kenpersons

You can hate him if you want, but you can't deny he's shown flashes of brilliance. Now then...

Have you ever seen Bull Durham? There's a quote that applies:

"Don't think, just throw"

When he's patting the ball, he's thinking too much. If they can get him to pull the trigger, right or wrong, it's a start. Not deciding is worse than a bad decision, and that's what's causing the fumbles.

I pose that if they focus on that during camp and preseason: the simple task of come hell or highwater, even if it's bad decision, slinging it; he'll be fine.

The next step is trusting the coaching, the system and receivers, and not worrying about the mistakes until it's time to overcome them.

Once he gets in the habit of trusting his instincts instead of thinking about it, he'll be hoisting a Lombardi trophy.

I can't wait to shop for that Super Bowl party. Our Super Bowl party.

Who DAT !?!

JKool

Uh oh...

JKool

KP,

I\'m not sure I agree. It seems to me a bad decision is worse than no decision. Think about when a QB \"takes a sack\" rather than throwing it up for grabs, that is tantamount to deciding to do nothing, and we think that IS a good idea.

Brooks has had some trouble with bad decisions in the past, and I for one prefer the fumbles to the interceptions - interceptions away from the pile are much more likely to go for big returns or TDs than fumbles near the line.

I guess, I agree with the spirit of the post - it is hesitation that is killing Brooks (we all saw that several times last year). However, slinging the ball all over the place is not the right move either. It would be very nice to see Brooks looking more intuitive out there on the field, and I\'m sure that is what you were getting at.

"... I was beating them with my eyes the whole game..." - Aaron Brooks

kenpersons

The logic is, how do you make a non decision better? I have no answer for that. But I\'d be willing to bet the coaches know what to do to fix bad ones.

Slinging the ball all over the place isn\'t a permanent solution, but it\'s a step towards the answer: eliminating the hesitation. Once that\'s done, then it\'s a matter of transforming \"all over the place\" into \"throwing strikes\" which is a natural progression.

They\'ve had four years and now have one more training camp and four preseason games. I think it can be done. He\'s close.

The bottom line is, Crash Davis is up there with Buddha, Christ, and Yogi Berra when it comes to ultimate wisdom.

It\'s not a question of whether or not the Saints will win the Super Bowl this year. It\'s a question of which Saint will be the MVP of the game.

What do you mean I\'m not supposed to snort the granola?

no_cloning

No he\'s not. ESPECIALLY if you\'re talking about football. \"Don\'t think, just throw\" is not the advice Brooks needs. Name one Hall of Fame quarterback who got there using this approach.
Brooks just needs to speed up his decision making if options one and two are not viable. I\'d like him to use his legs more (forward), not force more throws into double coverage.
The fumbling ... I prefer fumblest to interceptions too. It had to do with the way he grips the ball (I think), having only 3 fingers on the ball instead of 4 or 5. So that can be worked on, he will not lose 10+ fumbles again this season - I would bet on it.

Danno

Here’s my theory on Brooks.
The vast majority of fans focus entirely too much on the QB position.
Fans do not know if the WR turned the wrong way, or ran his route too wide or narrow.
Fans don’t know if the FB missed his block forcing the ball to be thrown too soon.
Fans don’t know about 70% of the facts when they judge a QB’s performance.

There are 11 guys on each side of the ball. All 11 must do their job to succeed.
Theres a reason for the cliché that QB’s get too much credit for wins and too much blame for losses.

So basically my theory is that most of us are too ignorant of all the facts to accurately determine if Brooks is really the problem.

We judge the QB based on the play of a 53 man team.

Now Kordell Stewart? Well he really does suck.

[Edited on 20/5/2004 by Danno]

BlackandBlue

Watched an interesting show last night on the NFL network, called Playbook. It\'s a show where they take game footage and break down plays. They did a few on AB and how he can\'t read defenses. Was interesting. All three sportscasters agreed that AB would have to stop being so inconsistent in order for the Saints to make it to the next level (ie Super Bowl). This is strictly info being passed along, don\'t jump my ass- you don\'t want any.

[Edited on 20/5/2004 by BlackandBlue]

whowatches

I agree with the premise that Brooks seemed more exciting and more of a game-breaker during the season when he replaced Blake. AB was scrappy, and his play looked more off-the-cuff, if you will. Watching him play that year was nothing short of awesome.

The more I think about it, the more I blame coaching and gameplanning for the two years after that one. Like Danno, I also think the failings of the WR corp hurt AB last year.

All that being said, AB held the ball too long, too many times last year. I appreciate that he cut down on INTs, but the more \'instinctual\' player that AB was during his first year kept defenses off-balance and made plays.

As far as his reading defenses, I hope that we don\'t jump in that mud puddle again. Let\'s wait til the season; can\'t wait for all the AB/JT debates!

BnB, is the NFL Network worth the cash? Haven\'t had a chance to check it out yet.

BlackandBlue

Not that I care that much, the QB position is not one of our problem areas, in my humble opinion. I believe we are good enough at that position to win, we need to focus on other areas. He does miss some reads, not all, and that may not be because he doesn’t read the defense, but is trying to do more with the ball on a single play than a 3 and out route by the tight end.
All I watch, when I’m allowed to touch the remote, is the NFL Network. They have some decent shows, and I was even able to record the 2000 playoff game between the Saints and the Rams.

The waiting drove me mad....
I don't want to hear from those that know...
Everything has changed, absolutely nothing's changed

Eddie is a....draftnik?

saintfan

BlackandBlue (lookie there I got the name right!)

I watched that show last night too...and I found it interesting that they didn\'t have much good to say at all...about anybody really other than Howard and Grant. They did pretty much blame the whole thing on Brooks, which tells me they\'re clueless. Personally I didn\'t think they provided much insight either -- and I expect most of the regulars of this board could have done a better job breakin\' down the Saints than those three clowns.