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Haslett fires back
Coach growing tired of media's analysis
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
By Jeff Duncan
Staff writer
Saint coach Jim Haslett has been in a snippy mood lately.

You'd think the Saints had suffered a lopsided loss to the Houston Texans instead of whipping the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots on national television last Thursday night in an exhibition game in Foxboro, Mass.

Seems Haslett is unhappy with the criticism he's received about his decision to play most of his starters for three quarters in a 37-27 win against New England.

Haslett said the move was determined before the start of the preseason and was designed to improve the mental and physical condition of his starters for the regular-season opener against Carolina on Sept. 11.

When asked what his playing rotation would be for Friday night's game against the Baltimore Ravens at the Superdome, Haslett bristled.

"It's only Monday, and I really don't want to tell you guys because you'll end up taking it on the radio and say you played too much or you didn't play enough," Haslett said. "You try to analyze everything we do, so I'm probably not going to tell you."


DEALING WITH TRAGEDY: Saints offensive coordinator Mike Sheppard said he hasn't tried to call former coordinator Mike McCarthy to offer his condolences on the death of San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Thomas Herrion.

Herrion, a 23-year-old guard, collapsed in the locker room Saturday night, minutes after the team's exhibition game at Denver. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Sheppard can sympathize with McCarthy, who now is the 49ers' offensive coordinator. Sheppard was the head coach at the University of New Mexico in 1990 when defensive lineman Chris Cooper collapsed and died during conditioning sprints. Cooper, a 270-pound defensive lineman, reportedly had rhabdomyolysis, which causes a breakdown of skeletal muscles. He had passed a physical earlier in the week.

"It's unfathomable," Sheppard said. "It's something that never leaves you. You never get over it. You just move on."


SPECIAL ATTENTION: Special teams have been a point of emphasis for the Saints in the wake of a sub-par performance against the Patriots.

The normally reliable coverage units surrendered a 53-yard kickoff return to Ellis Hobbs, a 31-yard kickoff return to Brandon Childress and a 19-yard punt return to Tim Dwight.

"We were awful," Haslett said. "We weren't timed up very well. I think our get-off was just atrocious, but (punter) Mitch (Berger) hasn't kicked a lot, so they never really had a chance to work with Mitch on the get-off. They were doing a much better job when our second kicker (Nate Fikse) came in. That was part of it. We weren't coordinated right.

"We had some young guys who have never played on it, and they weren't doing very well. Our punt coverage units didn't do very well. We didn't punch, we got grabbed, and we got thrown around. That was probably the most disappointing, but we'll fix that. I promise you that. We will be better this week."


ETC.: Haslett said rookie right tackle Jammal Brown is expected to return to practice today. Brown missed two practices with a sore AC joint in his left shoulder. . . . Linebacker Roger Knight (knee) has returned to practice on a limited basis.


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