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!

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