GumboBC

Danno --

Don\'t take my post as being negaitve. It\'s not.

And I\'m not trying to bash any of our current players.

But I have to be honest in my opinion. Whether it be right or wrong.

The way I see it ....


We had the 32nd (dead last) defense in the NFL. We sucked at stopping the run.

Has Brian Young proven he can get the job done at DT? Not in my mind. Reagardless of the accolades he has receieved, I haven\'t seen anything that really convinces me he can get the job done.

And the samething goes for Courtney Watson, Colby Bockwoldt, James Allen, and Jonathan Sullivan.

I watched one of the all time worst defensive performances last year by this Saints\' team.

And NONE of the players we\'re discussing proved to me that they can get the job done.

Not Watson. Not Brian Young. Not Sullivan. Not Bockwoldt. Not James Allen.

All I can say is I hope they improve and become the players we need them to be.

Maybe some of them are more of a risk than others. But, in my mind, they are all huge risks until they prove themselves.

[Edited on 29/4/2005 by GumboBC]

blake6900

But three of those wins came vs. non-playoff teams, and in the one game vs. a playoff squad, the Falcons rested QB Michael Vick and TE Alge Crumpler after clinching the division title a week earlier.



Uhhh, those three teams were in playoff contention at the time the Saints beat them. This article is typical of sports journalism: full of opinion and made up facts.

saintswhodi

What I don\'t understand is, why should we think Fincher will be anything more than a special teamer? Scouts and team officials have been high on many players in the first round who have busted, wouldn\'t that probability be that much greater for a third rounder? Fincher did not play elite competition week in and week out. But he was quite easily the best player on UConn\'s D, seems like he would put up good numbers. Fincher could be like Watson last year and obviously need to get bigger. If he gets swallowed in his first year of competition, that would mean his contribution would be more likely felt on special teams no? How is that a bad thing? Are we expecting this guy to come in next year and be running the defense? I am not. I do believe in 2-3 years he COULD be something, but he could be like our other 3rd rounds LBs Allen, Hodge, or non-playing Grant. I guess I don\'t understand why people get so upset if someone says Fincher may not be all that. Is it really such a huge deal if he is a special teams guy next year? He is a 3rd rounder after all.

GumboBC

Quick comment on the last 4-games ...

The Panthers (Nick Goings) put up 122 yds rushing against us in week 12. In week 16, Nick Goings and the Panthers only rushed for 46 TOTAL yards.

In week 4, the Arizona Cardinals (one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL) rushed for 211 yards on our defense.

Why do I bring up the Cardinals? Because we couldn\'t stop anybody, regarless of the level of competion.

So, the \"improvement\" was real over the last 4-games, IMHO.

The question is ... Can it continue?



[Edited on 29/4/2005 by GumboBC]

GumboBC

Speaking for myself. Because of the the positive press-clippings we have read on him. Because of his attitude. Because he is a physical prensence at MLB.

I\'m not really worried that Fincher played at a small school. Demarcus Ware played at Troy State and Parcells drafted him with the 11th pick. You think Troy State played \"elite\" competetion?

But, you\'re right, saintwhodi. Expecting Fincher to come in and be the \"man\" at MLB is a leap of faith.

saintswhodi

I know this is gonna sound off the wall, but on the forum I moderate, there is a Falcons fan who actually goes by the screen name FalconFan7 who swears he knows Fincher and has been raving about him for months. I have honestly been hearing Fincher\'s name since before the draft, and he actually came onto the forum and chatted with us once. Said Parcells showed him a lot of interest. Let me dig it up. Here is where I asked him about how Finch felt about coming to play for us. 43543.18 And here is where he came to the forum http://forums.about.com/ab-profootba...Reading+%3E%3E or 36423.1
Seems like a cool guy, and I hope he has success, just not expecting it to be immediate.

Okay I tried it and it didn\'t come out to the thread. Go to football.about.com. I don\'t know if you have to sign in to just read the threads. But do an advanced search for a post containing the exact words \"Alfred Fincher Come Here.\" It was from Feb. 10th. Fincher\'s name is UConn football. He answers some questions about talking to PArcells and such. That Falconfan guy told me he is excited about playing here, and says he wants to play wherever we need him.

[Edited on 29/4/2005 by saintswhodi]

GumboBC

whodi --

I don\'t see anything on Fincher when I click on the link? Help a brother out?

saintswhodi

Okay, this should be a better link.

http://forums.about.com/ab-profootba...es?msg=36423.1

And here is the one where I asked about Finch to FalconFan7.

http://forums.about.com/ab-profootba...s?msg=43543.18

saintswhodi

I put the two correct links in a new post Gumbo. those work, I just clicked the first one and it went to the Fincher thread.

Danno

For right now I have no problem with him playing special teams. All 3rd rounders are expected to contribute on special teams. Its how this guy phrased it. Like we picked a guy who\'ll never amount to anything more. Maybe he didn\'t mean it that way, but thats how I read it.

Sounds like all we expect of this guy is to be a special teams guy. He\'ll never actually play, his career will be special teams and thats what the Saints expect.

Pardon me, but I\'m expecting my 3rd round LB (who some projected in the 2nd as well as the 4th) to eventually become more than just some special teams guy.
I\'ll cut him some slack, maybe he meant we should have picked a sure fire stud starting LB in the 3rd round. And the Saints feel he might be that.