Today the New Orleans Saints announced their roster cuts: Kevin Dudley, Todd Blythe, Rob Hunt, Curome Cox and Waylon Prather. Duley and Cox were released due to injuries.

The Saints website hasn’t updated it yet, but here’s the list before today’s cuts:
http://neworleanssaints.com/Team/Roster.aspx

My question is, how long will we have to suffer watching Jason David’s lack of ability in the backfield? My only comfort last year was the thought that “surely they wouldn’t keep him around for next season.” Yet coach Payton and Garry Gibbs have defied common sense again by keeping one of last year’s biggest liabilities on the team.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

I don’t watch preseason games unless I happen to be flicking through the channels and notice the game on. I don’t make plans to watch any of them, and I certainly wouldn’t schedule my day around one. Here are the reasons why:

1. They Don’t Count for Anything. No matter how good or bad your team does in preseason, it’s not going to make a bit of difference in the standings that ultimately decide whether or not the team makes the playoffs.
2. They Aren’t an Accurate Predictor of Regular Season Performance.There are too many variables that go into why teams play the way they do in each preseason game. You have coaches trying out different players, protecting the valuable ones so they don’t get hurt, trying out different strategies. It’s a no-brainer that preseason football is not the real thing.
3. It’s Just Another Way for the NFL to Make Money on Tickets & Advertising. Enough said.
4. None of the NFL Teams Give 100% in Preseason. First string players are never in the whole game, and when they are, there’s always the threat of injury in the back of their minds. No one wants to get hurt in preseason and be out during regular season when their play counts.
5. All of the Inaccurate Predictions. You have to sit through hours of mindless predictions from commentators, half of which will be wrong come regular season. Depending on which commentators you’re stuck with, this percentage may vary.

I had this really good, long post all cooked up in my head about this past season. I spent some time working on it, and now for some reason I can’t finish it. I guess it’s my subconscious way of blocking out the 2007 Saints’ season. So this is all I’m going to say.

“The Season that Never Should Have Been,” I’m going to call it. Because it never should have gone down like that.

Reason being: our defense was questionable the year before. The necessary changes should have been made then, but they weren’t. Here we are again, in 2008 and Gary Gibbs is still responsible for the defense. The Saints’ website touts him as a Godsend!

When Sean Payton was hired, the first coach he pursued for his staff was defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs, and the addition of the experienced coach immediately paid dividends as Gibbs melded a unit with five new starters into one of the NFL’s most improved defenses. New Orleans ranked 11th in the league in defense in 2006, including third vs. the pass by allowing just 178.4 yards per contest.

Funny how they don’t mention the big dropoff Gibbs’ defense had this year. First of all, you can pick a few stats from just about any defense, highlight them, and make them sound like a top ranked defense. The Saints’ defense has been losing games for us, and is the biggest liability going into 2008. Remember when the coaches kept putting the beleaguered Freddie Thomas in when he was getting beat every Sunday? Now Peyton’s doing the same thing with Gary Gibbs. Let the poor guy go with a little dignity before it gets worse, coach!

I’m in Dallas visiting in-laws for Christmas listening to the game on NFL Field Pass. This is unbelievable, it’s not even halftime and we’re down 24 - 14.

Marques Colston is Out. (spitting up blood)

Mike McKenzie is Out. (sprained right knee)

Aaron Stecker is Out. (foot injury)

The defense is as inept as ever, and the offense can’t make a first down. I’m conjuring up my “Gary Gibbs must go” post.

Unbelievable, we’re still in the playoff hunt.  Great play today by a bunch of guys. While Aaron Stecker’s fumble during the first possesion brought back memories of Butterfingers Bush, his running style was a stark contrast to Reggie’s. His North/South stampedes burned up the turf today as he rushed for 2 TD’s. But Aaron, YOU’VE GOT TO HOLD ON TO THE BALL. David Patten too - he’s running down the field pushing off defenders with the ball in one hand stretched out like he’s begging for a fumble. TUCK IT IN. You ain’t Jim Brown, son. If we had been up against a better team (like we will be next week), those fumbles could have easily cost us the game.

Was Fujita playing like an animal today or what? Good job Scott. Your wife should give birth every week.

