Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

Saints | A. Smith Agrees to One-Year Deal - from www.KFFL.com <http://www.KFFL.com>
Fri, 1 Apr 2005 13:26:37 -0800

The New Orleans Saints announced they have agreed to terms with free agent RB Antowain Smith (Titans) on a one-year deal. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.kffl.com/hotw/nfl

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

Thanks a lot Johnny Come Lately.

http://www.blackandgold.net/site/mod...hread&tid=8899

LOL

Danno, have I told you lately that I love you?

[Edited on 1/4/2005 by BlackandBlue]

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

It would help if the other post said \"Saints sign Smith\"

Instead of \"we have a back-up RB\" with no mention of his name, just a link.

I\'m link-challenged. ;)

Oh and in other breaking news, Saints sign Buc\'s safety Dwight Smith!

I WISH I COULD BE LIKE WHODAT!!!

[Edited on 1/4/2005 by WhoDat]

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

My bad on that one!!

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

You\'ve gone mad with power my friend. MAD I tell you! ;)

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

I guess this is another position now that we don\'t have to draft.

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

I know some of you guys didn\'t like AS but I sure do. I think he still has some fumes in the tank. He will see probably 3 to 4 plays per game, mostly short-yardage or goal line. It\'ll reduce the pounding on Deuce. I think he could probably step in and give us a solid 1-2 punch with Stecker if Deuce were to miss a few games.

I like him better than Ki-Jana Carter and Lamar Smith.

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

I like the signing. What this suggests to me is that Haz is serious about running the ball.

Aaron Stecker just doesn\'t fill the role of a team who wants to pound a defense into submission. He\'s a good change of pace back and I\'m sure he will be used to do just that.

Haz is on to something in his offensive approach. We need to run the ball much more and pass much less.

Regardless of popular opinion, we just don\'t have the receivers like the Colts, Rams, Vikings or even the Packers. Our number one receiver, Joe Horn, just can\'t break the long ones like Marvin Harrison, Tory Holt, or Randy Moss. And our second receiver, Donte\' Stallworth, has been too inconsistent.

We passed the ball over 500-times last year. No QB that passed the ball over 500-times won a playoff game. And only 2 that did made it to the playoffs. I believe I\'m correct there.

Run the ball and it\'s going to open up the passing game and take pressure off the offensive line. Only good things can happen.

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

I\'m not crazy about Antowain Smith, but he\'s an accomplished veteran and he filled in decently for Chris Brown last season in Tennessee. I agree it\'s a good sign as it seems to lend some validation to the rumors that the Saints will stay more committed to the run next season.

You\'d never want A. Smith as your featured back (although the Pats won a Super Bowl with him starting), but he makes good sense as a sturdy backup to a player like Deuce.

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

Well put. And who knows, if we do end up drafting a young RB AS may not even make the team.

Anyone remember the Gash insurance from last year?

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

i love the pick up. he can still run and i like it

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

The Gash insurance was to draft a stud FB.

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

AS will be on the team. We do need to be more focused on the run, as Billy said. However, IMO, to suggest that our WR corp doesn\'t have talent is questionable. They certainly have not produced like the should have, and that\'s what it all boils down to. However, to say that our receiving corp isn\'t made up of explosive and talented players is kinda crazy to me.

There\'s another issue too. You don\'t win games with a conservative offense and bad defense. There\'s a reason that teams like Minnesota and the Colts and Rams have had explosive offenses. B/c for the most part, their defenses have sucked and they\'ve had to try to outscore people. To say that the Saints should return to a Ricky Williams era ball control offense seems wrong to me b/c our defense isn\'t even a shell of what it was in 2000. I want the Saints to return to their offense of 2002. Balanced, innovative, explosive. If Brooks plays consistently, Deuce stays healthy, Donte steps it up, and the play calling isn\'t easy to predict from my couch - this offense can be top 5-10. Yes, I know that\'s a lot of ifs, but I feel more comfortable believing that the O can move up 5 spots and the defense can move up 10 than suggesting the offense will stay put at 15 but the defense will move up 15 or 20 spots. That\'s just not realistic IMO.

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

If A.S. can provide 500 yds rushing, 200 yards receiving, and 4 touchdowns as he did last year this will be an unbelievable signing, mostly due to the fact that we paid him league minimum for a player of his tenure...i.e. he came on the cheap.
Good players on the cheap is what it\'s all about, just ask the Patriots.

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

Some holes for Thunder and Plunder to run through and we\'re set.

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

I was actually hoping that the Saints would\'ve picked up Anthony Thomas. I thought that I\'d read a thread here a couple of weeks ago that he might be had for league minimum? He did well in spot duty last year for the Bears and is younger.
Oh well. I\'m with Danno, he\'s a better option than Carter or Smith.

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

I still think Stecker could beat Smith out!!!

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

This troubles me, too. Though I\'ve always liked a ball-control philosophy (must come from being a Tide fan), it\'s true that it simply doesn\'t work without a solid defense. The Ravens and Steelers have gotten by with low-gear offenses the past few years because a stingy defense is always waiting to take over. It\'s gonna be tough for a ball-control offense to play from behind - and if our defense doesn\'t drastically improve, they\'re gonna be doing that ALOT.

Then again, if the offense manages to hold onto the ball, it\'ll keep that abortion of a defense off the field longer!

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

Okay, guys .. let\'s keep this in perspective.

