.

\"The Fly has come off of the wall!!\"

billybignuts

Jim Mora proved to me that you couldnt win with Bates or Wilson. Ditka proved that he couldnt win with Heath Shuler. Mike Ditka may have won the big one in Chicago, but he was more interested in the craps table at Harrah\'s casino rather than coaching the Saints. The simple reason that we dont have third rate players here anymore are because of the coach and front office. Whodat made a valid point about Tony Dungy, he was replaced by Gruden, who in turn won the Super Bowl. Oh yeah, wasnt he fired in Oakland for not winning it there. With the little success that we have enjoyed here Im not gonna be so quick to pull the trigger, and neither should anyone else

D_it_up

Gruden wasn\'t fired....He was more or less traded to Tampa.