ScottyRo

Now THAT was worth reading. Thanks, Cad!

ScottyRo

My two cents on the topic of this thread is that if you think the Saints are a \"do nothing\" franchise this offseason (or any for that matter) then compare them to the rest of the league as a whole, not just one team or a few teams. Especially don\'t compare the Saints\' activities in this offseason to a team that is being ridiculed by most experts for destroying their future cap in a futile effort to win a superbowl. I believe that the actions taken so far are on par with most of the rest of the league. I\'d say all the league if Washington wasn\'t involved.

Otherwise, some people are always going to be down on the org because they don\'t get all the players that those people believe the team needs. It\'s hard to live with, but EVERY team goes into each season with holes and even though the Saints won\'t sign Gold, for example, doesn\'t mean they made a mistake (even if you believe with all of your heart that Gold would be an upgrade.) We\'ll never really know.

no_cloning

\"You talkin\' about me? You talkin\' about me? You talkin\' about me? Then who the hell else are you talkin\' about? You talkin\' about me? Well I\'m the only one here. Who do you think you\'re talking about? Oh yeah? Huh? Ok.\" (Travis Bickle out)

The \"well of negativity\" is back to support WhoDat (up to a point).
On topic:
I don\'t think the Saints are the \"do-nothing\" franchise. Apparently they\'ll try to go into the season with players that have actually played together in the regular season instead of the major overhaul from last season. Frankly, that\'s the way it should be when a coach has been with one team 5 years and can pick the players he needs like Haslett.
The biggest problem I have with how this off-season is going is that they have cornered themselves for the draft. I especially don\'t like the Loomis quote: \"The other things we really would like to do, we can do in the draft.\" Smokescreen or not, it looks to me like they have a plan A and no plan B. Which means they almost certainly have to move up instead of sitting at #18 and waiting who is going to fall in their lap (a strategy I would favor at the moment).
By not signing a MLB or a starting CB they at least keep the other teams (and the fans) guessing what position they will go after in the draft. And yes, that\'s supposed to be sarcasm.

Regarding the losses last season and the injuries:
It\'s fine to say that so many injuries must have cost us some games. I believe we discussed that during the season. My point is: What game would we have won without injuries/lost of injuries?
Seattle? I doubt it.
Tennessee? I don\'t think so.
Indianapolis? Did we play the Colts last season? I must have forgotten.
2x Carolina? No, because they were lucky bastards all season long and would have won the games anyway. Actually the most important player missing in the second game may have been fat-ass Grady, and that was 10% because of injury and 90% because Haz doesn\'t have the respect of his players (my assumption, as is everything I write)
Philadelphia? That was week 12 and some of the hurt players were already returning. You can expect to have injuries in week 12 and after.

whowatches

Would you like my home or work address?

Two positive thoughts I have about next year:

1. Consistency. This season will mark the least amount of turnover since the beginning of the Haslet era.

2. New DL and WR coaches. Seriously. I really am hopeful that these additions will help the team.

I now sit back at wait for brothel delivery.

Danno

MY THOUGHTS (AS WELL AS PREVIOUS POSTS) EXACTLY.
I had some worries about a massively re-vamped defense playing on the same page last year. Remember that G-word? (or is it jell)? Anyway, it didn’t work as well as I’d hoped. In hindsight we may have been more successful with a little more continuity. Perhaps we should have kept Knight and Clemons around until the new guys progressed enough mentally to unseat them. But I guess the big salary to Jones had to be justified.

But I also wonder would Knight and Jones been any better than Bellamy and Jones. Knight’s savvy may have been more helpful than Bellamy.
Of course who would have thought we lose our starting SS 3 quarters before the season started.

Clemons and Smith may have helped the LB crew out early in the season. It appeared too many players looked confused on assignments. But would the combo of Hodge (SLB), Clemons (WLB) and Smith (MLB) been any better early? Perhaps.

