[Second Quarter action] Just now, for the third time this season, Aaron Brooks went back to pass, brought the ball back to throw and had it spastically fly from his hand (see previous post for at least one example of a previous spaz-fumble by Brooks). The Saints were on the verge of scoring a touchdown (if Joe Horn hadn't dropped the pass on a previous play they would have), but instead Tampa Bay wound up scoring a touchdown.
Brooks has also, during the season, fumbled the ball where he simply dropped the ball with no one around. Usually these mistakes wind up taking the Saints from a position of imminent offensive scoring to a position of having points scored against them. And lest my criticism of Brooks be deemed incomplete, he also tends to have stupid interceptions (which also wind up resulting in having points scored against the Saints). I would love to know how many points Brooks' mistakes have cost the Saints.
If you look at Brooks' overall statistics it's true that he gets a lot of yards passing; hey, the Saints are 3rd in the league in 3rd down conversions. But, statistics are often misleading. If you watched every Saints game this season then you know that Brooks is an amazingly talented athlete (which the statistics corroborate), but you'd also know that he makes some amazingly bone-headed plays.
The Saints are having a really poor season. But their problem isn't Brooks; it's the coaching. Haslett looks tough, but he's not willing to make the tough decision to bench Brooks. If the point of coaching is to reward good behavior and punish undesirable behavior then this is a no brainer. In football coaching you hear about the importance of teaching "fundamentals." That's because they are important (hence the name "fundamental").
"Fundamentals" are things like blocking, tackling and holding on to the football. Which brings us to Brooks' fundamental problem. It's one thing to drop the ball when you are getting hit. It's another thing to have it spontaneously fly out of your hand like you have a serious muscular disability. Brooks has two modes: (a) extremely talented and (b) worthless. His fumbling and poor pass decisions occur often enough to make him, overall, a very mediocre quarterback. Only a poor coach would fail to recognize this and fail to take some decisive action. The Saints have a poor coach and they don't deserve to go to the playoffs; in fact, they don't even deserve to have a mathematical possibility of reaching the playoffs.
Update [Fourth Quarter] Brooks, who had 3 fumbles in the game (2 lost) just fumbled again in the red-zone, foregoing a certain scoring opportunity. I've decided that I'm not going to pull for teams that have great players and bad coaching. I'm pulling for teams that have good coaches. So I'm thinking of pulling for Tampa Bay, except they have Warren Sapp. I don't like pulling for teams with loud-mouth blowhards (even if they are talented). If the Saints and Tampa Bay would trade Duece McCallister and Warren Sapp then I could root for the right team: Tampa Bay.
[Final Score 14 - 7 Tampa Bay] Aaron Brooks is singlehandly responsible for this loss. If he had not had the ball spontaneously fly from his hand in the 2nd Quarter then the Saints would have scored at least 3 points, and probably Tampa Bay would not have scored 7 points. If he hadn't fumbled the 4th time then the Saints would have scored at least 3 points for sure. You'll never hear the press report the truth, but this one was solely the fault of Aaron Brooks. Worthless, worthless, worthless...
you forget where you are. these are the SAINTS. they built the superdome over a graveyard. the entire franchise is cursed. THEY ARE NEVER GOING TO WIN THE SUPERBOWL. EVER. please accept this. you will feel better.
Posted by: victor | December 07, 2003 at 07:44 PM
It's heartening to know a Saints fan who still remembers a touchdown. Maybe they should restore the SuperDome to its past utility as a graveyard.
Posted by: shel israel | December 07, 2003 at 10:00 PM
Ernie, you are psychotic. You need help. You apparently believe that when one set of millionaires is thrown into a big room with another set of millionaires and told to play football, something significant happens. This is a lie! Nothing significant happens; nothing that can make you happy or sad happens, and you must give up believing in this lie before you (not to mention your family) suffers further harm.
It may be that you got this heinous idea from the fact that sets of millionaires in big rooms sometimes do very significant things, like when 5 millionaires gave us a new President or when 50+ millionaires gave us a wretched Medicare bill. But I digress.
You need to do a self-intervention. Here are the steps:
1. Read Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. While the book can't answer the question it poses, you'll feel better just thinking about it.
2. Begin an "Invite-a-Millionaire-to-Dinner" program in your own home. Make Aaron Brooks your first invitee. Have him read Why Bad Things Happen to Good People before your dinner date and discuss over dessert.
3. Read Martha Stewart's Christmas Calendar, even if you've read it before. This will inspire you to nobler things (and give you great new gift ideas for the season to boot).
4. Clone Marvin Harrison's attitude and distribute freely to Saints team members.
Good luck!
Posted by: Kevin | December 08, 2003 at 07:16 AM
No, Ernie, please tell us what you really think.
Posted by: bob | December 08, 2003 at 07:58 AM
Ernie,
Don't come down too hard on the press. They would only deserve ridicule if they were capable of telling
the truth, but didn't. The fact is that most of these "sports analysts" are themselves so lacking in
talent that they do not possess the level of sophistication that you have demonstrated here in your
coverage of the issue. I haven't followed Aaron Brook's performance this year, so I will refrain from
expressing my opinion, but I will say that after many experiences with a press corp that is completely in
the dark when it comes to what they are supposed to know and do, that I wouldn't trust the media's
portrayal of any issue of consequence in the sports arenas around the country.
Posted by: Glenn Garnes | December 24, 2003 at 05:28 AM