rich006

Thoughts on the Saints' Last Game of the 2004 Season

-Charles Grant looked like Lawrence Taylor out there.
-Tebucky Jones looked pretty good--not good enough to be the highest paid player at his position in the league, but pretty good.
-Mike McKenzie was a great pickup. I hope he still plays as hard after he gets a new contract.
-Where has Fakhir Brown been for the last couple of years? He looked good too.
-Overall the defense tackled well and played with discipline and intensity.
-Darren Howard is going to make some team very happy next year.
-Aaron Brooks made some great throws but he looked indecisive under pressure, often throwing the ball away when he could have gained a few yards running had he made the decision to run a second or two earlier. He also failed to resist the temptation to talk trash with Panthers defenders, thereby losing control of the game and wasting a timeout. Overall he looked like an inexperienced QB with a great arm, which is what he has always looked like.
-Deuce McAllister was in true form, good for an extra yard or so on every down.
-Aaron Stecker is a high-quality backup RB.
-Donte Stallworth made a clutch reception when he knew he was about to get nailed.
-Victor Riley and Wayne Gandy held their own against the best. Also, we had no false starts, but there were at least 3 defensive offsides called against the Panthers in the first quarter. If any OT's looked like fools out there, it was the Panthers' OT's.
-Special teams kick coverage was scary. I thought one was going to come back for a Panthers TD until I saw #84 in coverage. Then I knew we were OK.
-Jake Delhomme was nothing special. He could have burned us a few times but couldn't put the ball on target.

And finally:
-It was heartbreaking watching the Rams beat the Jets to keep us out of the playoffs, but at least we have some success to build on for next year. I know, it's not much, but it's a lot better than we've had the last few years.

BrooksMustGo

The only thing I really took note of was that we were playing man rather than zone today. Better use of McKenzie\'s skills, shame we waited so long in the season to play that way.

fact-o-bake

What a great game to end the season with.
I don\'t remember the last time we went out on a good note.
I loved our intensity and spirit, and I actually felt CONFIDENCE in our DEFENSE.
I love our cornerbacks. They could be our best two starters that we\'ve had in a long time. I mean I will finally take \"draft a cornerback in the first round\" off my off-season wish list.
Oh yeah. Deuce ran great today, but what in the heck happened to his breakaway speed. I mean Ernie Conwell was out running him down the sideline and a defensive end made the tackle I believe on that long run of his. He ran a 4.3 forty coming out of college, I wonder if that broken ankle is the reason.

rich006

I\'d say the reason Deuce was slow on the breakaway is that he was looking back over his shoulder the whole time. Also, I forgot to mention a couple of other things I noticed:

-the O-line as a unit seemed to play pretty well today, against one of the best D-lines around.
-Brooks is great at throwing balls straight down the field, but not nearly as good throwing to the sidelines. However, he did put some nice touch on that long ball to Stallworth down the right side.

Danno

I noticed his speed declining last year. Coincidentally his weight looks way up.
I\'ll bet he\'s at least 20 or 30 lbs over his 2002 weight.
I wondered if anyone else noticed Conwell gaining on him.

I hope he takes this off-season seriously and comes to camp at a solid fit 225. If not those little ankle sprains will continue to haunt him. He\'s too fat.

dberce1

On another positive note, Brooks launched an absolutely perfect bomb down the right sideline. On a negative note, Joe dropped it, it hit him right in the hands. But damn it was a pretty throw.

spkb25

i think with deuce what i read was that his injury may have made him gain some weight. but he still gets extra yardage. i thought arron played good. i thought our defense was huge. this is a team thats been averaging like 30 points a game and they never got in sync to me. we also stopped the run very well. i just like how they played. they really came out and gave it everything. this was by far our best game maybe in the last two or three years. im sure im wrong on that but we really played well. i hope that we keep the guys we have now starting on d and build from there. our d really played well and you cant argue with the fact that they didnt let up more then 20 the last 4 games. i have hope for next season but i do every year. i hope and wish we come out and play like this all next year. it really hurt to watch st.louis win. really hurt

Your team stinks