I don\'t think Haz wants to run the Carl Smith offense like in the Jim Mora days.

But, I do think Haz wants to take a run first approach.

I know our offense is capable of being a top 5 offense. Aaron, Deuce, Horn and the rest have already proved that. But that was behind a much stronger offensive line in 2002.

But, running the ball more has several advantages. First, if the running game is successful it will eat time off the clock and rest the defense. Second, it will make the opposing defense commit the 8th man to the run and open up the passing game. Third, it will give Mike Sheppard a lot of flexability in the play-calling. Fourth, it will take a lot of pressure off of the offensive line by not having to pass block as much and also the opposing defense won\'t be so willing to blitz.

Nobody said Haz is going to get crazy by being concervative.

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

Nobody\'s flying off the wall here, GumboBC, but what happens when the defense leaves us down 14-0 at the end of the 1st quarter?

I\'m all for controlling the ball, running the clock and keeping the opposing team\'s offense off the field, but the rash of \"3-and-outs\" last season have me a bit worried in regards to our new \"ball-control\" philosophy. The defense aptly proved last season that it can\'t slow the opposition down, so what happens when we fall behind? Odds are we\'ll revert back to the \"throw-and-go\" approach of last season (think early-season vs. 49er\'s and Rams). At some point the defense has to step up and do their job, right?

As WhoDat pointed out, ball-control is far more effective when a stingy defense is waiting on the sideline. Again, what happens when we fall behind?

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

mutineer10 --

I\'m kinda confused as to what some of you guys are suggesting.

It seems like some of you are suggesting we need to \"air it out\" to compensate for a terrible defense?

I totally diagree with that approach.

First of all ... if we have to score 30 points per game to win ... then we aren\'t going anywhere regardless.

Second: If we are successful at running the ball then how could anyone disagree with running the football?

If we are successful at running the ball, then it keeps the defense off the field. It takes pressure off of the offensive line. It creates a very favorable situation for Mike Sheppard when calling plays. And it will open up the passing game.

Third: If we aren\'t succesful running the football, then you will see an offense much like last years. That is, unless the offensive line is much better at pass blocking then maybe Brooks will have more time to find an open receiver.

Ask any coach, besides Mike Martz, and they always want to run first and pass second. Even the Colts don\'t pass as much as we do.



[Edited on 2/4/2005 by GumboBC]

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

I\'ve said I\'m happy with the commitment to the run, and I sincerely hope it\'s a successful endeavor. My only question is: What happens if we don\'t put points on the board with our new offensive philosophy?

Thus far, there\'s little reason to believe our defense will drastically improve from last season to the upcoming one. We can control the ball and clock-drag all we like, but if the opposing team is still scoring on most drives, how will our offense compensate? We\'re still gonna have to resort to the \"throw and go\" if the defense doesn\'t hold up it\'s end of the bargain.

Do you think the defense is up to the task? I have my doubts...

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

If our defense allows too many points, then obviously we are going to have to pass the ball more. I mean, that goes for any team.

But what does that have to do with anything?

I\'m just a little confused here. Haslett said he wanted to run the ball more. Haslett never said he was going to keep running the ball more if we were down by 17-points.

Is your only concern that our defense will force us away from running the football?

I hope that\'s not the case but if that is indeed the case, then it\'s going to put a lot of pressure on our passing game and the only way we can get back to scoring 27-points per game is if our offensive line improves drastically at pass blocking.



[Edited on 2/4/2005 by GumboBC]

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

I\'d love for our running game to be like it was 2 and 3 years ago. When Deuce was tearing it up, then play action bombs to horn. If our O can play like that, and our D step it up (and i dont see why they cant) then i think we can have a killer team.

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

natedog your right thats what we need. if we can establish the run really effectively we can really have our passing game get going. one of the biggest problems we had last year before the final 4 games was being out of it so early that teams could just pin their ears back and come after us. they knew we were going to pass. plus early on we were running that one back set too. that didnt help that much either

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

C\'mon Billy, that\'s kind of a myopic view, no? Yes, the Saints attempted more passes LAST SEASON. Who attempted more over the last 5 seasons? Look at the run/pass ratio over the last 4 or 5 years. Moreover, if the Colts ATTEMPT fewer passes, it probably has something to do with the fact that the Colts are more succesful. See, when you actually complete passes, you don\'t have to keep trying. :)


The point with the running game isn\'t that the Saints shouldn\'t establish it and rely on it. Not at all. Deuce has been the key to the Saints\' success the past few years - they are far more successful when he runs for 100 or more. The thing that is disconcerting is that the general strategy is reliant on a good defense, something the Saints DO NOT have. When considering the fact that they only signed one player of any relevance on that side of the ball so far this year (unless you believe Fisher is our savior at LB), it\'s hard to get behind a strategy that says - let\'s try to be less explosive on offense while our 32nd ranked defense which almost set records for yards and points allowed gets raped.

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

Running the ball has NOTHING to do with the defense. The only thing a succesful running game will do is HELP the defense.

If the offense is successful at running the ball ... you know where our defense will be? Yep ... sitting on the sideline where they are most effective.

The opposing offense will have less opportunites to score. And you have a problem with that, WhoDat?

Please!!!!!!

Saints sign Antowain Smith (not 4-1 joke)
 

I would like to see Deuce and Stecker get on the field at the same time....MIX IT UP!!!!!