burningmetal

I thought all last year, and said it on here a few times, that nothing Anthony was doing was all that impressive. People kept showing me stats of other rookies and how Stephone had more tackles than them. I thought it was pretty obvious that playing middle linebacker on a bad defense would lead to a lot of opportunities for tackles. I used Curtis Lofton as exhibit A.

The amount of tackles didn't impress me. I saw him constantly out of position in coverage, I saw him getting pushed around and missing tackles. He did make some nice plays. But it wasn't anything to really change my overall perception of his season. I certainly hadn't given up on him, though, after just one season. It was simply my opinion that he hadn't shown anything worth getting excited about, yet. Not many people agreed with me, and continued to show me his stats vs. other rookies.

I look up today, and there are several of those same players, having very good years, and the Saints were clearly not impressed by Anthony's performance last year, enough to let him start one game until week 14. I have criticized plenty of things about the Saints coaching staff, but the complete absence of playing time for Anthony surely can't all be on blind coaching.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, the NFL would fine and suspend me.