O-line question
 

I re-watched the 49er game and noticed that our O-line did extremely well in pass protection, and horribly in run-blocking. How can that be? Our entire line is composed of guys known for being solid run blockers but only so-so pass blockers. One would think we'd have the exact opposite problem. Right?

I think maybe Haslet and Co worked so hard on pass protection during TC that maybe they neglected run blocking. I believe that if you neglect something at practice, even if its one of your strengths, it will show up on Sunday.

Or it might be that our O-line coach just sucks.

O-line question
 

HAHA, it was either subguy or d_it_up2, but we were talking about the same damn thing earlier this week, Danno. Couldn\'t figure out why this o-line, who is supposed to be great run blockers, have performed good in passing situations and dismal in running downs.

O-line question
 

I have to agree Danno. As I stated in a previous post. Riley the right tackle was the problem. They were hiting the RBs in the backfield. I\'m sure you noticed that the Saints had no success at all running to the right. Do you think that that moving Bentley from right guard my be what is causing this?

O-line question
 

I have to say I haven\'t seen either of the games this year, but shouldn\'t we all expect the O-line to need a few weeks to gel? I would think it would take more time to develop their run-blocking skills as a group than to develop pass-blocking skills as a group.

$0.02

O-line question
 

Yeah, some of noticed that too. Others talked about how Deuce is a bum, but Brooks is so great... Don\'t imagine that maybe blocking had something to do with it, huh? Saintfan, oh Saintfan, where fore are thou Saintfan? :P

O-line question
 

Why I\'m right here Whodat.

You miss my whole point -- as usual. My point is that now, since Deuce is having problems, everybody recognizes blocking as an issue, and it definately has been one. The Brooks bashers tho, when Brooks is running for his life as soon as the ball is snapped cause everybody\'s favorite center blew yet another block, would never acknowledge blocking as a problem. Same with the dropped passes. They do now tho huh? Even you acknowledge it took you a year. So now it seems blocking makes a difference. It\'s been making a difference for a while now actually. Funny that hasn\'t always been the case ;)

O-line question
 

No Saintfan, clearly you miss the point - RUN BLOCKING is poor. The PASS BLOCKING is just fine - good even. So Brooks IS NOT running for his life - nor has he been. Why don\'t you ask BnB if the pass blocking was generally good last year. Sure, there are ups and downs but the pass blocking has been good for a while. You want to SKEW poor blocking in the run game into meaning that Brooks is running for his life. Anyone that watches the games knows that simply isn\'t true.

O-line question
 

TIVO any of the games last year? I\'m not saying he ran for his life on every play, but then you know that. I\'m saying that WHEN he was attacked at the snap it was never acknowledged...looks like it still isn\'t, but that\'s ok. You see the truth when you want to. ;)

O-line question
 

So you\'re argument here is basically - Brooks got pressure SOME TIMES last year and that explains ALL of his fumbles, miscues, etc for the last 3 years. On the other hand, Deuce\'s lack of any blocking at all this season equates to Deuce being a worthless underachieving bum. Gotcha - good argument. :o

O-line question
 

I always thought Brooks was running for his life when he was backing out of the protection...
:shrug:

:kerry:

O-line question
 

Ummm...no. Having a comprehension problem today? I\'m saying that his being pressured...severly at times, is not now nor has it ever been part of the \"Bash Brooks\" equation.

O-line question
 

Nor is it part of your Bash Deuce theory - so I guess that\'s fitting.

The basic problem is that you still contend that those of us who were not as high on AB as you were have a personal agenda that somehow translates into us wanting to see AB run out of town. That simply isn\'t true now, nor has it ever been. I want to see the Saints win and I want to see the best player on the field. I\'m not sure that AB has always represented our best chance of winning at the QB position.

Further, you want to suggest that we criticize AB simply b/c we don\'t like him. Again, not true. Much of the pressure AB felt in previous years was either A) average compared to what other QBs in the league felt and he therefore can be expected to handle it better than he has in certain cases, or B) a result of his indecisiveness or \"backing out of protection.\"

There is no doubt our line has missed blocks over the last few years on many ocassions. However, I don\'t think that it is seen in NO more often then most other places in the league. The run blocking I\'m seeing so far this season is the worst blocking period that I have seen in NO since Haslett got here. Can you argue that?

