Gelder

Whats goin on guys? I'm a 49er fan, over from 49erswebzone.com. You guys have a real nice board over here, and I've been checking your posts and you seem like some legit fans. (Unlike Raiders) It's a shame that after a hell of a year you guys got off to a slow start especially since I have Marques Colston in fantasy.

Anyway, onto our game this week. I'll give you a little scouting report on the Niners, and I hope somebody could give me one on the Saints in return.

Coaches: Nolan is a damn good Head coach, and I'd have to disagree if someone said he wasn't. My one complaint with him is that he is very very cautious. If we have a three point lead in the fourth quarter on you guys, and we get a 4'th and 2 at your own 5 yard line, he WILL kick the field goal and hope our defense can hold it. Very cautious, kind of like a Steve Mariucci.

Offensive Coordinator Jim Hostler... HORRRIBLE HORRIBLE OC. Totally different from what we had last year in Norv Turner. 3rd and 7, he will call runs all the time to Michael Robinson(backup RB). That is part of the reason our offense looks horrible. Last week he did call some better plays but Dilfer played like crap.

QBs: Smith and Dilfer. I know it doesn't scare you. But one thing you have to know about Smith is that he is a VERY efficient QB. Makes minimal errors, and he was the reason we were 2-1 with him in the game. He doesn't do much to beat you, but he does just enough. Compared to Dilfer who had 4 turnovers and always holds onto the ball long. Smith is probable for us, and that gives us a better chance then with Dilfer.

RBs: Gore is still a beast at RB. He averages an average 4.0 yards per carry, although he did have a few nice ones called back. You pretty much know what to expect from him, although he is coming off a bummed ankle and won't practice this week. Michael Robinson is a threat at RB as he has lots of power, and he could also throw the ball as he was a College QB at Penn State. Maurice Hicks is also solid, and he a special teams ace.

WRs: Darrell Jackson... Hmm it's hard to tell about this guy. Look at him in Seattle, he always tore it up. With Smith in, Darrell Jackson had 14 catches for 210 yards in three games. With Dilfer in, Jackson had 2 catches for 6 yards in three games. So who knows what you will get this week?

Arnaz Battle is a Niner favorite. He goes over the middle and will make the tough catch and he officially had the best hands in the NFL last year according to ESPN. He is very sure handed. Another thing is he was rated the 4th best blocking WR, so he helps out in the run. He is also a threat on reverses or trick plays since he too, was a College QB at Notre Dame. Overall he is an average WR though who works hard.

Ashlie Lelie finally got onto the field last week. He has been in Nolan's doghouse for practice habits before last week but he finally was forced onto the field and it showed. He is basically only good for 3 catches at most during a game, especially in the slot. But he is an AWESOME deep threat WR. He led the league in YPC for two years straight a few years back. When he finally got in last week, he caught a 47 yard bomb from Dilfer. Then again we'll see how much he gets this week because you never know with our Offensive Coordinator.

TEs: We have two solid TE's. Vernon Davis is a freak of nature I'm sure you all know that. He really could beat any LB with his speed and power on passing routes, and he is a hell of a blocker too. His one problem; His HANDS. This guy honestly has the physical makeup to be a Gates or a Shockey but he plays skittish it seems. Once he catches it though, he is a train to bring down. It usually always takes more then two guys. Search his highlights on youtube, you could see. He is a boom or bust player each week

Delanie Walker also has great speed at TE. He was a college WR who converted to TE and he usually is good for 15-20 yards a game or so. Average player overall.

OL: As a whole has been playing like crap this year in the run and pass. Compared to last year, where they paved the way for Gore to run for 1700 yards, they are a mere glimpse of that. Larry Allen is just not like he used to anymore. Justin Smiley last year was a pro bowl alternate, while this year he may be alternated to the bench in favor of David Baas. Baas and Adam Snyder were both first day picks from Nolan, who when put up to the test played outstanding and seem to be splitting duties with Jonas Jennings and Justin Smiley. Eric Heitmann is average at center, while rookie standout Joe Staley looks very impressive. Not sure how good you guys are at getting pressure, but it won't be tough against this line.

DEs: Bryant Young has been here since he was drafted, and is the only remaining link to our Super Bowl team, a true niner faithful. Still plays at a high level, has 4 sacks right now for us. He is a big guy. Marques Douglas is also a savvy vet who is playing pretty well right now. He gets a lot of tackles for loss, not much in pass rush though. Solid two though.

