Not going to flame, but.... Like most megadeals (excluding the occasional rookie contract), the Brees deal was for past performance. Brees was not only the best free agent signee ever, his first Saints contract, based on performance vs pay, made him the biggest steal ever as well. at midseason, I'd have agreed 100%. I still agree to some extent; the Payton/Loomis record for finding and developing rookie FA running backs is such that they should never waste a first round pick on a RB. But it has to be said that Ingram played much better in the second half of this season. He averaged almost 5 yards a carry. Granted, the fumble yesterday was inexcusable. maybe, maybe not. That would be the kicker who went 4 for 4 against Philly, kicking a frozen football? Yesterday he missed twice from 45+ kicking into a swirling wind. One he missed bad, one he barely pulled out of the target.
To expound a bit on Ingram, he finished the year with 386 yds on 78 carries. But he played like shit on a bad wheel the first two weeks of the year, and sat out weeks 3-7. From week 8 on, he averaged almost 6 yds a carry. Payton's preference for rotating backs on almost a play-by-play basis ensures that no Saints RB will ever pile up big yardage, so you have to evaluate them differently. 5.8 yards a pop is quality production.
Excellent post. I agree with everything you said. I'm not blaming the refs yesterday, as we lost fair and square, but they certainly didn't do us any favors. The thing that really pissed me off was the PI called on Moore. How can they call that with some of the things they were letting Seattle get away with. I think we ended up scoring on that drive anyway, but it definitely cost us precious time that we could have used after the onside kick. The biggest play of the day that really hurt was the big pass play on 3rd and 3 that lead to Lynch's big TD run. We were selling out to stop the run and they threw over the top. Not that I blame the D at all, as they played lights out like they have all year. Seattle just made a play when it had to. In addition to getting younger and better at O-line and WR, which should be our priority (especially O-line), I think we need some depth in the secondary. Corey White has been a weak link ever since Jabari Greer went down.
And Ingram is the type of back that needs more than one carry to get into a rhythm. The more carries he gets, the stronger he becomes. But, I thought he finally started adapting to the rotation late in the year.
I think we would all agree that there is a lot of work to be done in the off season. Secondary needs some shoring up either via draft or FA. QB is quickly going to be a need. Drew is still a young man, but not in terms of football years. They need to start looking for a successor and get to grooming him. As far as Brees goes, once he does have to retire, keeping him on staff would be a good thing. However, all that said, there is a lot of work to be done in the off season.
I think the secondary needs quality depth, so I guess that fits your point of shoring up. Our starters are fine, but without Robinson, Greer, and Vaccaro, we were definitely vulnerable. Corey White just isn't that good and Rafael Bush is decent, but if someone better's available, sign them. I also agree with your point about Brees. He's still an elite QB, but you can sometimes see he's skills diminishing. He's got 3 yrs left on his current deal, so that's plenty of time to try and identify, then groom his replacement. Thing is, QBs like Brees don't just grow on trees. It took the Saints 35+ years to find him, so it's easier said than done.
Priority number 1 for this offseason, of course, is getting J. Graham signed even if it means using the franchise tag. And even that's not going to be easy because the Saints will want to tag him as a tight end, but Graham will want to be tagged as a wide receiver. I suspect the issue will go to arbitration. After that, the team has to take care of center and right tackle because both de la Puente and Streif are UFAs. I'd bet Charles Brown -- also a UFA -- is a goner, unless Loomis wants to move him to right tackle and let Streif go. Frankly, I can't see a reason to do that though. So Streif is probably re-signed and de la Puente is probably gone with someone -- either through the draft of FA -- winning that job in camp. That, of course, assumes Armstead is solid at left tackle. Jenkins is also a UFA and I can see the Saints, like last year, trying to catch lightening in a bottle again and targeting a safety somewhere in rounds 2-5. I think Haralson is re-signed and Will Smith and Jon Vilma are both cut loose. Depth in the secondary is always a good thing -- and Lord did Corey White look like a deer in headlights in Philly -- but that will probably be addressed in free agency. I think Meecham has played his last game in black and gold, especially if Joe Morgan is healthy again. The team might ask Moore to restructure, which I think he would I know I'm in the minority here, but I also think the Saints have the QB of the future in Ryan Griffin. Don't forget that the Saints put him on the active roster from the practice squad earlier this year when the Rams -- and, apparently, other teams -- were interested in signing him. And they let Martez Wilson, who they had spent a 3d round pick on, go. That tells me CSP likes the kid and wants him around.
