What Up With Dat?: Hypothetical Questions, Real Answers

Below are answers to this weeks reader question submitted Tuesday. Special thanks to all those that participated. Feel free to continue the discussion in the comment section below.

Suppose a Trent Green/Kurt Warner type situation played out. Brees goes down in preseason, Chase Daniel steps in and leads the Saints to an improbable Super Bowl victory. If Brees is seemingly fully recovered going into 2012, is he your starting QB going forward, or is Daniel? - Cold P. 

This is a fun question! Before getting started let me first say that I don't think this is something we'll ever have to worry about. My answer, however, would be completely dependent on the actual play of Chase Daniel during his time as starting quarterback. Teams have found success with mediocre quarterbacks thanks to a great running game, a solid defense and a little luck. If that were the case in our hypothetical situation here then it's obvious Brees should return as starting quarterback after returning from injury. If Chase wound up playing better than any of us would expect and was a serious reason for the Saints success that year, I still think Brees returns as starter but fans can rest assured that the next great Saints quarterback is waiting in the wings when Brees eventually declines. 

If Mark Ingram pans out to be a solid rookie option at HB for the Saints this season, and Reggie gets traded away after the lockout, how would you as a coach manage playing time for a HB corp of a healthy Thomas, a healthy Ivory and Ingram in 2011? - Mike R.     

I've never played the game of football and I'm certainly no coach so take my answer with a grain of salt but I think I would highlight one running back each week, Ingram or Ivory, and have them carry the load for that specific game. They would both get carries each game but one of them would get the bulk. In other words, one week Ingram assumes most of the rushing duties, the next week Ivory carries most of the burden. That way each running back is given a chance to get into a rhythm during their game but gets a week to rest and recuperate. Which game each back is featured depends upon the opponent and the game plan. Pierre Thomas would then get sprinkled in sporadically and used on screen plays and the like.

If you could hand pick the teams that the Saints beat in the playoffs and Super Bowl this year, what teams would they be?  - Programmer M.

Wild Card Round - Bye

Divisional Round - Green Bay Packers

Championship Round - Atlanta Falcons

Super Bowl - New England Patriots

If you knew in advance that the Saints would qualify for the Super Bowl this season, only to suffer a humiliating beat down — one worse than that 49ers handed the Broncos — in the game itself, would you rather the season be cancelled, or proceed in watching the "magic ride" play out, knowing what’s to come. Assume that you cannot make a profit based on your knowledge, nor change the outcome in any way. - Cold P. 

Better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. 

If anything would ever happen to where Mickey Loomis would not be the GM for the Saints anymore, nor be associated with the team anymore, would you move Payton to GM with all of his knowledge or do you hire a new GM? - Tommy V.    

I would hire a new general manager. Sean Payton's value is as a coach and a playcaller. He may have had his hand in the personnel decisions since coming to New Orleans but he's a significantly better coach and taking him off the sidelines would probably be a waste of his talents. I'm also not so sure Payton is interested in being a general manager.