JudeThaddeus

I find it pretty alarming some of the things I see posted here.

On one side, we have the Brooks-haters and they will argue any excuse at all to prove that Brooks should be replaced. No matter how he plays, it is not good enough to rate an even average rating. They harp on bad throws and dont seem to notice the dropped passes. They wont give him credit for his effective scrambling to avoid the sack and get some key yardage.

On the other side are the Brooks-lovers. They argue that Brooks should be allowed to play. Its a subtle difference but an important one. They are not saying that Brooks is a great QB (with exceptions). In many cases they say that his play is not great, but they stand by him no matter what. They call up other QBs that appear statistically worse as if to say: See! We don’t have the worst QB!

The truth is somewhere in the middle. Brooks is an average NFL QB. He has great athletic ability and naturally quick feet that allow him to get out of trouble. He has a strong arm, but his accuracy is erratic. He has trouble reading defenses and gets surprised by the blitz sometimes. His play-fakes are fairly easy to see through. He has a strongly positive outlook (imagine how much worse it would be if he didnt) but his leadership skills are poor. From time to time he gets hot and we see flashes of Qbing brilliance. Other times we see truly pathetic struggling. On the balance, he is an average QB.

Does anyone really believe that Bouman would be so much better that it is worth benching Brooks? Take away the shake em up and see what happens attitude and just evaluate honestly, would Bouman do better? I think he would be about the same. The problem with this team is something deeper. It is not Brooks.

That being said, is Brooks the QB we need? Is he a complete QB? I think not. Will he make the pro-bowl or the Hall of Fame? Probably not.

Let’s all be honest here in our evaluation. Brooks-haters; Give him the credit he deserves. He is not the pail of garbage you want to make him out to be. Brook-lovers; He is not a great QB, merely an average QB whos team is having some trouble this year.

If the Saints get together as a team, then everyone will look better. However, it will be the TEAM looking better. Brooks will get all kinds of lauds from the sportswriters. Our receiving corps will be considered one of the best units in the league. Deuce will get the credit he RIGHTLY deserves. The OL will be called one of the most talented young units. Etc.

Until that time we will remain what we have been this year and what we are; a struggling team with many, many weaknesses. But keep in mind, even the struggling team can get hot. Thats what I am hoping for.


[Edited on 13/10/2003 by JudeThaddeus]

[Edited on 13/10/2003 by JudeThaddeus]