Losing Carl Nicks has affected the while O Line

Shoe. · 09-24-2012, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by SaintsBro

I get what you're trying to do here, but first of all we didn't "trade" Nicks -- he walked -- and we could not afford to keep him. We probably couldn't have afforded him, even if we had let Colston go! The writing was on the wall for a long time that Nicks was going to go, whether we wanted him to stay or not. No matter what we offered him, somebody out there in free agency would have offered $1 more and a bag of chips, and he would have taken it. He was going to take top dollar and nothing less. It was a bidding war the Saints could not win. You can't just sign everybody in the world that you want and keep the ol' gang together forever. It's a business.

When Nicks was here we also had the same dudes but we had an O-line coach who wasn't pulling double duty head coaching the whole team at the same time. Who do you think is supposed to figure stuff out about blocking schemes and game planning against specific opposing players and their styles, or make adjustments when things aren't working? You think Kromer really has the same amount of time during the week or during the game, that he used to have to prepare these guys specifically for the war in the trenches, or make adjustments on the fly? Nicks was a beast but he's not the savior of the team and he's not the only problem we have.

Okay, please excuse my verbage, you are correct, we didn't trade Nicks, he was bought out from under us. I stand corrected.

But my point is this: Can you honestly say, and believe, that the O-line would look no better at all if he were here? Essentially by saying he wasn't the reason we were better (with an O-line coach) than we are now (without), you're also saying that we would be in the same place if he were here, and I really can't be on board with that idea, O-line coach or not.

I do understand that it was a bit of a bidding war, and yes, somebody may have offered a little more and taken him away, and also that it is a business, can't keep the band together, etc.. But we found the money to keep Colston, we found the money to bring in Hawthorne, Herring, Lofton, and Bunkley not to mention making our QB the highest paid in the history of the game. Would I want Nicks over some of these gentlemen? Well hindsight certainly is 20/20, and if our idea of "Saints Football" is to hammer away with a consistently unstoppable offense, and make the defense work piece-meal, we certainly have diverted from that vision. Now we have an offense that can't click, and a defense that, despite several free agent signings in the past two seasons, has yet to show any real improvement

tl;dr - We should've spent the money on Nicks, even if it meant losing some of our current toys, offense/defense not withstanding.

edit: whatever it was that Nicks was doing to help out the OTs, he certainly isn't around to do it now. Maybe it was TE/RB chip blocks. I dunno

09-24-2012, 11:44 AM	#5
Shoe. 500th Post Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Hub City Posts: 576	Re: Losing Carl Nicks has affected the while O Line Originally Posted by SaintsBro I get what you're trying to do here, but first of all we didn't "trade" Nicks -- he walked -- and we could not afford to keep him. We probably couldn't have afforded him, even if we had let Colston go! The writing was on the wall for a long time that Nicks was going to go, whether we wanted him to stay or not. No matter what we offered him, somebody out there in free agency would have offered $1 more and a bag of chips, and he would have taken it. He was going to take top dollar and nothing less. It was a bidding war the Saints could not win. You can't just sign everybody in the world that you want and keep the ol' gang together forever. It's a business. When Nicks was here we also had the same dudes but we had an O-line coach who wasn't pulling double duty head coaching the whole team at the same time. Who do you think is supposed to figure stuff out about blocking schemes and game planning against specific opposing players and their styles, or make adjustments when things aren't working? You think Kromer really has the same amount of time during the week or during the game, that he used to have to prepare these guys specifically for the war in the trenches, or make adjustments on the fly? Nicks was a beast but he's not the savior of the team and he's not the only problem we have. Okay, please excuse my verbage, you are correct, we didn't trade Nicks, he was bought out from under us. I stand corrected. But my point is this: Can you honestly say, and believe, that the O-line would look no better at all if he were here? Essentially by saying he wasn't the reason we were better (with an O-line coach) than we are now (without), you're also saying that we would be in the same place if he were here, and I really can't be on board with that idea, O-line coach or not. I do understand that it was a bit of a bidding war, and yes, somebody may have offered a little more and taken him away, and also that it is a business, can't keep the band together, etc.. But we found the money to keep Colston, we found the money to bring in Hawthorne, Herring, Lofton, and Bunkley not to mention making our QB the highest paid in the history of the game. Would I want Nicks over some of these gentlemen? Well hindsight certainly is 20/20, and if our idea of "Saints Football" is to hammer away with a consistently unstoppable offense, and make the defense work piece-meal, we certainly have diverted from that vision. Now we have an offense that can't click, and a defense that, despite several free agent signings in the past two seasons, has yet to show any real improvement tl;dr - We should've spent the money on Nicks, even if it meant losing some of our current toys, offense/defense not withstanding. edit: whatever it was that Nicks was doing to help out the OTs, he certainly isn't around to do it now. Maybe it was TE/RB chip blocks. I dunno

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