Moreover, the pass blocking has been generally good quite some time here. In fact, I would go so far aas to say that our O-line has been the most consistent in its play of any other unit on the team in the last 4 years. Can you argue that?

O-line question
 

I\'m not saying the pass blocking has always sucked, but then you know that because you read what I typed. You refuse to look at the issue I\"m bringing to the table, which is, regardless of the scenario, Brooks has been held accountable for the fortunes of this team. Blocking, pass dropping, play calling...all these things are being brought up now in an efford to defend the poor play of Deuce, but never seemed to matter much before.

Say what you will to save face, but you know this every bit as well as I do...sometimes you even admit it...which is more than I can say for some of your moonshine brethren. ;)

O-line question
 

Brooks has been held accountable for his play. A guy who hold out after 1 year as a starter and proclaims himself as a top 5 guy damn well better produce. He didn\'t... he has started to play better, but his play remains inconsistent. You know that. There\'s a reason more than half the experts out there this year said that AB is inconsistent and how he goes the Saints will go. This team is poorly coached and incredibly inconsistent in its play. That is not AB\'s fault - but his up and down play certainly has not helped - in fact, at times it has cost games. Personally, I cannot point to any player other than Brooks in the last three years who I thought singlehandedly lost a game for this team. Nor can I point to any other who I thought singlehandedly won a game. That\'s the nature of the position. The guy wanted to be the star, he wanted to be the front man. Congratulations, he got exactly what he wanted. Now you want me to apologize or feel sorry for a guy who is catching a lot of flak for his play and this team\'s play? Won\'t happen. AB is getting exactly what he deserves - exactly what comes with that big salary he didn\'t deserve when he got it and the spotlight that HE asked for.

O-line question
 

Precisely. Again WhoDat is doing a fine job of cutting through all the poo and getting to the relevant issue at hand. Bravo WhoDat! :rockon:
It\'s awfully hard to feel sorry for a cat who shot off his mouth only to discover that he\'s not in shouting distance of being as good as he thinks he is. Cry me a river. :crying:

:kerry:

O-line question
 

I have no problem with this. I do like to point it out tho when you guys hold him accountable for the TEAM\'S play. Refusing to acknowledge dropped passes, as an example, for the better part of two years before admiting, finally, towards the end of last year, that it was a problem is what I\'m getting at.

O-line question
 

It wasn\'t a problem two years ago. It was last year. That we acknowledged it last year shows we\'re fair. Maybe you hadn\'t noticed, but I\'m big for trends. If the WRs drop passes in one game I may say - man those guys dropped some balls. If it happens in two I\'d probably say - the dropped passes are not good. This needs to change or it is going to become a real problem. After that if it continues, I\'m on them.

Want examples? This season I\'m already on the TEs for their all-around poor play both with too many drops in the passing game and some horrid blocking especially from Boo. I\'m also on the O-line. Two games of terrible blocking in what is supposed to be their strong suit has me real worried. They need to pick it up or this will become a major problem. Finally, notice how I treated Brooks. In week 1 I said he looked rusty on off and made some poor deep throws and missed open receivers at costly times (Pathon wide open across the middle on 3rd and 7). But I put him after the defense and questioned why we couldn\'t run. Last week, Brooks played great and I said he played great. I guess that\'s my bias coming through again. ;)

O-line question
 

I guess it just doesn\'t take me as long. ;)

O-line question
 

So your - you have an agenda argument has been reduced to \"it doesn\'t take me as long\" to recognize trends... OK. :D

O-line question
 

Huh...are you hungover this morning or what?

O-line question
 

Uh, this discussion begun with you saying things like:

That to me translates into you have an agenda.

A few posts later and all you can come up with in response to my post saying I looke at things fairly and realistically is

Sure seems to me like your agenda talk lost a lot of its bite.

O-line question
 

If my wanting to place blame where it belongs - If my pointing out assumptions and mis-information is an agenda, then pass me some of what you\'re smokin\' Buddy.