Marques Colston, Drew Brees, A+++++++

Next week is going to be tougher, their record doesn’t show it, but Philadelphia is a tough opponent. They beat the Cowboys today, and almost beat the Patriots a few weeks ago. This team has certainly gotten better towards the end of the season.

Last weekend was awesome. I felt bad for the Falcons, we beat ‘em so bad. The fact that Michael Vick got sentenced the day they played on Monday Night Football was pretty ironic. I agree with nolachick too, the sentence was a little harsh. Some people fight dogs and chickens down here in the South, it’s kind of an effed up tradition, granted, but they do, and it’s just the way it is. I don’t care for it, but the media acts like he was abusing children or something. For God’s sake we’ve got an Idaho Senator picking up guys for bathroom sex - he’s who should be doing 2 years in jail, that’s much sicker than dog fighting in my opinion. Anyway, back to the topic at hand…

I think the Saints are gonna show up in full force again this weekend. I’m not sure why I think that, but I have a feeling that having Butterfingers Bush on the bench is having a positive emotional impact on the guys. I don’t think the Cards will fold like the Falcons did, but I pick the Saints this weekend, 24 - 17.

Oh, and I forgot to mention how sad we all are that Olindo Mare is gone!!! Nah nah nah nah hey hey hey goooood bye!!! Sometimes God does for Sean Peyton, what he can’t do for himself.

Joe Horn apparently had something to say about Sean Peyton according to the Atlanta Journal. “What goes around, comes around,” Horn said when talking about coach Peyton’s fall from the glory of last year’s season. Horn attributes the Saints’ troubles to Peyton’s treatment of people and last week’s botched playcalling to his ego. At least Joe’s ego is still intact despite the Falcon’s 3-9 season, and the fact that Joe hasn’t scored for them this year.

The rest of the article talks about Joe being booed by the Saints fans, and the emotion of returning to a place he called home. Having been with the club during Katrina, Joe seems to have some sentiment there. I don’t blame him, we have some sentiment for you Joe.

I’ve knocked on Peyton before, and I’ve knocked on Joe Horn before. But I must say, I miss Joe Horn in the dome. If we boo you in the Georgia Dome tonight, it’s not because you never did anything great for our club in the past. That’s for sure.

Can it get any worse? First Deuce, now Reggie. Go ahead and add insult to injury after the Saints poor follow up to one of their best seasons ever.

As most probably know by now, Reggie Bush is out with a torn knee ligament. He won’t be playing against the Falcons on Monday, and could possibly be out for the rest of the season. With the season pretty much a “wash” now - even if we did get to the playoffs we wouldn’t go very far - hopefully we can chalk it up as a learning experience. During the offseason, Sean Peyton will count his chickens and see where we stand. Hopefully, he’ll hire a new defensive coordinator to replace Gary Gibbs, and defensive players with ability to replace the ones who didn’t perform in this season.

“This is the worst job I’ve done as a head coach since I’ve been here,” - Sean Peyton

All the Saints had to do in the last 3 minutes was convert a few 1st downs and run the clock out, and Sean Peyton called some fancy trick-play reverse that blew up in his face.

First of all, the defense couldn’t get the Bucs off the field to give our offense a chance.  I’d like to say that it was all due to our poor secondary, but McCown had the best game of his career. Still, it takes two to tango and if we had a solid “D” that wouldn’t have happened.

Reggie Bush looks like an accident waiting to happen. I hold my breath and pray he doesn’t fumble every time he gets the ball.

The coaches used up all of the team’s timeouts before the fourth quarter, unnecessarily. WTF was that all about?

Sean Peyton, are you going to do something about this defense? It’s broke, please fix it.

Sean Peyton’s steadily heading down the road that Jim Haslett took, he started off with a bang, but he doesn’t have the guts to make heads roll, and make the necessary changes to get us a winning team. I would fire the defensive coordinator, and replace half of the guys we have on defense.

Mike McKenzie, once again, is kicking butt. We need more guys like that. We have some pieces of the puzzle in place, but we need the whole thing in order to really compete.

I missed last week’s win over the Panthers due to the fact that I was taking connecting flights from the Bahamas all day (I know… poor me), so I probably don’t have the confidence that one would after seeing a sound defeat like that.

