mutineer10

I was thinking about the pros/cons of Deuce's 2004 season, and the causes/symptoms. Thought it might be a change of pace from FA/draft rumors to try and open a discussion.

1) The 2 TE Set - Almost universally agreed upon as big mistake #1 in relation to Deuce's production. Before the season ever started, Deuce himself expressed displeasure with the plan. He was ignored, and midway through the second game suffered his first major NFL injury. The offense was disastrously unproductive, and mostly scrapped by week 5.
THOUGHTS: If the coaching staff were really 100% sold on the 2 TE set (and it had been used in fledgling form toward the end of the 2003 season, thus Boo Williams increase in production at that time), why was FB Mike Karney taken in the draft? Did they already know it wasn't gonna work?

2) Deuce's Weight Gain - As a lark, I sat down with Madden 2005 -- just hear me out -- and tried the 2 TE set with the Saints. My results were oddly similar to the real life Saints in 2004. Every time I tried to run the ball Deuce was murdered, usually being met in the backfield. This made me wonder if Deuce had actually been instructed to pack on some pounds with the expectation that he was gonna need to break more tackles in the new offense. If so - and this is very sad - the staff already knew undue pressure was gonna be put on him.
THOUGHTS: Was he told to gain weight, or is he getting lazy? Was he really that big before the season, or did he start to pack it on when he was laid up after the ankle injury?

3) The Passing Game - Though Deuce only actually missed two full games with the ankle injury, his receptions and yardage were less than half of his totals in 2003.
THOUGHTS: Why was Deuce's role so drastically reduced in the passing game? Were they simply resting him on passing downs because of the injury? Have they lost faith in his ability as a receiver? Did the addition of Aaron Stecker have anything to do with it?

Admittedly, alot of this is conspiracy-theorist, hypothetical stuff. I'm a realist when it comes to Deuce. Though he's probably my favorite player on the team, I don't consider him the best RB in the NFL, the best in history, can walk on water, etc. Just wondered what some others think...

zachsaints52

I also play Madden 2005, and this made me relize the same exact thing, he didn\'t get alot of yards when in two-TE set. which sucked because he tore knee cartilage in the second game, so I quit right there. Maybe they knew we were getting Meier, so THAT\'S why they did it. You never know with this FO. But as far as pounds go, I think they told him too, because I couldn\'t see Deuce be lazy.

BreesFN9

All great points. 2 TE set, unanimous Failure. Weight gain, Was this all attributed to his time off? Probably not, 2 weeks injured does not add up to that much weight gain. As his role in the passing game, I think that with all the false starts we had this year, we were looking deeper down field more often. This neglects a screen or dump pass to Deuce and puts more emphasis on going futher downfield as more yds were needed. Also playing from behind all year. We rarely got to establish a lead and our run game. I think the numbers were down when the whole team was down. as the last 4 games went, so did Deuce\'s numbers. I think they go hand in hand. It could\'ve been that the ankle injury was not really healed until much later and he came back too early? I excpect a much better year this year from Deuce and a top 5 and 1500 yd season is not unrealistic.

JENGA....I Win!

zachsaints52

Very true StallworthFN