You just said it yourself , it was the 5th game of the season, while TP was improving it was not big steps , and I'm a big TP supporter. So they sat him for Hurst , why they didn't just start Peat? Who Knows. Hurst get's hurt in the Hou/ game and TP comes in , then Peat starts the rest of the yr. and it's game 8. If you think that DA and ML had not made up their mind about Pete by game 8 you are delusional.
After wanting to replace him the yr before and not finding their guy what makes you think they were going to run with him another yr?? They also saw the writing on the wall with Marrone. Not just the poor job he did developing TP but our OL had regressed EVERY yr since he got here. He was fired even before we found KK . TP was benched not just because he was not making big progress but they did not want to ruin him completely and utterly shatter his confidence under Marrone but also for him not to get injured and the rest of the season's practices and maybe another offseason of rehabbing an injury
Sometimes not all the time the Saints are playing Chess and some of you are thinking checkers