Will the Saints beat the Bucs?

It depends on which Saints show up. This year’s team is the Gemini of football, it has two personalities, one that executes and attacks relentlessly, and the other a clumsy oaf that can’t seem to get anything right. The only constant is that us fans keep pulling for them, praying they get it together. If the Bucs attack Jason David, they will probably win. If we turn over the ball 2 or more times, the Bucs will probably win. And if we don’t utilize the run, we will lose. Come on coach! Get these guys ready!

Saints 10, Texans 23

’nuff said. Put her in coach, we’ve got nothing to lose:

 http://chicksinthehuddle.com/2007/11/19/put-me-in-coach/

Saints 29, Rams 37

Don’t let the 29 points fool you. The Saints stunk up the dome today, reminiscent of Hasslett days…, oh, wait Hasslett was there! His aura of inconsistency lives! His Rams went 0-8 this season, only to win their first game against the Saints.

On comes Sean Payton. He’s done a great job at bringing on some talented players. The best thing he did was to get rid of Aaron Brooks. He’s brought on some great guys with great character, and we hear the slogan on WWL , “character counts; earn it.” He’s right too, character does count, and it counts for a lot more than what many teams value it at these days. There’s a problem on defense though, and it’s not about “character,” it’s about ability. Jason David has been getting beaten in his position all year. Before him, it was Fred Thomas. Other teams know about our weakness, and this is what enables a team like the 0-8 Rams to come to the Dome and steal our lunch.

I’d like to blame it on Drew Brees throwing 2 interceptions in the beginning, but that happens to the best quarterbacks sometimes. Peyton Manning did it tonight (6 int), and I can’t tell you how many times Brett Farvre has done it. Is it a problem? Definitely. Brees’s inconsistency has hurt the team. But his ability makes up for it at times, like when they scored 3 touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Had the defense been able to hold off the Rams and prevent a few touchdowns, the fourth quarter scores would have won the game. We can’t allow 37 points and expect to win any game.

How can Sean Payton justify letting the team get beat over and over because he won’t make changes in key defensive positions? In order for the Saints to move on to the next level they’re going to have to continue to make changes in the backfield until they get it right. Character counts, but don’t let it be the death of you when we need some ability.

I was just thinking about the ride home after Olindo Mare’s missed field goal and John Kasay’s subsequent kick that made our beloved Saints 0-4. I felt sick to my stomach all that afternoon. Since then we’ve seen the Black and Gold transform a little, each week, back into the powerful machine that spoiled us all last year. THANK GOD!!!

It seems that Coach Payton has decided to go back to what the Saints do best. Ball control and good run defense. Although the secondary is still somewhat suspect, they are not as bad as they were last year(unless Fred Thomas has to play).

The schedule lines up very nicely for us and I think the rest of the NFC is taking notice of the progress. The Cowboys seem to be the class of the conference at this point, but it is my total belief that the Saints would do to them what they did last year in the Big “D”. Call me kookie, but I don’t see any team stopping us now. I think we end up 11-5. Let us know what you think.

NFC SOUTH W L T PCT PF PA STRK DIV CONF
Tampa Bay 5 4 0 .556 164 144 Won 1 2-0 4-2
Carolina 4 4 0 .500 137 161 Lost 2 2-1 4-1
New Orleans 4 4 0 .500 173 186 Won 4 1-2 3-2
Atlanta 2 6 0 .250 115 169 Won 1 0-2 1-4
 

One game away from Tampa Bay!

Saints 41, Jaguars 24

Wow, now this is the team that was bringing it on last year! The offense is hitting on all cylinders. Everyone is involved. Receivers are catching passes. It’s incredible. The defense did allow a bunch of yards, but hey, if it weren’t for the Jag’s special teams touchdown, the gap in points would have been even bigger.

Who would have thought we’d go 0-4 and still have a chance at the playoffs?

What’s going to happen if we get there?

I hope if we do, we can get a reliable kicker from somewhere along the way. Mare has got to go. In key situations, he will lose games. A reliable kicker is an integral part of a championship team. I know the Saints tried out other guys, and maybe they didn’t perform, but performance at a tryout doesn’t necessarily equate to performance during a game. We need a kicker that can perform on gameday.

