Derek Carr - Why People Dislike Him (IMO)

Bill said
With each new DA thread I read, the more I feel like pounding my head into a wall. :banghead: It's been a long time since the SSF has felt so hopeless over the direction of our Saints; and rightfully so! None of us ever wanted to see our team so ravaged by poor leadership and team performance. And as badly as we want it fixed, we all know that there is nothing personally that any of us can really do about it. Even when we win, it feels like we are still losers! And the reality of this dumpster fire is making me crazy!

Ever since we had a taste of the NFL 'good life', it's really been hard to accept going back to the starting line. I (for one) no longer expect to win football games... even against the weaker teams. In fact, most of us are predicting only misery for as long as certain members of the staff & team have prominent roles in the future of the Saints. And I believe that we are right! The current leadership is dreadful and it leaves us with nothing left to do but to complain about what we no longer are as a football team.

I'll admit, I haven't been this pessimistic about the Saints since before the Mora years. :covri: No one expected the Saints to crumble to the state we now find the team. Especially with what we previously believe to be a pretty good supply of talent on both sides of the ball. But if we truly have the talent; then we lack the leadership. If the leadership is there; then the players simply can't be as good as we thought. Personally I think the real issue is a little of both. But the sad part is that these things may not change anytime soon. It's a miserable feeling... and I just wasn't ready for it. :cry:

I'll also admit that I was in favor of grabbing Carr to be our new QB. I also didn't think that Grupe was a bad choice to be our kicker. I didn't really see enough of Hedley to know if we were getting a good punter or not. I expected to see a better running game, an improved pass rush, and a reliable receiving corps that would ensure that offensive drives would continue all the way to the endzone. With our cupcake schedule in 2023 I expected to see the return of 40-burger victories galore. Instead our goal each week is the hope of breaking the 20 point barrier. DA keeps rolling snake eyes. What a collapse! :mad1:

All I can say at this point is that I really want the Saints to turn back into a contender. I want our team to have a chance to win decisively in every game they play. I want whatever it takes to make the Saints a winning organization that we can all be proud of and can compete for championships again! This kind of losing can no longer be an acceptable. Other teams have been able to return to the glory they formerly basked in. I want that again, and I want it sooner than later. And I know that you folks want it too! Is anyone else as miserable about the state of our team as I am feeling right now? :unsure:

That was a solid read. I feel largely the same way. I can handle losing because of subpar players. The draft is always a gamble and even the good GMs don't have a great record picking them. Over the years I think Ireland has done a fine job scouting and has found some real gems. Free agents aren't always a good fit either but a good GM at least has an idea as to what vision the coaches have for a player before signing them.

What I can't handle is a bad coaching staff. They are the foundation of everything the team does from camp until the end of the season. They are the task masters, the researchers and the teachers. They are responsible for getting the team ready to play. When they don't do their jobs, nobody else can either. That is why AK's interview at his locker was so jarring for me. He knows they need to get better, he wants the coaches to tell them how and he's not getting that even when explicitly asking for it. Nobody is getting it. We only have one unit that seems ready to play every week and that is Special Teams. Sure they made some bad choices when it came to kicker and punter, but that unit generally looks competent week to week. The offense and defense 3/4 of the way through the season both look like generic Payton preseason units. No match up specific game plans, just boring base formations every single game. It drives me insane to watch the absolute lack of creativity.

So, I will join you in being miserable for as long as the mistake of keeping the remnants of Payton's staff remain. He WAS the system, they were simply doing what they were told and don't have any fresh ideas of their own. Loomis owns this mess. He is the only one with the power to fix it. At this point, he can go too if he can't do the job that everyone knows needs to be done.