Keys to a Successful 2010 Season!

Is somebody to get Sean Payton some f-ing Juicy Fruit. What’s so hard about that. He doesn’t want Spearamint, he wants f-ing Juicy Fruit.

On special teams, more touchbacks on kickoffs. Morstead was doing a pretty good job of this at first, but seemed to be placing the ball higher and shorter as the season wore on. No real problem with his placement on punts.

The Tampa Bay game I remember that ugly punt that was returned for a TD.

Oh and there is one thing I left out that needs work: Is to Dominate inferior teams. We lost to the Bucs at home, and we got laughed at. We struggled against the Rams. We need to Dominate against weak teams!

Reggie Bush: I hear his knee is healthier as it’s been since the 2006 season. This is huge! A 100% healthy Reggie adds fireworks to our offense.

and a better decoy opotion?

And I’m anxious to see how Jason Graham does this season

Stopping the run: Should be a drastic improvement with some new additions.

Forgive me. I’m all juiced up from meds due to a horrible cold. I was thinking in terms of Alex Brown for the run defense.

Reggie is our best decoy? And does very well for big plays. And plays when needed at the right time.

Jimmy Graham. Too funny!

How about Courtney Roby and Reggie bush together returning kickoffs. I always wondered how Reggie would do returning kickoffs

More touchbacks would help, too, Thomas.

I’m just not sure how we’d know if they’ll be improving in that department. Maybe Duncan will do a feature on Greg McMahon’s “new-look” special teams units – talking about their new strategies, techniques, and new players in the mix. Then we’ll know.

but I think the single most vital consideration for your success this season will be the one over which you have no control… injuries. Given the team talent and schedule I just don’t see anything else derailing another run well into the post-season. Here’s hoping that run is ultimately ended in Minnesota!

First off, to win games I believe we need to score more points than the other team. It has been proven that the team that scores more points wins 100% of the time. If the Saints could keep this principal in mind throughout the year, and execute it, they have a good chance of winning a lot of games.

QB: Brees is extraordinary. Sometimes he stares down a receiver, just as any QB in the league is prone to do from time to time. The first ATL Game, Brees looked for Henderson on a play and it is almost like he never saw the defender. When he threw the ball, the CB climbed the ladder to make a spetacular INT against us. Also, ball security. Brees fumbled a few times last year. Of course, he was hammered when he coughed the ball up, but this is something that needs improvement. It is fine when our D does it to opoonents, but it is hard to take when it happens to us.

RB: PT is dependable and a go to guy in the running and receiving ranks. Bush has flashes of otherworldly play. We are minus Mike Bell, and I think Photo Op will get a few of his carries. The problem is converting crucial short yardage plays. No matter if it is 2nd, 3rd, or 4th and short, we need to make the most of those oportunities for first downs or TD’s. In the SB, we had a problem with this on the goal line.

WR: Our receivers are the greatest corps in the NFL imo. I do see problems with creating separation at times. Every game will not be like the NE game was where we had 10 yards between our receivers and the defenders, so we need to be able to create better separation. This will allow Brees to throw the ball a little quicker reducing the possibility of injury, loss of yardage and turnovers.

TE: Health is the major factor here. With Shockey on the field we went 16-0 last year. Without Shockey, we were 0-3. This is probably one of those odd stats that is completely meaningless, but I will still mention it. Baconator is great, and he can double in at FB when needed, but there is something about Shockey that adds a little extra umph to the Saints offense. He had to assist Bushrod a lot last year and didn’t put up extreme numbers, but I feel that keeping Shockey in each game is crucial to the offense.

FB: Evans didn’t get on the field enough to have a formal opinion, but what I saw in his little bit of playing time was someone that wanted to win it all. The tip-toe score down the sideline was priceless. I still think we need a back up FB just in case he goes down again. Baconator did ok, but he struggled at FB a little. Unless we keep him in practice running plays as a FB just to keep his timing down, I thing a good BU on the practice team is a must when the season starts.

O-Line: Bushrod had a lot of help last year, but he still did pretty good for a first year starter. With the experience he gained from last season, his further development is crucial. He can’t just sit back and say this is as good as I will ever get, he needs to constantly better each performance. He is now the starting LT, so he needs to be able to apply his experience a little more without all of the help he got last year. The rest of the line seems pretty set, but as with Bushrod, they too need to focus on trying to improve with each game and each play.

LB: Our LB corps is missing a member from last year, so we definitely need to get Ingram on board quickly with the Epistle of Williams. I think he could potentially be a standout this year because of the surrounding talent of the D. Ingram has great potential and hopefully he fits into Williams’ scheme perfectly. If not, we could be in for a long ride, just as we were with HWSNBN.

