TheJudge

why? is anyone getting tired of that? cause i\'m not!

umm trick question? cause so far i am thinking no...

WhoDat

This whole concept is somewhat disconcerting to me for a number of reasons. First, let me say that I am not necessarily against simplifying the offense. The idea, theoretically, is a fine one that you can easily argue makes sense. Of course, you probably not only could, but DID argue that getting bigger on D would work, getting faster on D would work, revamping would work, not doing anything would work. None of those things did, which leads me to believe that just b/c an idea seems right, doesn\'t mean it will translate on the field.


That said, I\'m disappointed for a few reasons.

First, I haven\'t seen anything so far this offseason to demonstrate the big changes that Haslett and the team were peddling a few weeks back. Our OC chose to leave, we promoted the guy behind him and signed a few other assistants. That seems exactly par for the course for the Saints - nothing new or big.

Second, the offense already seems predictable. Simplifying it might help the players execute better (and I stress MIGHT), but if the opposing teams know what\'s coming, does that really help?

Third, the key members of our offense have been with the team for a while now. Brooks, Horn, Deuce, Stallworth, Pathon, Boo, Gandy, and Bentley all have three or more years as starters with the team. If anything, they should grasp the offense well by now and the team should be adding more complexity (more \"wrinkles\"), rather than taking them away. How is it that two years ago we could run direct snaps to Deuce (yes I know about the Bentley issue), and all other types of trick plays, but this season we couldn\'t do anything exciting? I have a hard time believing that with the speed and talent on O, especially at every key skill position, that we are incapable of running an offense like the Rams, Colts, or even something like Pittsburgh.

Most importantly, this signals just another change in philosophy for a team that has sought to fix it\'s problems every offseason by adopting some new \"hot\" idea created somewhere else, and plug it in, and expect it to fix everything. With what the team has done so far this offseason - and given the player signings that will need to be addressed, I don\'t expect to see much different on the field next season unless some real change is made.

\"Excuses, excuses, excuses. That’s all anyone ever makes for the New Orleans Saints’ organization.\" - Eric Narcisse


\"Being a Saints fan is almost like being addicted to crack,\" he said.[i]\"You know you should stop, but you just can\'t.\"

GumboBC

In New Orleans .... the negativity never stops.

Who knows if any changes Haslett makes are ever gonna work? But, I\'m not going to write the changes off just because of something that might have happened in the past. If I\'m going to look at the past and be negative about every move Haslett makes from this point on, then, I should just give up now.

Nope. I\'m going to be \"objective\". I\'m not going to buy into the idea that these moves are going to be a \"cure-all\" to our problems. And at the same time, I\'m not going to say they won\'t help.

What I know is that over the past few seasons our offensive line has commited the MOST presnap penalties in the NFL. But why? Maybe, (and I say maybe \'cause I don\'t know why) they are thinking too much before the snap of the ball. Simplifying the offense seems to be a smart move. It definately can\'t be considered a dumb move. One thing is for sure, at least Haslett is going to find out if that\'s one of the contributing factors. I\'m going to give it a chance. How \'bout the rest of you?

Rookie players usually struggle becasue they are thinking too much and aren\'t maximizing their athletic skills. Now, I think the samething can be said of ALL football players. Not only do NFL players have to know what they are supposed to do, but they have to know what their teammates are supposed to do. IF the system were too complex (in any kind of way) it could be hindering them.

In any event, I like this move and it\'s a step in the right direction to finding out if a problem exists in this area.

Danno

Not to take up for haz and this staff, but the whole \"Changes\" thing was uttered once by Haslett, then 100,000 times by us fans and our lovable media. Haz isn\'t fronting the \"changes\" idea, like he did the continuity idea last year. I think its a bit unfair to tag them with that. Its just like the cancer thing. The media labeled one guy we cut a cancer, and for the next 3 years every time we cut anyone it was because \"he was a cancer\".
Free-agency hasn\'t even started, and we\'re already hearing about the Saints not doing anything. McCarthy may have been exactly the big change Haz was talking about. I think replacing your OC is a fairly big change. Of course, they left one out but it was a big change. But make no mistake, McCarthy was let go. He did not just decide to leave.

We replaced our OC with one has has proven to be a good one. he\'s not just some hack assistant we promoted.

We replaced Venturi, albeit in the most polite way I\'ve ever heard of. What the hell is a defensive assistant?

We just replaced our O-line coach, albeit in just as polite a way as the Venturi \"promotion\".

I think we\'re all just frustrated because the main changes we wanted were to replace Haslett, Venturi, and McCarthy, and Loomis, and Meuller. I\'ll wait till free-agency and the draft before I label this off-season a bust.

I think the main changes are still to come. Here are some possibilities that I think would qualify...
1. Replace/trade Aaron Brooks
2. Cut Jonathan Sullivan and move on.
3. Replace Tebuckey Jones and Jay Belamy.
4. Sign a stud FA LB, or two.
5. Trade Howard.