DTs: Aubrayo Franklin is a guy who we picked up out of Baltimore last year. Yeah, I didn't know who he was either. He is about 330 pounds, so he is a big guy but overall he isn't much, hes average at best. He rotates the spot with the big Hawiian Isaac Sopoaga. Sopoaga is one of the strongest men in the NFL(benching 900 pounds with Larry Allen) and is a pretty legit NT. Very inconsistent though.

OLBs: We suffered a big loss losing Manny Lawson who runs a 4.38 and has a 6'6 250 frame. He tore his ACL, but if we somehow turn our season around he will be back for the playoffs. Brandon Moore is a good LB who takes his spot, he led our team in tackles last year and also had 7 sacks. He has two sacks this year, but doesn't seem to be as good as last year. Good player though. Tully Banta Cain is a guy we signed from NE, he had 5 sacks in the final few games for NE last year, so all Niner fans were thinking we might have gotten a steal with him. Well...WE DIDNT. I think he has a sack and a half but he is horrible against the run, and seems to only have his one crappy little spin move. Backup Parys Haralson is a guy we drafted last year, who rotates in and he nothing to worry about but does have good speed.

ILBs: Believe me when I say this, I am not being a homer when I say this. Patrick Willis is going to be the best MLB in the NFL within the next few years. He is a complete animal, who is second in the NFL in tackles (behind Barrett Ruud of TB respectively) and is all over the field. There is nothing this guy can't do it seems. He is a hell of a player, especially at his young age. Derek Smith is a weird player to write about. He's 32 now and a few years back he used to anchor our defense. He won't make big plays anymore but he could make some tackles here and there. He does make a lot of mistakes though, one of the weaknesses in or LB core. Average at best. Jeff Ulbrich is a back up who we call "The Brick" he used to start for us back in the day and is really a vocal leader out there. I love him as a player, but don't be scared of him much.

CBs: One of our top positions. You all know the 80 million dollar man Nate Clement.(Really his deal is 6 years 60 million, he won't ever see the last two years) This guy has lived up to the money. Holding Hines Ward under 10 yards, Fitzgerald to 30 or so. Plaxico to 43. He also is awesome against the run, he really could hit. I wouldn't be suprised to see him in the Pro Bowl this season.

Walt Harris is an older CB, but he didn't lose a step yet. Led the NFL in INT's last year with 9, he went to the Pro Bowl last year. He hasn't dissappointed this year either. Great #2 CB.

Shawntae Spencer was our 2 last year, and wasnt great there. At three, he is good though.

Marcus Hudson is a young guy who has played very well as our fourth.

Safety: Michael Lewis is a guy we got from Philly last year. Boy he can hit! The knock on him coming in was he was weak against the pass, but so far he has been fine. He is an overall good safety.

Mark Roman...Yeahhhhhh... not a big name guy. Doesn't do anything special, but I have nothing to say against him either.

Dashon Goldson is a young guy we got this year in the draft, and he seems to be our future FS. He makes plays when hes out there, although he rotates in.

Killer Keith Lewis is a special teams ace although he did have two sacks, and 67 tackles and two ints last year. Solid. Oh yeah, you can't miss him, he wears no gloves and has a red mohawk. Hes great on special teams.

Kicker: Joe Nedney is very reliable. He missed one FG this year, and of course it was to beat Baltimore, but other then that I can't complain. He could hit it out to 55 yards or so.

Punter: If he continues his play, Andy Lee is a pro bowler for the NFC. Leads basically every NFC Punting category. AWESOME punter.

Okay well my hand hurts now, but good luck to you Saints this week. Hopefully Reggie doesn't tourch us for 4 again! Fear Willis!

See you later guys, and any feedback would be great!

JOESAM2002

Good info. Thanks for the visit. I hope most of our members will be respectful. They usually are. We have what I think are the greatest fans in the world. They do take it to the limit though. This is a passionate bunch here and they have every right to be. God knows we as Saints fans have been through a lot. I've always said, When I die, I know i'll go to heaven, cause I've been through hell with the Saints.

Good luck to your team also, just not this weekend. We need this win and I for one believe we will get it. I just hope that no one on either team gets hurt.

P.S. I'll leave it to another member to enlighten you on our team as I've been in Vegas for a week and i'm still a bit out of the loop.

Sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought an idiot, than to open it and remove all doubt!!!!!

"Every time you think, you weaken the nation!" Moe Howard...The Three Stooges.

xan

Gelder,

Thanks for the Knowledge. I'm sure you'll get a lot of feedback on your treatise. When I find my muse, I'll respond.

papz

Thanks for the write up.

