Yes, but a good defense can make those fears go away.

Saints had one of the best D's in the league in the 80's, but it wasn't enough.
The Ravens have one of the best D's, but they have not returned to the SB.

Good D is not enough. Teams that consistently get to the playoffs and SB, have excellent running games, as well as good D.

To help your running game, you must have a passing threat, et cetera.

To have a perimeter running game but no bruiser up the middle, lets your opponent, focus on stopping screens and slants.

With no TE threat, DB's can smother the WR's, and so on.

The elite teams get this and configure their teams to be effective at all of the above.

Perimeter runners, between the tackles runners, receiving tight ends, blocking tight ends, all help to keep the opponents D honest.

I don't feel like we have all these bases covered at the moment.

no team has everything covered.. all teams have weaknesses..
the best way to combat this is to find ways to mask your weaknesses and play to your strengths

that being said...


if you want to talk about a lack of depth.. the only place you really need to look at is the QB position... if brees goes down.. our whole season goes with him..

our only other real weakness right now is the lack of a bruising running back incase deuce goes down.. that doesnt mean that we dont have good depth at the position..

we have several descent TEs and while i would like to have the position upgraded with a better receiving TE.. its still on par with much of the leagues depth at TE and even without that huge threat at TE, defenses still had trouble stopping our offense

another thing i think could use some more help is the secondary.. we have alot of really young players and alot of really old players.. i would have felt better about the position if they would have brought in another young vet corner around the same age as Gay to compete but that didnt happen.. that being said.. i dont think it will be as big of a factor as it was last year based solely on the presence of Ellis and and improved pass rush, which should help mask alot of the problems in our secondary...
its not going to be as bad as everyone thinks it will be...

The 06 Saints and the 07 Saints were very similar personnel-wise. However, the 06 Saints had a much better season.

The difference was the running game. Our O stayed on the field with good third down stats and kept our D and opponent's O on the sideline.

I don't see any 08 solutions to the 07 problems.

RB / TE / DB

id say our biggest problem in 08, is adding a better backup qb and finding another reciever to compliment colston...

really.. are u serious?

in 06, we had deuce who came off of surgery just like this year and had one of the better years in his career, reggie.. who was a rookie in 06 and is now poised for a breakout year.. and stecker, who was a descent back up then and still is... and now we also have a good young player in PT..

i think you are undervaluing the presence of reggie.. he takes alot of heat off of the other guys just b/c of the gameplans that defenses put up just to stop him.. and if you think that they arent.. then you are sorely mistaken...


TE, which hasnt been a threat in N.O. for years wasnt really a factor in 06.. we still had the #1 offense in the league.. and in 07, we had the #5 offense.. even with an upgraded TE position from 06...

DB has been improved.. 06 we had fred thomas who was horrible and jay bellamy who was also horrible.... last year we had JD who was also horrible but had been playing in a zone heavy defense for the previous 4 years... i look JD to have a much better year, Harper has taken over for bellamy and has improved the play at the SS position...the addition of Gay will improve the depth at CB and McKenzie is coming off his best year as a DB and should be back to full form by the start of the season.. T. Porter an U. Young should both improve this year and will be fighting for a starting job either next year of the year after...


in addition to that... i think you are looking at the wrong area of problems.. id say our biggest problem areas in 07 were DT, LB and CB and Oline.. we have improved the oline.. gotten a probowl MLB.. drafted a run stuffing penetrating DT who will take pressure off of w. smith and c. grant.. signed depth at LB and DE which will help our guys from getting worn out... we have signed several CBs which give us depth at the position...

id say our biggest problem in 08, is adding a better backup qb and finding another receiver to compliment Colston...

Brunell is a serviceable backup to Brees. However, there may still be better out there. Tim Rattay, or maybe Gradkowski from Tampa or Redman from ATL.

With all these O Linemen on the roster, they ought to be able to protect Brees.

helping the running game is why we need to upgrade the TE position significantly. Maybe Kyle Brady or similar.
I had my eye on Brad Cottam / Kellen Davis / Martellus Bennet in the Draft.

I'm pissed that we didn't get Matt Forte. That would have probably shut me up for a while. LOL

huh? how will getting any of those pass catching TEs upgrade the running game?

why would we need another backup to reggie bush...? he isnt a bruiser like deuce either... ill agree that we could use another big back, but we do not need another slashing back.. we have 3 of those already...

The 06 Saints and the 07 Saints were very similar personnel-wise. However, the 06 Saints had a much better season.

The difference was the running game. Our O stayed on the field with good third down stats and kept our D and opponent's O on the sideline.

I don't see any 08 solutions to the 07 problems.

RB / TE / DB