JOESAM2002

Haslett relaxed despite cloudy future

05:53 PM CST on Monday, December 6, 2004


Mary Foster / Associated Press



For a man whose job is on the line and whose team is on the skids, New Orleans Saints coach Jim Haslett was a relaxed man on Monday.




WWL-TV

Saints Head Coach Jim Haslett

The day after the Saints (4-8) suffered a humiliating 32-21 loss to the Carolina Panthers, Haslett joked with reporters who had offered suggestions for his replacement and brought a posed picture to his news conference for the local newspaper.


"You take these side angles and I've got a big nose," Haslett said. "You use this picture tomorrow."


Once the jokes and laughter were over, Haslett had to discuss one of the worst losses in his five years as the Saints' coach.


The Saints were just a game out of playoff contention in the NFC going into the game, but again fell behind early.


The Panthers (5-7) raced to a 23-0 first-half lead before the Saints could make a first down. Three minutes into the second quarter, the Panthers led 20-0 and had outgained New Orleans 181 yards to 5 and had nine first downs to none for the Saints.


New Orleans has been outscored in the first quarter 97-10 overall and 94-0 in the last 10 games.


By game's end, the Panthers had the ball just shy of 42 minutes to 18 for the Saints. Carolina ran 75 plays on offense -- 42 runs -- to 52 for New Orleans.


The Saints coaches talked about changing quarterbacks among a number of different things, Haslett said, but decided it was not the right thing to do.


"I think the big thing to do is we've got to do is rally around one another right now," Haslett said. "We've got 26 days of football left, we've got to try to rally and win one game. I think that's the big thing for our football team."


Haslett said, as he normally does on Monday, that he spent most of the day with team owner Tom Benson and general manager Mickey Loomis. There was no discussion of his future, Haslett said.


After becoming the Coach of the Year his first season with the Saints and taking the team to its first-ever playoff victory, New Orleans has not made postseason play since. This will be the third time in the last four years the Saints will have a non-winning season.


Haslett refused to say what he would tell Benson to justify his return for a sixth year, but he said he hopes he will be back.


"I like this team," Haslett said. "I love the city. Obviously my family likes it here, we've been here for a number of years. I like the city, I like the people, I like the fans, I know they're frustrated. Mr. Benson is a good man and I like working here, but I understand the business too.


"Whatever happens happen, but I think we have some pretty good players. Obviously we're not playing like I would expect them to play or I would expect our record to be right now. That's the frustrating part. I think we have some players to build off in the future, but we're just not getting it done right now."


The losses have been frustrating for Benson, the coaches and the players, Haslett said. The lack of focus by the team, the mistakes and poor execution and his inability to get it corrected have all taken a toll.


"You don't know if you'll ever get another opportunity to do this," Haslett said. "This is a great opportunity. Obviously I haven't taken very good advantage of it the last couple of years. But I still believe in the organization, our football team and the players we have here. You'd like to play it out and see if you can win a championship some day."


Sad huh? This sucks. What a crock of poo! Fire his azzzzzzzz! Tell him to take his pals McCarthy and Venturi with him. Now that the Berlin Wall is down maybe they can start a league in Russia. Maybe no one has heard of them there yet.

[Edited on 7/12/2004 by JOESAM2002]

WhoDat

Of course he\'s relaxed - sometimes the anticipation is worse than the actual event. Now he knows he\'s going to get fired. At least he knows he won\'t have to worry about coaching this bunch of losers in a Mickey Mouse organization next year.

shadowdrinker_x

Plus..He allready has his agent sinfing out jobs..He\'s in no danger of going hungry..