QBREES9

Dam, thanks that was a great read, great info too.

andersen

That sure sounds a great deal better than a 2-4 team, losing 4 straight, with an offense ranked last in the league. But, thanks for the heads-up and good luck. We think that you will need some to beat our boys. We are on a winning streak and the offense is still offensive, at times.

greenparrot

boy...what a write up!!

As far as the Saints they have IMO been on an upward trend the last 4 weeks...becoming more efficient in the offense & limiting the big play on defense. This was a team that lost it's confidence & decisiveness & it is slowly getting it back.

Bush seems to be growing into the job as full time RB. He will have help by the increased presence of rookie Pierre Thomas who had a TD last week.

The surprising strength of the Saints right now is their run defense...blelieve it or not. They have kept the opponent under 100 yds each of the last 5 weeks with a very respectable 3.8 per carry...a yard better than last year. As said before we have limited the big plays pretty much the last 4 weeks which is or has been our achilles heel.

The offfense seems to be adapting to the loss of Deuce & improving every week & getting more confidence. The main thing to improve on is their 3rd down conversion rate which was poor last week & kept us closer to Atlanta than we should have been. Hopefully we can fix this this week.

Key matchups for me is our passing game vs your secondary & our rush D vs Gore.

Good luck!!!

WhoDat205

First off, all of us down here in SEC country know about Willis. They guys was a brick wall on a very medidocre Ole Miss team. We were all praying another draft miricle would happen and he would slip to 27.

Coaches: HC/Playcaller Sean Payton is the antithesis of Nolan. 4th and 1 from the 50? We're going deep. See Reggie in the slot? Here comes the reverse. He gambles a ton and loves to spread the ball around.

Defensive Coordinator Gary Gibbs loves to run M2M even though there's been little-to-no safety help and our corners can't play M2M. He has had the D-Line stopping the run, though and he's been blitzing more which has contributed to our recent success.

QB: It's been an enigmatic season for Brees. I doubt I was alone in thinking that he was going to have an MVP-Caliber year. Unfortunately it hasn't turned out that way. Some will say he lacks the zip he had last year and there are rumors of lingering effects from the shoulder surgery in the previous offseason. I'd bet only Drew and the Coaches know the whole story, though. He has looked better in the last couple of games, so maybe he's turned the corner.

RBs: With Deuce out, the power running game is nonexistent. We rely on Bush and occaisionally Aaron Stecker. Bush's strengths and weaknesses are well documented, but don't underestimate his strenth. He can run with power if he needs to.

Stecker is a veteran back-up. He's not going to kill his team, nor the opposition.

Mike "The Karneyvore" Karney is one of the best FBs in the league. He's a freight train of a lead blocker, is a gaurantee in short yardage situations and can catch the ball out of the backfield. Ask anyone on this board and they'll tell you that he's way underutilized.

Pierre Thomas is the undrafted rookie out of Illinois. He scored twice in the last two games -once on a fumbled punt and once on a awesome 24 yard draw play. Folks around these parts are really high on this kid. He is the full time KR, but has only carried three times this year, but I would expect to see more of him Sunday. The coaching staff has a lot of confidence in him.

WRs: Colston is the 7th round miracle from last years draft. Originally thought to be a prospect for conversion to TE, his size may be his greatest asset (6'4", 230) and makes him tough to bring down for a DB in the open field. He lacks speed, but makes up for it with great hands and excellent route running.

Lance Moore is another draft jem - tecnically undrafted, but whatever. He possesses 4.4 speed and sure hands. He's a very effective PR and has stepped up as a solid #2 reciver.

David Patten is the veteran of this young corp. He's come in and done just what we expected of him: provided a sure handed target for Brees that can come in and make some big catches when he's needed.

Devery Henderson has come under a lot of fire this year and deservedly so. He's dropped 9 huge balls (huh huh!) and served one up to a Carolina defender that some will say cost us a much needed 3rd win. If he catches the ball, good luck catching him. He's got the jets to outrun almost anyone in the league.

TEs: I'll assume you know the reports on Eric Johnson, but he's been the bright spot of a lack-luster free agent class.

Billy Miller is the other TE. He's a reliable #2 TE and...um...some other stuff...I guess.

OL: We raked them over the coals in the first 4 games and blamed all of Brees's woes on them. They've given up 4 sacks on the season. The run blocking has not been up to snuff, but the poor production from the running game can fall on the loss of Deuce as well.

