BillyC

This game was a heart-breaker, no doubt. But, in reality, it meant NOTHING!! Even if we had of won, we would have not gone to the playoffs. Both Dallas and Seattle won today, which turned the Saints/Jaguars game into nothing more than a chance for us to see the Saints play one of their last 2-games of the season.

Sure, I would have like to have won the game. But, this team showed more heart today than they have all year. The defense gave up about 200-yards on the ground, but they didn't give up and came up with some HUGE plays that kept the Saints in the game. Jay Bellamy, Darren Howard(did ya see him leap over the defender?), Fred Thomas, Ashley Ambrose, Charles Grant, and even Tebucky Jones has been showing something lately. If we can get a couple of playes on defense it could be something special in the future.

On offense we weren't able to run the ball, but no one else has been able to run the ball on that defense either. But our offense didn't cave in this time. They kept fighting and fighting and made some mistakes, but they also showed tremedous heart and battled back to within 7-points. They did this inspite of the most consistant player in Deuce fumling the ball 2-times. When the game was on the line and behind by 7-points, with 7-seconds left on the clock....did they quit? NO!! Brooks threw the ball to Stalloworth who somehow kept from getting takled and started a play that will live in Saints history forever!! Every player on the offense hustled down the field to assist on the play, Our QB even made the block that sprung the last TD!! They showed me heart. They showed me they could have easily given up but they didn't.

The problem isn't that the players don't have the talent or the heart. They proved without a shadow of a doubt they have what it takes to be special. The problem is the coaching and the schemes. I like Haslett just as much as the next guy, but this isn't about personal likes and dislikes. Haslett has had a chance to go to the well three years in a row and came up short. It's not like he had a no talent team the last 3-years. He's had what he's needed to get the job done, but simply failed to do the job.

Tom Benson is going to have to look at this situation realistically and hopefully realize that this organizatoin needs a change in philosophy. Benson owes it to the fan base to show he is serious about winning. The fans of New Orleans have sat through 3-years of under-achieving and sold out the dome every game. Can Benson really look the good fan's of New Orleans in the eye and ask us to sit though another year of this? Not if he's serious about winning.

The right thing for Benson to do is to thank Jim Haslett for all the hard work and inform him that he owes it to the fans to do everything in his power and that he must hire a new coaching staff.

We have the core group of players. Hit the free agent market and get a cornerback and linebaker, and have a decent draft and we are a true superbowl contender.

No one should change just for changes sake, but the NFL is all about changing and winning THIS year. Just ask the lowly Bengals about that.

Actually, losing today could be the best thing that could have happened to this team. It showed that after 3-years of trying to fix the run defense that it's still as pathetic as ever. If a coaching staff can't fix the run defense in 3-years, do you think they can actually take us to the super bowl?

It's time for a change and to get all of this talent we have to liive up to it's potenital.

saintz08

Fantastic , So the Saints with Brooks behind the helm have proven once again with the playoffs or the potential of on the line in December, against a 4-10 team they cannot rise to the occasion .

Can we hear the one about how the Saints have something to build on and then go into the off season and watch Haz. cut 25% of the team ???? That story seems to work for the cut players as they usually end up on play off caliber teams .