The Saints - One Offseason Season Later

2011 - The Season That Could Have Been; 2012 - We're Just Pissed Now

(Yes, We're Still Mad Bro)
As painful as it was to watch, all Saint fans remember how the 2011 Season ended. An agonizing & painful defeat, again. The West Coast has not treated us well (see Seattle in 2010). The 49ers, Alex Smith, & Vernon Davis shocked everyone, as they managed to win after a last heroic rally by Drew Brees to Jimmy Graham combo seemingly put the Saints ahead. No one figured it would happen, especially after the turnovers that plagued the Saints, and stacked the deck against the team.

The 49ers would go on to win the game, and lose to the would be Super Bowl Champion New York 'Football' Giants. Everyone in Who Dat Nation knew that if we could have just won the game, that we maybe, just maybe would have hosted the Championship Game on our home turf, and had a legitimate shot at being in the Super Bowl once again.

Would have, could have, should have. It's all long gone & over with, and there's been an asston of developments in the world of the Saints. If you don't know that, where the hell have you been???? I don't care to divulge into the Bounty BS, at least not in this blog.
Be sure to watch the new cut of Star Wars on Blu-Ray, new footage was found.

Greg Williams departed  (I can hear the cheers now), and entered Steve Spagnuolo on January 19, 2012. As far as the player situation, there was simply not enough money, and three humongous names were needing to be locked up. The Saints quickly jumped on signing Marques Colston, which to this day, I think was the smartest thing they could have done. This guy is tough. You remember what happened in 2011, he had the collarbone injury in Green Bay during the final drive, and it was a huge question as to when he would be ready to go. He came back way ahead of schedule. He's been a solid receiving force for the Saints. Despite missing a couple of games, he still caught 80 balls for 1,143 yards, and 8 TDs. Pretty solid season, and aside from the 2008 season (which most fans would tend to forget along with the 2007 season), he has caught over 70 balls in all of his seasons. As a side note, he was hurt in 2008, which he only played in 11 games.

After the signing of Colston, it was evident that all signs pointed to the exit of Carl Nicks. The Who Dat Nation had strong beliefs that loyalty could possibly keep him as a Saint, but he had another agenda. Nicks left the Saints, despite a contract offer, to NFC South Rival Tampa Bay, where he is getting to cash in on his paycheck.

We'll always love you & remember you, but for now we'll have to laugh at you in a Creamsicle Uniform.

Son of a biscuit! We just lost a huge part of the O-Line, what are we to do??? Through Make It Happen, Loomis - our prayers were quickly answered. A more than adequate replacement was signed, enter Ben Grubbs, who spent his time with the Ravens since being drafted in 2007. As a note, he was locked up for 5 years in March, so we shouldn't have to worry about this for a little bit.

With Drew Brees announced that he was going to be franchised on March 4, 2012....it seemed like we would be a pretty happy group of Who Dats. Nine days later, we would learn of the departure of Robert Meachem to those San Diego Super Chargers (Good luck Robert, we hope you the BEST!). We hoped to keep him, however, it wasn't just in the cards, or budget. March 14, 2012 had one of the best under the radar moves of the offseason, as Henry Ellard was brought on as the WR coach (remember what he did to the Saints?) On March 22, 2012....we would be saddened to hear that our Super Bowl Hero, Tracy Porter, was lured away to the Denver Broncos. Among the other UFAs, we knew that we were going to lose Abrayou Franklin & Shaun Rogers. Is anyone actually going to remember them? If you can tell me ANYTHING that was contributed stat wise to the season, please inform me, or just go shoot yourself in the face.

Forever etched in time, we thank you Tracy Porter.

I would say I was not expecting a lot from Free Agency, as it was clear we weren't in a financial position to get much of anything. Well, I was wrong. Make It Happen, Loomis struck gold in a big way. The first of the additions was Brodrick Bunkley, a DT who had previously been with the Broncos, and had one of the highest ratings for an interior linemen from Pro Football Talk, was signed on March 21, 2012. Shortly thereafter, Chris Chamberlain came on board, who was inked to a 3-year deal on March 23, 2012. A day later, it was announced that former Failcon, Curtis Lofton, was locked up to a 5-year deal. This move completely made me salivate. It's evident that his passion & drive to prove the Falcons made a bad choice, and they're gonna pay for it. April 3, 2012 - Loomis strikes again, locking up a tremendous LB in David Hawthorne, who had been with the Seahawks since 2008. Hawthorne is a tackling machine, over 100 in each of the last 3 seasons.

Who's ready for a second coming?

As for the Draft, even despite being stripped of picks from Mr. Dictator & Company, the Saints managed to lock up some solid picks, most notably Akiem Hicks (LSU/Regina),  and Nick Toon (Wisconsin). The other picks to not to be ignored: Corey White (SS - Samford), Andrew Tiller (OG - Syracuse), & Marcel Jones (OT - Nebraska).

So if you are still skeptic, you should know Drew Brees is going to play regardless of what happens, but I am pretty positive a deal will be done prior to July 14th. Despite the loss of Sean Payton, I believe the coaching staff will do an adequate job of leading the 2012 Saints into the playoffs, and even further. I'll get further into position breakdowns, depth charts, bounty gate, and all that good stuff soon enough.

So what's the bottom line for those who aren't following the Saints? We, the Who Dat Nation are just pissed. The way we ended 2011 was not the way we wanted it to. We had a clear chance at that Lombardi, again. We're still pissed about the Pierre Thomas hit. The Bounty stuff has been the worst thing to ever come out of the NFL. The penalties handed down were just ludicrous to say the least. You messed with our Coaches, you messed with our players, and you even messed with our GM. If you think we're just gonna be happy about that, and sit back and take it, then you're full of horse dookie.

The Saints, are comin'

Us Against the World

WHO DAT!