Probowler Jamal Brown anchors the line at LT and Jamir Nesbit and J'Hari Evans are the Guards. Nesbit is getting long in the tooth and was abused by Albert Haynesworth in the Teen game. Evans had a breakout rookie season last year, but has yet to build on that success. Jeff Faine, the center, is out with a torn peck, so Goodwin gets the start. He played well in the second half of the ATL game and should be okay as a backup. Stinchcomb is the RT and is pretty average. Some have called for him to be replaced. These guys will do an effective job protecting the passer and may come up short trying to open up holes for the run game. This will be our first outing agains a 3-4, so it'll be interesting to see if the linemen handle the adjustments well.

DEs: Will Smith and Charles Grant are two absolute Studs. However, neither has played up to their billing this season. Both have showed improvment in the last two games, but with 1 sack in 4 games there was only one way to go. Smith is the speed rusher on the right and Grant is power rusher who is good against the run. Grant is one of my favorite players on the team. He can disappear at times, but when he gets it going, he's tough to beat.

DTs: Hollis Thomas and Brian Young are the starters. HT is the run plug and Young can bring pressure up the middle. They've both played well against the run this season and have chipped in with a few sacks, too. Lack and Clancy come off the bench in the rotation.

LBs: IMO, this is the weakest part of this team. WLB Scott Fujita is the best of the three and does a great job against the run. He's no match for Vernon Davis's speed, but can cover most TEs in the league. The Mike is Mark Simoneau, who by all reports, has pictures of Sean Payton in women's underwear. I have no idea why he starts over newly accuired Brian Simmons, but I sometime think I could do a better job at MLB*. Scott Shanle plays the SLB spot and has really been nonexistent this season. Let's make a deal. We'll give you Shanle and Simoneau for Willis. That's two LBs for the price of one. Deal?

CBs: Not one of our top positions. We picked up Jason David from one of the worst pass defenses in the league last year...and low and behold...he has sucked. I should cut him some slack, though, he did return a fumble for a TD and pick off a couple of passes before he ghot hurt.

He's been replaced by the turnstyle that is Fred Thomas and Jason Craft. These guys have continued the New Orleans tradition of getting burned on the right side of the field.

Mike McKenzie play the LCB and is a good one. He's not Champ Bailey, but he rarely gets beat deep and does a good job stopping the run.

Along with Pierre Thomas, Rookie Usama Young is Mr. Popular in New Orleans right now. He's getting a bunch of snaps at nickle and has really played well. He got great athleticism and has shown some good instincts thus far. He may turn out to be the steal of the 3rd round.

Safety: Roman Harper is the second year SS out of Bama. He only played 4.5 games last season before getting injured. He's played well the season against the run and got to show off his pass rushing abilities against Seattle. His coverage skills are suspect, but I prefer to think of them as a work in progress.

Josh Bullocks is the 3rd year FS out of Nebraska. To this point he has not dazzled anyone, but did have a big game last week, where he was involved in the pass rush and had some big stops in the run game. (stop me if you've heard this one) His coverage skills are suspect, but I prefer to think of them as a work in progress.

Chris Reis was a standout in NLF Europe...stop laughing...he's a special teams ace and - I think - could be a good SS option in a pinch.

Kevin Kaesviharn has done absolutely nothing since coming over from the Bengals. I have no idea why our FO decided to sign the cast-offs from two of the worst defenses in the league, but whatever...they didn't ask me.

Kicker: Olindo Mare has been the inspiration for many voodoo dolls this season. He's 3-7 on FGs, but can kick it into the endzone regularly on KOs. His name is a bad word around here these days. In his defense, he is comming off a groin injury.

Punter: Steve Weatherford was the MVP of the first 4 games.

I hope that gives you a good picture of the team. Now I'll open it up for my associates here at B&G to tell you how much of an idiot that I am.

Good luck to you, too and I hope Reggie toasts you guys for 4 TDs.

*no true at all.

"defence's personal to allwats double team or watch is over, that one reason why the saints or not any good." - Vador101

JOESAM2002

Damned fine job Whodat. I couldn't have done it better myself. I agree with almost everything you said.

SAINT_MICHAEL

WHODAT summed us up very nicely. I'll add three thoughts:

Alex Smith coming back worries me a bit. He's (obviously) much more dangerous than Dilfer and our secondary has made some average QBs look like all-stars this year.

To win we need to reduce our unforced errors. IMO, dropped passes is the biggest thing.

I hope the weather is nice Sunday. I don't feel like sitting in the rain.