The 2006 Offseason Excuse Thread

[WhoDat]

LOL

No, I'm not really that negative... yet... but I do enjoy predicting the next year's offseason excuses at about this time of year to explain why, once again, the Saints were 8-8 and didn't make the playoffs.

Before we start, here's a recap of the actual excuses the last few years:

2001 - Locker Room Problems, Fatigue (Solution: Get rid of Pro Bowlers and trusty veterans like Roaf, Glover, Johnson, Williams, Knight, Blake, give Brooks a new top 5 contract. Build a new practice facility)

2002 - Youth, Injuries, Fatigue again. (Solution: Cut more veterans - that helps the youth problem, lol - especailly the fat worthless ones in the middle like Hand and Jackson. Draft Jonathan Sullivan. Sign and draft for speed, b/c fast defenses will work better. Promote Rick Venturi)

2003 - Injuries, Time Playing Together, Professionality - (Solution: Don't to much, the injuries hurt the defense. They really just needed time to jell before they could reach their full potential. After that, just look. Their defense was the highest ranked in the league... wait, you mean the highest number doesn't mean best? Draft and sign "character" guys. )

2004 - O-line, key injuries, Minnesota. (Solution: there really isn't a problem, b/c if Minnesota had just beat Washington the Saints would have made the playoffs. Otherwise, it's all the o-line's fault and Deuce's for getting hurt and coming back out of shape. The 32nd ranked defense played well for a few games, so they're OK. Sign and draft offensive linemen, injury-prone WRs, and another talented QB that you'll let leave through FA in a few years).



OK, so after the 2005 season, what will be the excuse for 8-8? LOL


My first idea: Kicking (which, PS, was kind of the excuse after 2003). Carney will show his age this year and miss some kicks. The Saints will go 8-8 and say, if we only made those few extra kicks, we'd have been to the playoffs. Solution: We sign a "hecuva" kicker in 2006 to fix the problem.