Anyway, I’m rambling but my point is I agree that this year we’ll probably have about 3 new starters on D, with a few new young back-ups right on their heels. That shouldn’t cause the confusion we saw early in the 2003 season.

I\'m probably more excited about the addition of Pease than any new DL we could have had. I think the talent is there. They just need a good position coach to develop skills and put a foot up their asss when necessary.

As far as the WR\'s go, I hope it was just a down year for Horn, Stallworth and Pathon. They did look to regress, but I think they all 3 should bounce back. Even if only two bounce back it would be quite pleasing. I hope the firing of their buddy and the hiring of a no-BS disciplinarian will grab their attention.

BrooksMustGo

B&B, I feel kind of highstrung lately.


[Edited on 19/3/2004 by BrooksMustGo]

DatWho

Interesting title for this thread....... It\'s called \" Do Nothing Franchise\". But the author should have titled the thread --\" Didn\'t do what I wanted \'em to do Franchise.\"


I\'m assuming that the person that started this thread wanted the Saints to sign certain players and spend whatever amount of money it took to do it. Champ Baily was probably on that list too?

Dan Snyder must have been a huge football fan, before he bought the Redskins. He must have sat around thinking \" If I owned the \"skins\", I\'d sign this player and that player and I could have a championship team in \"no time at all? In short, Snyder is doing all the things that some fans want the Saints to do. He\'s writing checks faster than the bank can cash \'em, and he\'s been doing it for years. What\'s he got to show for it? NOTHING!!

Then there\'s the Patriots !! What have they done? Just won 2 of the last 3 super bowls.

[Edited on 19/3/2004 by DatWho]

BrooksMustGo

It\'s good to have Billy back.
I think my basic frustration is that throughout the Hazlett experiment there has been no meaningful move to address either the LB or CB position. We have drafted several nicklebacks, we have signed several nickleback free agents. We have drafted several really really fast LB\'s and we have picked up a really cheap, really fast LB. At no point have we made a move to find a long term solution at either position.

The Patriots are a very well managed, very well coached team. I think it\'s a little hard to compare the Saints with the Patriots as we have failed to win just 1-2 more games a year to even break into the playoffs. Manangement, personnel or coaching seem to be a roadblock to our taking the next step and get into the playoffs.

http://www.blackandgold.net/site/signature/buddysig.jpg

WhoDat

DatWho? Am I inspiring names now? :P

I was out of town and didn\'t get a chance to jump back into this when things were still heated, but BnB, as usual, was exactly right. Hey Saintfan, I was really happy to see George Bush win the election over Gore. I thought he did a great job during 9/11 and I supported him early in his campaigns against terrorism. However, now he just seems war-mongering. He\'s ignored problems at home and I can\'t really support him anymore. Does that make me unAmerican? I guess by your standards I should move to Canada huh? Hey, I hear the Chineses are looking for more citizens to follow blindly and never question the leaders. Maybe you should move over there.

Fact is I loved Haslett when he got here. I was pleasantly surprised when he brought us to the playoffs in year one. However, I began to sour on him in year two, when a team that should only have gotten better fell apart. Since then, he\'s been like George Bush. Looking for anyone else other than himself to blame for his decisions and trying to tell us that we\'re all better off when really nothing has changed.

Would I question Bill Parcells? Probably. But there\'s one big difference Chachi. He wins. You\'d hear A LOT less out of me if this team had continued to improve every year, and make the playoffs and actually be able to contend for a SB. That\'s what Parcells teams do. The bottom line here is that Haslett could easily shut people like me up by putting a winner on the field. But he hasn\'t and I think can\'t. So until he does or is fired, get used to it.

\"Excuses, excuses, excuses. That’s all anyone ever makes for the New Orleans Saints’ organization.\" - Eric Narcisse


\"Being a Saints fan is almost like being addicted to crack,\" he said.[i]\"You know you should stop, but you just can\'t.\"