New Orleans Saints Discussion

[NY+Giants=NYG]

Originally Posted by diabsoule

Just enjoying the bye week. It came at one of the best times possible so that way the corner's can get healthy. We're rounding into form for the home stretch by breaking off two wins against division opponents.

The Giants are going to give our OL fits especially on the edge where our tackle has been below average. I do see a big advantage, though, with the Saints having Sproles and Graham, two players that I don't think the Giants have the personnel to cover.

It will also take a lot to get our running game going. It's been pretty stagnant lately minus the game against Tampa.

Perry Fewell is amazing! We have the best DL, but don't worry. Our 3 man rushes will scary brees! Watch out drew! We are going to get ya with 3 man rushes and very cute zones, where your toys can sit and drink a beer without having to worry about our guys defending you to close.

In a nut shell, we are going to get spanked! And then spanked again by the Packers. I hate Fewell and his pathetic scheme, and I hate our offensive system.

And we lost our 5th CB for the season, lol.

[Auron]

We've done a great job of re-bounding from that woeful Rams loss. Winning 4 straight, all against teams that were at one point in playoff contention in our conference. I thought for sure we'd drop at least one of those.

Now we just need to finish out the last quarter of the season strong, We might not be able to catch San Fran. for the 2 seed as they have a really easy schedule.. but we have an excellent opportunity to Win the division, and lock up atleast one Home game in the Playoffs. Plus Brees has a chance to break the Passing Yardage record.

[CJSchneider]

A Detroit win over GB in week 17 (who will probably be resting Rodgers) will result in us playing Atlanta again in the first round of the play-offs, save for a miracle win by St. Louis over SF.
Let's hear your play-off best case/worst case scenario expectations.

[diabsoule]

Let's Go St. Louis!!!! Rams! Rams! Rams!

[CJSchneider]

As a kid, my uncle was a Rams fan. We would make bets on the SF-LA Rams games. I can't believe I am in this situation.

[D-Unit]

So is Carl Nicks hitting FA or what?

[CJSchneider]

Yes, as a UFA.

[wicket]

Originally Posted by CJSchneider

Yes, as a UFA.

i would assume theyd franchise it

[D-Unit]

Originally Posted by wicket

i would assume theyd franchise it

What other FAs or extensions do you have? ...and do you think the money Jahri Evans gets will factor into it whether or not the Saints will continue to spend more money at the Guard position?

[CJSchneider]

http://www.rotoworld.com/teams/contracts/nfl/no/

[wicket]

Originally Posted by D-Unit

What other FAs or extensions do you have? ...and do you think the money Jahri Evans gets will factor into it whether or not the Saints will continue to spend more money at the Guard position?

if we resign brees nicks is by far our most important FA, Guards are actually more important than tackles in our scheme and with brees

[D-Unit]

Originally Posted by wicket

if we resign brees nicks is by far our most important FA, Guards are actually more important than tackles in our scheme and with brees

What about Colston and Meecham? Nicks ahead of them?

[diabsoule]

Originally Posted by D-Unit

What about Colston and Meecham? Nicks ahead of them?

Nicks is priority #1. Colston is 2nd and I wouldn't be surprised if the Saints let Meachem walk

[D-Unit]

Thanks for answering the questions guys. I was skeptical of him reaching the open market and this confirms my feelings.

[diabsoule]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...n-free-agency/

According to Adam Schefter, Nicks is expected to leave New Orleans.

Loomis needs to get on this and make sure he doesn't leave. We don't have a replacement for him and would have to use a draft pick or sign someone else in FA.

[diabsoule]

Seems like Gregg Williams is all but on his way out of New Orleans. The hot names to replace him seem to be Steve Spagnuolo, Mike Nolan, and Jack Del Rio.

Personally, I'd love Spags but I don't see that as being realistic and would prefer Del Rio over Nolan. If the Saints get Nolan they might cut Vilma to save on salary (he makes a $5 million base).

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...nolan/related/

[CJSchneider]

Del Rio would sure help out our LB's.

[diabsoule]

Originally Posted by CJSchneider

Del Rio would sure help out our LB's.

I'd love Del Rio in NOLA. He'd definitely help our LB's and runs an attacking, opportunistic scheme.

