saintz08

Saints feed fans gumbo of familiar misery
Tuesday September 09, 2003


Dave Lagarde


SEATTLE -- Let\'s dispense the good news first.

It can\'t get any worse.


That\'s what the populace is thinking out loud in Miami and Chicago and Cincinnati and Green Bay and Dallas and St. Louis and New England. And yes, that\'s New Orleans\' mantra as well after the Saints seasons changed and the unsettling problems of 2002 persisted, despite an extensive roster overhaul.

Lose the season opener and it\'s Blue Monday no matter the locale.

Play uninspired football and get embarrassed (think Saints, Bears, Patriots and Bengals). Bingo! It\'s a recipe for instant over-the-top doom and gloom.

Yes, the Saints, who think like contenders rather than play like contenders, had company in their misery Monday. But that\'s no comfort when a new season dawns and the Saints can\'t produce sunshine in Seattle.

Granted, it isn\'t the end of the world. It\'s simply the end of the first week of the 2003 season. But it does place great import on game two against Houston.

And if the opaque darkness remains, if the Saints refuse to raise their level of performance, New Orleans will be one sullen place to dwell next week and the weeks after that.

See, losing the first game of the 2003 season would be infinitely easier for the Saints to explain if they hadn\'t done it in the same disturbing manner as they did in 2002, squandering the last three games of the season with a playoff berth hanging in the balance on each Sunday.

The team that the Seahawks defeated 27-10 looked unnervingly similar to last season\'s outfit, beating itself with turnovers, poor tackling and penalties as much as teams with losing records -- the Vikings, Bengals and Panthers -- beat them down the stretch. That more than anything else should be cause for alarm in coaches\' meetings and the locker room.

But it\'s time to turn the page on Seattle. It\'s time for the Saints to step up to the microphone and sing a redemption song Sunday against 1-0 Houston, which had a lot to do with the nauseatingly sick feeling permeating South Florida on Monday.

The second-year Texans traveled to Miami, where the Dolphins never lose in September, and made them sleep with the fishes as a 14-point underdog. One would think Week No. 1\'s most shocking upset grabbed the Saints\' attention.

There were quite a few eye-catching opening-day performances. Among them:

-- The Colts won with defense, an item sure to make Peyton Manning a happy quarterback.

-- Ex-Patriots Drew Bledsoe and Lawyer Milloy took great delight in helping Buffalo squash New England like a bug on a racing car\'s windshield.

-- Kansas City running back Priest Holmes returned from a hip injury many thought to be career-threatening with a vengeance, savaging San Diego in a resounding Chiefs\' victory. He rushed for two touchdowns and led the Chiefs in receptions, rushing yards and receiving yards.

-- And Carolina came back from a 17-0 halftime deficit to beat Jacksonville.

The guy orchestrating the Panthers\' Lazarus act was none other than Jake Delhomme, the quarterback the Saints brain trust refused to play down the stretch last season despite the fact that it was obvious Aaron Brooks\' performance was hampered by a shoulder injury that required offseason surgery.

When last seen in New Orleans, Delhomme was completing seven of eight passes for 103 yards in relief of Brooks on Dec. 8. Incidentally, the Saints defeated the Ravens that day for their ninth and final victory of 2002.

The final three losses made it easy for Delhomme to discern Brooks would have to lose a limb or two before he might get another chance with the Saints. So he took Carolina\'s money, ran to Charlotte and created a buzz.

\"If I wanted to be a backup, I\'d be wherever New Orleans is playing. This is the reason I came here,\" Delhomme told the assembled Carolina media Sunday after he directed the biggest comeback in franchise history.

Delhomme was far from perfect. He completed 12 of 20 passes for 122 yards and threw two interceptions. But those misses and two picks were perfectly acceptable for a quarterback who produced 24 points in 30 minutes, guided his team to 206 second-half yards and deftly made the biggest play of all, a 12-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl on a fourth-and-11 with 16 seconds remaining.

So in effect, Delhomme\'s career is just starting. Meanwhile Saints fans are cringing as they wonder, is it starting all over again?

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Just took out the from our advertiser and moved things up to save space.

[Edited on 9/9/2003 by JOESAM2002]

\"Americans play to win at all times. I wouldn\'t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed.\" - George S. Patton
On another note, I\'ll take a bite of that crow 08. - Saintfan
Brooks is a moron!! - Halo