BlackandBlue

Didn\'t want to get into this at work, so sorry for the delay. You keep throwing stuff out there, though, so I guess I\'ll be the one to bite (thanks for dragging me into this, WhoDat)

Humor me. I\'m always open to new information. As much as I would love the ability to break down every single player in the NFL, time contraints dictate that. So what information can you provide that would shed a light as to why Fester is better than any other linebacker on our team, including Rodgers, which I find laughable. Better yet, let me tell you what I know about him, and you can come in and fill in the blanks. I know he graduated from the perennial powerhouse they have at Harvard, who are notorius for their blue-chip linebackers. And just like you said, his strength is against the run. But outside of him never starting a complete season, my knowledge is limited- good thing Holmgren elected not to trade him, as I\'m sure this top prospect has fielded many proposals.

Ahhh, Lucas, can\'t believe I forgot about him. What can I say, the guy\'s good.

Out of respect for me, please don\'t compare Taylor to Thomas- that\'s a joke. And please, continue to underrate Thomas, he\'s only been a shadow of the receivers he\'s covered in the preseason, and has been nothing short of perfection. I\'ve NEVER been one to overrate any of the Saints players, just ask anyone here, but Thomas could sneak his way into the pro bowl this year, as an alternative, obviously- he does have his limits.

I don\'t fail. Reread my post from earlier, I gave Simmons props.

I still stand by my statement. Look, it doesn\'t matter who you have out their at tackle, eventually the ends are going to get pressure on the QB. I\'m just curious how many times the Prince will do that, lining up across from Jones. I never said it would be alot, nor did I say it would be very little. I know that the odds aren\'t good, but short of Ogden, I don\'t know too many tackles in the league that can completely dominate their defensive counterparts for an entire game. And I\'m not saying sacks, either, just some pressure.

Koren Robinson (Receptions- 3)(Yards- 56)(TD\'s- 1)
Darrell Jackson- (Receptions- 3)(Yards- 53)(TD\'s-0)

I\'ll take my chances

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?

rlrigmaiden

I don\'t know if I underrate Thomas, I think I\'m just giving him his due. He\'s a solid #2 CB at best. Don\'t forget we had him here for some time. I loved him as our nickel guy, but he was easily expendable.

Let\'s face facts, fellas. If Thomas is that good, why are there CB trade rumors, acquisitions and Draft rumors constantly flying around when the time arises. Why does every Draft expert, and even self-appointed experts, always have the Saints looking for CB help every April? It\'s because your CB\'s are your WEAKEST LINK. It\'s just something you have to cope with.

For the past three years (or basically since DE Michael Sinclair stopped dropping QB\'s 12-16 times a year), DE has been our achilles heal. It was extremely tough watching opposing QB\'s sit in the pocket for an eternity waiting for a DB to fall for a WR\'s quadruple move. I don\'t care if you had Deion, Champ, McAllister and Night Traine Lane in our secondary, we\'d have gotten beat. But Holmgren finally wised up to realizing that 300 pound DE\'s don\'t have much speed (see Lamar King and Antonio Cochran) and usually don\'t get to QB\'s often. In turn we finally acquired a speed guy, Chike O\'Keafor and brought in Wistrom. Now don\'t get me wrong, neither of these guys will ever be Pepper, Kearse or Jason Taylor, but they\'re good for 8-10 a year, which is more than what we\'re used to the past few years.
My point is that one way or another you\'ve got to deal with your problems. It\'s quite obvious that Haslett\'s method has been to upgrade your front four in hope of disguising your CB\'s lack of talent. And that may work, I\'ll give you that. However, while I like your DE\'s, I don\'t think they\'re that much better than ours. You definitely have more youth and depth, but I think we\'re a much more talented team as a whole. Let\'s break it down...

On the left side you\'ve got Grant, who I really like alot. He had a good 10-sack year last year. However, he\'s not very stout vs. the run and is much like our LDE, O\'Keafor, who brought down QB\'s 8 times last year. 2 sacks isn\'t a ton of difference, but it is better, I\'ll give ya that.

On the right side you\'ve got Howard and Smith. I like both of these guys, but Howard seems to always be nicked up and Smith is a rookie. And, as mentioned before, they\'ll have to deal with Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson. Howard had 5 sacks last year, while Grant Wistrom had 7.5 . Again, it\'s a slight edge (this time in our favor), so big deal. Smith will obviously be your nickel pass rusher when Howard comes off the field. We\'ve got a guy like that too, although he wont be on the field, Chad Brown.

Now let\'s look at the DB\'s again. You\'ve got Thomas, and believe me I don\'t think the guy sucks by any means, Ambrose and Craft. Tell ya what, just for the sake of the argument, I\'ll say that Thomas is a legit #1 CB. He and Marcus \"The Saints should\'ve Drafted me\" Trufant are a push. I definitely don\'t agree with that, but for the sake of the argument, let\'s do it. Then we come to the #2 CB\'s. You\'ve got Ambrose and we\'ve got Lucas, the guy who the NFL Network just put on TV to demonstrate \"perfect coverage\" this pre-season. I\'m hoping you\'ll all agree with me and say the \'Hawks get ya on that one. Let\'s go to our #3 CB, Bobby Taylor, who has to be better than Jason Craft.


