Simple better than complex!!
 

[/quote:b45a6541ef]The excessive plays and the mind-boggling number of options of those plays, along with the wordy terminology, Haslett said, contributed to the mental errors and pre-snap penalties that have plagued the offense. The Saints led the NFL in penalty yards (1,141) and committed the second-most penalties (129) last season.

"Jim's philosophy is to simplify things, and his basis for that was the way our defense played the last four games (in 2004)," Sheppard said. "The simpler they got, the better those guys played. I believe that's true in all phases." [quote:b45a6541ef]

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I like the fact that they are going to simplify the offense and the defense.

Notice that they said Jim Haslett simplified the defense over the last 4 games. I'm very encouraged.

Check out the rest of the article. Very good read.

Simple better than complex!!
 

see to me this says-our quarterback is not smart enough to grasp the playbook so we have to dumb it down..

I hate hearing the \"simplify\" excuse...

Simple better than complex!!
 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this article? Besides the usual \"Brooks is stupid \" remarks?

How \'bout it?

Simple better than complex!!
 

I\'m with you baron. But I applaud Haslett for recognizing the fact, and making the effort to change it. Who knows, maybe we will see a new guy.

Simple better than complex!!
 

I agree. In my opinion, making things simpler is the only way to help the players we have at the moment. Quick thinking under pressure is not an apparent strength on this club. Clear, easy instructions plays to our strengths (athletics) and attempts to minimize our weaknesses (smarts, intuition, what-have-you). I call that a good coaching move.

I am also encouraged by the fact that this implies that Haslett had a more intrusive hand in the end-of-year defense. Maybe this had something to do with their improved performance. If this is the case, however, I am wondering why Venturi is out the door. Seems obvious at least to me that he is borderline incompetent, and if the above is true, there is evidence to support it.

The new question becomes; can athletic teams defeat intelligent (complex) teams? To me, the answer depends on how big the athetic gap is. If you compare Randy Moss against most corners - the gap is big enough. If you compare Michael Vick to most D-line, also big enough. I am somewhat doubtful that a team-wide athletic gap can achieve the level of victory I would like to see.

But in a genuflection to my own drop in standards and expections, if we managed to even go to the playoffs - I would call it a major success.

Simple better than complex!!
 

Or it could be missed blocking assignments (I saw Deuce wiff on many attempts this year) or poor route running, etc etc.

Simple better than complex!!
 

I believe that it is better to keep things simple and let the players have more time and confidence to utilize their God-given talent. I have experienced both sides of this coin, how be it on a much smaller and insignificant level. In high school, as a strong safety, my DB coach had many exceptions to the rule when in zone coverage. Usually I would be keying on the tight-end, and my responsibility depended on his first move. Our coach, however, had many exceptions to the rule, and I found myself kinda stuck in the middle thinking on many plays, instead of simply reacting. When I moved on to JC, the rules became much simpler...just watch his first movement, and then react accordingly...no exceptions. I found myself playing with a lot more confidence and enthusiasm, thus making a lot more plays and not standing around trying to make a decision.

I know things have to be a lot more complicated in the NFL, but I think the more you allow a player to use his ability and less his brain, you are going to get a lot better results...JMO.

Simple better than complex!!
 

What\'s wrong with simplification? If it helps, I say use it. Not to mention we don\'t know from what point to what point they\'re talking about. For all we know we could have had the most complex game plans in the NFL. Making it simpler may just put us in the middle of the pack in complexity. Suggesting the team as a whole is dumb isn\'t fair.

Think of it like this...What if we decided for a day to only use highly technical terms and highly proper grammar on this board? Do you think we\'d be able to get our points across as effectively? I don\'t.

Saying that McCarthy\'s system was too complex, perhaps too wordy, seems correct to me. I, along with others, have speculated for a while that this was a cause of many wasted timeouts and delay of game penalties. It doesn\'t mean AB or anyone else is dumb. It indicates there was more going on than was necessary.

Simple better than complex!!
 

And perhaps why an extremely talented young LSU WR never saw the field?

Simple better than complex!!
 

Perhaps, but I\'m gonna chalk his not making the field to three things (not in any particular order of importance):

1. he\'s not as extremely talented as LSU fans would like to believe;
2. offense was too complex for him; and
3. Haslet held a grudge against him for holding out.

Simple better than complex!!
 

I see, all pre-snap penalties like jumping offside, misalignments, illegal motions, etc. are the QB\'s fault. Man, why didn\'t I see that.

Regardless of the intelligence of our players, it is the coaches\' job to design an attack that is fit to the players. If your players are dumb, you need to do things to disguise offensive and defensive plans that do not rely on players making adjustments on their own. This can be done. In fact, it can be done without making the plays more obvious by eliminating needless verbage, extra check downs, etc, and merely better (more accurate) playcalling.

This is a sign of a problem with our COACHING not our players.

Simplification in itself is not bad, it is the kind of simplification that matters.

Simple better than complex!!
 

problem with just using athletism is when you get to this level..everyone is more or less on par..it\'s the intelligence and work ethic that seperate.

true, you must fit your scheme to your players-or your players to your scheme.

If the players cannott grasp the offense-then you dumb dwn the offense till you can find the players that can play in the offense..problem is: if they can\'t grasp the offense-or don\'t take the time to study the offense (which is it?) then how are they supposed to be able to pick up the oppenents defenseive schemes in a matter of seconds (which I think is more the problem.)

Simple better than complex!!
 

and play calling and game planning.

Simple better than complex!!
 

So since we simplified the D also, is our D also dumb?

Simple better than complex!!
 

Yes Venturi it does. And I don\'t mean dumb as in not talented. I mean dumb as in they need defined roles on this team on defense. We don\'t have the level of intelligence say that the Pats have that we can allow our players to read plays and make the play on their own. We don\'t have that one dominating Ray Lewis or Urlacher or Vrabel or Bruschi that can carry a D based on their smarts. The scheme needs to be simplified for the talent we have, and to be able to use that talent to fruition. Again, they are good talent wise, but intelligence wise I don\'t think they are up there.

[Edited on 18/2/2005 by saintswhodi]

Simple better than complex!!
 

isn\'t game planning part of work ethic?

as for the d-I don\'t know some of those guys seem to be playing over their heads..and some of them seem to be mailing it in.

I think that grant and smith are cornerstones to that line..and our cornerbacks have gotten better..but our linebackers-they just plain suck as a unit..now watson and brockwoldt seem to be pretty decent-though brockwoldt to me is a backup type...but the rest of those guys are pretty awful.

Simple better than complex!!
 

An interesting question Gator. I hope that time will tell, rather than history.

Simple better than complex!!
 

Thanks for provin\' my point

Simple better than complex!!
 

You had a point? ;) J/K. But I don\'t know what your point could have been except maybe there are dumb players on this team besides AB, then yes I agree with that. He is one though.

Simple better than complex!!
 

Yeah, it\'s another yearly pitch. Haslet has got to be right one of these years, doesn\'t he?

Simple better than complex!!
 

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

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

Simple better than complex!!
 

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.

Simple better than complex!!
 

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.

Simple better than complex!!
 

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.