Brooks HAS been held accountable for all those things and more. You can deny it \'til you\'re blue in the face, but it\'ll remain a fact even after you pass out. That I tell you I noticed an issue with dropped passes LONG before you did (likely because I was willing to look) doesn\'t weaken any agenda you think I have, but it does point directly to yours. It didn\'t take me MOST of last season to see it Whodat. I took you a lot longer than three games as I recall. How come?

O-line question
 

Maybe I\'m not being clear - that translates into \"You have an agenda WhoDat\"

Get it now? You called many of us to the carpet and after much debate your argument was reduced to \"I guess it just doesn\'t take me as long.\"

My point is that your argument of \"you have an agenda\" has been reduced to \"it doesn\'t take me as long.\"

O-line question
 

...and you\'d be wrong...and you know it. But that\'s ok. I\'ve seen you misplace blame on here many times before. I\'ve seen you make up stuff too. Kinda like:

Defending Gator\'s \"lots of people calling the Saints a Mickey Mouse Organization\" lie.

Still think, after watching Brooks run for his life often today that the Saints \"excel\" at pass blocking? Care to back off that just a bit?

How bout insinuating Haz referred to Grady Jackson as a \"Cancer\" when he did nothing of the sort.

The list goes on and on. I just don\'t have the time. ;)

[Edited on 27/9/2004 by saintfan]

O-line question
 

How many sacks did the Rams have? How many hurries? Knock downs? The pass protection today was very good. No, I am not backing off that.

You\'re reaching now. Gator said lots of ex-players have criticized the Saints. That\'s not untrue, and that position has always been one of speculation b/c it is completely unprovable by stats or anything other than comments made by others. I wonder what YOU will say about this great head coach and great GM who you support so fervently if the Saints fail this year and they get fired. You\'ll probably say that you said nothing at all about them ever, and you\'d probably be right. You don\'t make very many statements, you just throw sarcasm at others and accuse people of agendas.

Again a perfect example of how you stretch. You want to classify comments about Grady be a \"cancer\" as a bold face lie. In fact, Haslett cut Grady b/c he thought he was having a bad effect on Sullivan, missing meetings, and bringing the wrong attitude to the team. That is EXACTLY the definition of a cancer.

Stretch, stretch, stretch.

O-line question
 

Very good? No. Did they \"excel\"? No. Did they do ok? Yeah. They did. Where do the Rams rank? How good was the defensive line. You\'re s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g it a bit arne\'t you? They wern\'t exactly blocking against the Ravens now were they? Again, you keep right on making my point (a statement, since you have trouble indentifying them) which is that you, and others are quite willing to pick and choose the criteria with which you judge different players.

What he did Whodat, and there\'s a thread to prove it, is insinuate there were multiple explayers calling the Saints a \"Mickey Mouse\" organization. There aren\'t. Wasn\'t then...aren\'t now. Turley is the ONLY person to have said that to my knowledge...and to yours too, since you searched heartily for a 2nd instance of someone saying that and you didn\'t find it. How many times has Gator (or you for that matter) pressed members of this board to PROVE PROVE PROVE their statements? He didn\'t like it when the table was turned did he? Why does it seem to bother you so much?

I have NEVER, EVER used the word \"Great\" in ANY conversation regarding these two...not EVER! I do think now as I have always thought, and that is that Haz has been frequently held accountable for things beyond his control. That, is as true a STATEMENT as you\'ll ever read on this board.

Now, that\'s not to say that Haz hasn\'t done some questionable things. I too am a bit frustrated with the fact that he went for it on 4th down (twice) yesterday. I too wanted to throw something at the TV. That doesn\'t mean I\'m gonna come here and ***** and gripe and moan and complain and scream from the highest mountain that he needs to be fired. I\'m on record as having said Haz should get this year. I\'m also on record as saying there could be reasons the Saints could fail to make the playoffs that I wouldn\'t hold Jim accountable for. I\'m sorry you have a problem with that. No, wait, I\'m not sorry either.

Can I assume then, that you disagree? If you disagree then can I ask you why? I guess my ultimate question is you would you know one way or the other. You use the word \"cancer\" to get your desired effect, and what would that be I wonder? Agenda much? LMAO