That was a good game to watch, but SF is one of the worst teams in the NFL. I hope our guys can keep it going in a similar fashion against Jacksonville this weekend. This should be a good game. The Saints are going to have to be mentally tough for this one. The Jaguars are going to pressure them and make big plays. It will probably not be as pretty as last week.

Saints 22, Falcons 16

One more under our belt. The shock of losing the first four games is starting to go away now, but it’s still there. It’s actually a part of every Saints fan I think, and it’s really not from this season. It’s from years and years of inconsistent play from talented players. When one of the players makes a mistake, the first thought isn’t “well Reggie fumbled the ball, I guess you can’t be perfect.” It’s more like “here we go again, the Saints are up to their usual stuff.” (the PG rated version)

I was glad to see the fire back in the defensive line, I thought they played great. It was good to see the offense not so reliant on the same Reggie plays over and over as well. The lack of posession time and 3rd down conversions were troubling, but what the hell do I know? I can’t tell Sean Payton how to get those. Run the ball more? Block better? I WAS VERY HAPPY THEY DIDN’T RELY ON THAT KICKER. Jesus.

Also of note was Reggie Bush’s touchdown where he muscled through a few tackles across the goal line. Amazing.

Drew said on the news that he knew they were going to win that game. I’m really glad they’re getting their confidence back, but I was scared throughout the whole damn thing. The team’s no where near where it was last year. Atlanta is a weak team, and we took out their quarterback, which - I don’t like to see anyone’s guys get hurt, but it was a result of the agressive play of Will Smith. Those guys played hard.

San Francisco next week should be another team we can defeat. They are having trouble right now, at 2-4 with team members suspicious of their coach’s ability: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3074876 At least the Saints are showing a positive trend.

Keep up the good work guys.

Saints 28, Seahawks 17 

It’s about time for me to post about last Sunday’s game. The Saints finally won last Sunday, and it wasn’t pretty. We had some good execution at times in the first half, and we were lucky that we scored enough points to keep us ahead; because come halftime, the old Saints of weaks past returned. No third or fourth quarter points, and some questionable play calling at times. I don’t like to be negative in the wake of a victory, so I’ll stop there.

I’m really happy about the win; it was much needed. Hopefully our team will continue to build on the positive stuff that happened. I think both the offensive and defensive line played much better. Mike McKenzie really seems to be playing with enthusiasm. Reggie Bush ran the ball well, and Drew Brees looked much more poised in the pocket. I think Aaron Stecker has ability, but I think there were times when he looked like he could have tried harder to break some tackles. The O line needs to make bigger holes for him as well.

Coach Payton feels confident that Olindo Mare, who has missed 3 out of 7 field goals this year, should remain our field goal kicker and play this weekend against the Seahawks. This has got to be one of the most bizarre turn of events in NFL history. The fact that a coach like Payton could turn a losing team around and win “coach of the year,” then return next season to drive the same team straight into the dirt. I hate to be pessimistic, but here’s where we are so far. 0-4 with a bad kicker, bad offensive and defensive line, receivers that drop the ball…. we’re in bad shape. We need to get rid of the knuckle draggers and put in guys that are enthusiastic about the game. 0-5, here we come. I hope the Seahawks have the worst game of their careers, because that’s what it’s going to take to pull off this one.

more…
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/10/11/sean-payton-sticks-with-olindo-mare/

Saints 13, Panthers 16

No one ever said it was easy being a fan of the New Orleans Saints, and this year’s no exception. Our expectations were way too high, fueled by the excitement of last year’s explosive offense. When Sean Payton made coach of the year, who thought that we would be 0-4 at this time in 2007? Not I.

I have a difficult time understanding why we are still playing with a kicker who has a groin injury, one that has missed 3 field goals already this season, two of which were not difficult field goals by NFL standards. I also don’t understand why Sean Payton would put that kicker in the position to kick a 54 yrd. field go yesterday. There were a lot of troubling things that happened on Sunday, but that decision stole the show.

It was almost a two man show between Reggie Bush and Drew Brees, we can’t be so predictable. We need to get back the long passes. The defense played better, but I’m not so sure how they would have fared if the Panthers’ offense had been a more formidable opponent. Another frustrating game.