[wicket]

if we get any of spags, del rio or nolan id be very happy

[diabsoule]

Saints have a lot of question marks and priorities heading into the offseason:

1. Re-signing Drew Brees
2. What to do with Nicks, Colston, and Meachem?
3. Who will be the new defensive coordinator?
4. Question marks at DT due to Rogers & Franklin being FA
5. Upgrade at OLB. Could Roman Harper move to OLB?
6. Upgrade at SS over Harper

[CJSchneider]

Originally Posted by diabsoule

Saints have a lot of question marks and priorities heading into the offseason:

1. Re-signing Drew Brees
2. What to do with Nicks, Colston, and Meachem?
3. Who will be the new defensive coordinator?
4. Question marks at DT due to Rogers & Franklin being FA
5. Upgrade at OLB. Could Roman Harper move to OLB?
6. Upgrade at SS over Harper

Tony Dye from UCLA could be available in the 3rd and then move Harper to OLB.

[Auron]

Well that was disappointing, 2nd straight year we've lost to the NFC West Winner on the Road in the playoffs. Payton either needs to figure out a formula for winning on the road in the playoffs, or we just need to do what we did in 2009 and lock up the #1 seed to ensure we play in the Superdome through out the playoffs.

With that said so many issues this off-season, this is probably the single biggest off-season in regards to personnel decisions in the entire Payton era. Hopefully we can re-sign Brees quickly to a deal that won't break our cap, either franchise or re-sign Nicks (we need him badly), and I really hope we can get Colston back he's been so clutch and consistent in moving the chains for us, but it's unlikely that we'll have enough left over after Brees, Nicks' deals.

Meachem can walk, I don't think he's panned out quite like we would have hoped and he could easily be replaced. Honestly Henderson can go as well, I think we need to move on and get some quicker receivers that can get in and out of their cuts smoother, rather than the bigger, long striders we have that get down the field without making many cuts. I want to give this Joseph Morgan kid a chance, he looked explosive in pre-season. Brees needs WRs that can get more separation, precision in their routes. (Colston is the exception to this he operates so smoothly, even for a big guy he's so good in his route running)

Defensively our Safety play has been awful. Harper is great in the box, blitzing, filling in on the run but he get's exploited time and time again in coverage. We're stuck with him though so we just have to make it work... and Malcolm Jenkins he is just not a good Free Safety period. He had high expectations but he constantly takes poor angles, is a step late in coverage, mis-reads plays. Maybe he can develop into a better player, in a different scheme but he was a big disappointment this year.

The Linebacking situation is a mess, if Shanle is starting next year I'm going to scream. Not sure what to do with Vilma? does he have anything left in the tank? We need to bring in atleast 3 fresh bodies at Linebacker this off-season Draft + Free Agency... and we need to figure out how to get some kind of Pass Rush.. Greg Williams had to resort to all these exotic blitz packages, because our Front 4 doesn't get pressure on their own.

Oh and on top of that we need a new Defensive coordinator. Going to be an interesting off-season, with possible major changes looming. Good news is the other teams in our division have a lot of uncertainty as well. Atlanta going through some whole sale coaching/scheme changes, Tampa complete regime change, Carolina is actually coming out with the most stability going into the off-season.

[Sveen]

First; great writeup Auron. It will be a very interesting off-season for sure. Brees will obviously be back, the question is whether or not we'll have to use our franchise tag on him. I don't know where our cap is at the moment, but keeping Brees, Nicks and Colston is very important. Realistically we might have to get used to the idea of losing either Nicks or Colston, and my guess is that they'll let Nicks walk before Colston because of how much we already pay Evans.

Gregg Williams leaving isn't all that bad I think. Our defense never got back to where we were at during the championship season. Mike Nolan, Steve Spagnuolo or Jack Del Rio would all be great hires.

[Auron]

Yeah, I really appreciate what Greg Williams has done for us. Especially in '09 when he first brought his aggressive Defense. However it was time to move on, it became clear that his scheme was losing it's luster as we were getting more ineffective as a blitzing team, and our Turnovers created plummeted.

I know the players loved Greg, and played hard for him but the results just were not there this year, the new coordinator needs to come in and completely re-evaluate every player on this Defense.

[NOLAFan]

Doesnt look like it will be Nolan to fix our defense now. per foxsports