CB: Injuries plagued us last year towards the end of the season. Injuries will happen and are unpredictable, so we need to make sure that we are better prepared to handle this again. Usama Young is not dependable in the CB position and opposing teams know this. Manning went after him as soon as he got on the field.

Safety: We seem to have issues with tackling. I don’t know how many tackles Sharper and Harper missed, but I saw it in every game I got to watch. Harper seems as if he is trying to hit ball carriers as if he is trying to knock the ball loose, but when he bounces off and the ball carrier gets a few extra yards or quite a large gain. Also, wrap up when tackling instead of launching off. I saw Sharper and Harper fail to wrap ball carriers at times allowing for extra yards.

D-Line: Stopping the run. Big Sed El went down last year with an injury and we started getting abused by the run. I am not saying that his injury is the reason why, but he went down just as we were getting into a run heavy group of teams. Turner, Williams, Jackson, they all abused our defense. Hopefully, with the addition of Al Woods, we can try to stop this. Not just rushing yards as a whole, but giving up the long run is also a problem. Ricky Williams had a huge run when we played the Dolphins last year, and Tim Hightower broke out for a 75 yard score in the playoffs against us. These are only two examples, but giving up the big run for a score definitely needs to be stopped. Pressure on the QB from the LDE needs to be brought to attention. Grant seemed to have almost 0 affect last year, so hopefully this new DE we picked up can boost that side of the line in pressure situations. If not, turn Hargrove loose on them.

KR: I like what Roby has been able to do, but I think we need another stellar KR man to help him out. Bush is a prospect, but I think that would lead to a big headache. Possibly Henderson due to his speed, if we could be sure another infection of "Stonehandsitis" didn’t set in.

PR: I hate Bush on PR’s. I know that he is good at them, and I remember him breaking two against Minnie a couple of years ago, almost 3 if he hadn’t tripped over his own feet, but I also remember him suffering one of his knee injuries on a PR against Carolina as well. IMO, Bush should get an increased workload on the offense, and removed from the PR duties. I believe we could find someone else that could possibly take this duty and limit possibility of injury to such a highly paid component of our team.

Kicking Off/Punting – Kickoff/Punt Coverage: Morestead does an excellent job on the kickoffs, but I want more touchbacks. Who doesn’t, right? He can’t produce a touchback every time he kicks, so our coverage unit needs to get in on the action a little bit more. Same with punting. Our coverage units have looked like Swiss Cheese at times. Morestead had to tackle return men on two different plays during same game. If I am the punter, I am thinking that something must be wrong for me to have to make two different TD saving tackles in the same game. Morestead also needs a little bit more consistency in his punts. He had a few last year that were absolutely horrible. The one that really sticks out was the super lucky punt that rolled of the back of the player in Washington.

FG: Well, there really isn’t much to say about this one. We know that Hartley is pretty consistent, now. I can’t see much room for improvement unless it would be distance. Of course, it’s hard to say that when he set a SB record for 3 field goals of 40 yards or more. The conditions were more favorable there than in Washington. He needed just a little more leg on that one, but I think we are pretty set here unless he is back on the Adderall.

Back-ups: We need to spend more time developing our back-up players. In the event of injury, these guys will be called upon to play at or near the level of a starter. Our Back-up QB situation still bothers me and I think it needs to be addressed. We picked up a Project QB two years straight in the draft, so that tells me something is not quite right there. Our Back-up CB’s are no better. Last year we had so many injuries to the secondary that we went after veterans that had not played for over a year. One game they did great, the next game, not so much. We can’t stop injuries from happening, so when they do happen, we need to be better prepared to handle it that we were last year.

I think he could potentially be a standout this year because of the surrounding talent of the D. Ingram has great potential and hopefully he fits into Williams’ scheme perfectly

or at least hide good?

Hopefully, with the addition of Al Woods , we can try to stop this.

Our Back-up QB situation still bothers me and I think it needs to be addressed.

Is some improvement in the special teams coverage. I agree with HansDat above. We were kind of “hit or miss” last year, making some good plays on occasion, but giving up far too many yards on returns all too often.

“I believe we could find someone else that could possibly take this duty and limit possibility of injury to such a highly paid component of our team.”

Assuming he’s not starting, Malcolm Jenkins could figure into the PR mix this season, as could Rod Harper, if he makes the final roster.

I was hoping Payloo would use a 7th round pick, in the supplemental draft, on Price-Brent. But the cowgirls beat us to him with the 30th pick. IMO, we need to get more pressure from our front 4 on passing downs. Even though Williams love the blitzes, a defense is alway better getting the job done without it.