My point of all this, If you\'ve bared with me this long, is that I simply don\'t agree with \"Whowatches\" statement about him liking his D-line and DB\'s vs. ours. If you\'ve followed my opinions, I think you\'d agree. It\'s obvious to me that our D-lines are more similar than most of us think and that Seattle\'s DB\'s are, by a huge margin, much better than the Saints\' But, this is why they play the game, gentleman. If the better \"on paper\" team were to win every time we\'d be fans of an extremely pathetic sport that is quickly losing it\'s luster around the country . . . BASEBALL!!!!!


Back to business. Let me answer some questions from the NO faithful...

BlackandBlue-

Very funny about Kacyvenski\'s trade rumors. Let\'s not forget he\'s the #2 backup behind Brown and D.D. Lewis, ok. Like I said, he\'s no All Pro, but he simply makes plays. He and Bannister (Pro Bowler Special Teamer last year) are absolute studs on Kick and Punt teams. He\'s great vs. the run, but he\'ll also have moments of brilliance against the pass too (see him covering Ahman Green in the playoffs last year). I don\'t know about you guys, but being OK with our #2 backup OLB out there suits me just fine. I don\'t know how many teams have that luxury.

As for your point that your DE\'s will get pressure through Walter Jones, I certainly hope you do. If not, they\'re doing something seriously wrong. But I wouldn\'t expect too much outta them.

As for your predictions, I noticed Jackson and Robinson only have 6 catches between them. I\'m going to guess that Hasselbeck completes at 20 passes, so who do the other completions go to? Here\'s some amateur fortune telling of my own.

Jackson- 7 catches, 103 yards 1 TD
Robinson- 4 catches, 71 yards
Stevens- 4 catches, 51 yards 1 TD
Mili- 2 catches, 17 yards
Alexander- 2 catches, 22 yards
Morris- 1 catch, 8 yards

We like to spread the love, bro!!!

Whowatches-

Remember, that \"hanky of doom\" goes both ways, bro. You\'ll get yours, and we\'ll get ours. I just hope this season doesn\'t turn out to be a damn laundry fest. Thanks, Ty Law!!!!

I\'ve definitely enjoyed our points-of-view in this forum, fellas. This is what these forums are for and it\'s fun to get some friendly banter going. No matter what happens on gameday, I promise you that I\'ll be back in here congratulating you on a game well-played, no matter what the outcome.

I\'m beginning to like you guys here in LA. You\'re kinda like Seattle\'s Junior Varsity team. Think about it, Fred Thomas, Jay Bellamy, Lamar Smith and Darrin Smith. All former \'Hawks! Steve Gleason, former Spokane, WA guy ( who we played high school ball with) and WSU alum; Jerome Pathon (UW), James Allen (Oregon State). There\'s alot of Northwest kids down there.

Later, guys.

BlackandBlue

He’s a solid #1. Thomas has progressed more than any other player I’ve seen in a Saints uniform.

Why has Dallas been concerned about their CB position since they let Edwards go? Is it because Newman hasn’t panned out? No, just like Dallas, you would need to look across the field, opposite Thomas/Newman, and you can see why CB has always been a priority for us, one that has been overlooked, cause Craft isn’t the answer.

True. But he loves him some Hasselbeck (2 sacks last year).

Howard has never had any problems with injuries, up until last year, and it looks like he won’t start the opener this year. Which is why I’m concerned with how much pressure Smith will generate in his absence.

Wistrom started all 16 games, Howard only started 8, but I digress.

Yup. I was the one screaming from the rafters around here that we drafted the wrong player. But I’m not going to give you that. They might be equals now, but Trufant has tremendous upside.

Can’t argue with logic.

Those weren’t predictions. Those were the stats from last years game. Like I said, I’ll take my chances

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?

Puddinhead

As for the Seahawks\' supposed \"domination\" of the Saints in last year\'s game.....the fact is that the Saints out gained the Seahawks 359 yards to 270, ran 75 plays to Seattle’s 59, and held nearly a 10 minute advantage in time of possession. The game hinged on the fact that the Saints put the ball on the ground four times while the Seahawks did so not once.

rlrigmaiden

Ok, gents, the time for smack-talking and banter is over. Good luck to your team today. As I mentioned before, I\'ll be back in here after the game, regardless of who wins.

PS- I don\'t know if anyone saw it or not, but FS Ken Hamlin\'s a bit banged up and may not start.

CheramieIII

Hey Who, I lived in Pelham, Ala for about 4 years, damn small world man. Holla back.