ScottyRo

FW, you\'re right I can\'t fault Benson for promoting from the inside. I\'ve always thought it was best to reward your own in that manner.

I just feel that what happened to the Saints then is a prime example of why a team needs a strong GM, who is fully vested with all the power of that position. We had that with Finks. We had that with Mueller. Two of the best era\'s in Saints history. I just feel that we should go back to that, but Loomis cannot handle that type of position so he\'s not the solution. I\'m pretty sure he has admitted that he isn\'t \"a football guy.\" Thus, we need someone who is a football guy to step up and take over. I believe we\'d be better off in the long run.

alsaints113

Hey I may be mistaken but didn\'t I post something exactly like this a few days ago on September 29th and it got no reply??? See below....

\"Here\'s an interesting bit of insight. When Jim Haslett took over as head coach, he inherited Mike Ditka\'s team. They were 6-1 under Jeff Blake and then Aaron Brooks finished off the season 10-6 if I remember right. We won the division title and spanked the Rams to get our first ever playoff win. Those were the days huh? Since then, Randy Meuller has been fired for stupid reasons. And over the last three years, we have seen the removal of the entire system that Ditka had established. Not only that but great players not brought on by Ditka (Joe Johnson, LAROI GLOVER, Mark Fields) The last straw was the trading of our adrenaline booster Kyle Turley, again for STUPID reasons. So in the end our team has been in decline as the system Ditka built has been slowly removed. This year is Jim Hasletts own team entirely. It is clear that these players don\'t fit the system the coaches have designed. The players Ditka had brought on did! Why stray from what works???? That is what the Saints organization has done exactly the last three years. Now we are left with a shell of our former team and have to bag our heads once again. Las night I thought I was watching the Colts taking on Tulane. I like to pride myself as being one of the biggest Saints fans around. Unfortunately, this year is the first time that I have ever not looked ofrward to next weeks game. I had high hopes all offseason and a quarter of the way through I don\'t care about football and eagerly await my San Antonio Spurs championship defense against the Los Angeles Rapists and Old washed up Veterans. In my opinion Venturi should be fired, and whoever had the brilliant idea of trading or not re-signing all our best players over the last few years should be fired too (if it was Benson, his fat ass can go back to being a car dealer!)\"

ScottyRo

alsaints, some people may not have responded to that post because it covers so many topics. I mean, I really don\'t know where to start.

Your complaints are that we\'ve been getting rid of all our good players since Haslet came in which is true to a point, but my posts really are talking about how Benson has handicapped the organization by not maintaining a strong central leadership with a GM that has a clear plan and the ability to judge talent.

Remember, Mueller was here when the Saints refused to re-sign Glover and lost Johnson to Green Bay. He also traded Roaf and I believe he let Mark Fields go in FA when he first arrived. We\'ll never know whether these moves worked because we wont get a chance to see Mueller\'s vision become reality.

Looking at this past off season, it seems to me that Loomis has actually attempted to emulate the things that Mueller had done (aggresive trading and such), but in the end they don\'t seem to have that same \"genius\" appeal to them. One thing I am most interested in is what Mueller would have done with the 2 first round picks we had. I was against trading them and then shocked when they did and chose Sullivan with the pick they got. Obviously, I hope it works out, but only time will tell.

In the end the simple truth may be that Mueller was just too good for our team. He was building a championship contender. Apparently that was not what Benson wanted. It\'s generally a misconception that winning teams make the most money. The actual fact of the matter is that in past years the middle of the row teams were the ones making the most money because they didn\'t have the super-high priced talent, but they were doing well enough to keep the fans interested. Benson\'s statements yesterday proclaiming how well he\'s done by being 15th in the league in winning % since he took over seems to infer that he is perfectly content to stay right there.

THAT is what irks me the most!

PS. All of you in Louisiana remember to vote today!

BillyCarpenter1

DblBogey --

That\'s a lot of ground to cover, but let\'s start with the Jeff Blake/Aaron Brooks arguement. There is an unwritten rule for most teams that a player cannot lose his job due to injury. However, players lose their jobs due to injury all the time. Sometimes a player goes down with an injury and the backup steps in and plays so well that a coach would be foolish not to continue to let the backup play. I seem to remember Kurt Warner replacing an injuried Trent Green and Warner did so well that he was named the starter without Green getting a chance to win his starting job back. The way Brooks played when he came off the bench, it would have been hard for ANY coach not to name Brooks the starter.

You seem to be upset about all the players that Haslett got rid of. Just keep in mind that the \"Ditka Team\" he took over wasn\'t exactly a \"Power House\". There were a couple of players I would like to have back, but there is no doubt this is a much more talented club than the one Haslett inheirted. The fact is, that good players are let go, for one reason or another, by every team.

On the Tom Benson subject -- All I hear is a lot of speculation, based off of little fact. Benson has spent as much as some clubs that have gone to the SuperBowl. So, the arguement that he isn\'t willing to spend the bucks is far from the truth. You can fault Benson for hiring the wrong people, but that\'s about as far as you can go. It\'s hard to assemble a Super Bowl team and just because things don\'t work out, does not mean that an owner isn\'t commited to winning. Losing causes everything to be called into question, but none of us know enough about Benson\'s intentions to be making bold statements, like I have read on here.