For those of us who have never known a Saints team without a HOF QB under center... (1 Viewer)

[LiterOCola]

...what's it like?

You know how the entire league looks at the Browns now?

It's like that.

 

[Poison]

Brooks and Hebert aren’t where you point to when you talk about a legacy of truly bad Saints quarterbacking. The Billy Joes. Wuerffel. Dave Wilson. A washed up Stabler, and an ever deeper dive into a carousel of used-to-bes and never-weres. At least Brooks and Hebert had some success, limited as that was.

Brees is on a whole different level from most other QBs to ever play in the NFL, so certainly no other Saints QB deserves to be mentioned in the same breath. But still, it gets much worse than the two you mentioned. Much.

Yes, I don't mean to insinuate that those guys weren't at least serviceable. It's more the case that, if those are the best two we've had since Archie ... how to manage one's expectations week to week.

I didn't want to think about a beaten up Kenny Stabler (makes my jocular suggestion to get Tony Romo out of retirement seem like something the former team management might have acted on), or John Fourcade, or Wade Wilson...heck, I'm reading a book on the '67 Saints now and how we selected Cuozzo and Kilmer in the expansion draft (achieving precisely nothing in NOLA), only for the latter to be selected to a Pro Bowl and lead the Redskins to a Super Bowl a few years after being traded.

 

[SaintSeb]

Don't forget about Kerry Collins.

Makes my blood boil. Damn drunkard

 

[SystemShock]

Wow... well...

Aaron Brooks had all the talent in the world, and you could see the flashes... but the bulb never fully lit. He also had this habit of smiling, even when things went wrong, which didn't really bother me, but it irked a lot of fans. Worst moment was him getting hurt, and coach Haslett refusing to let Jake Delhomme play when the Saints needed to win one game out of 3 to get to the playoffs, and the Saints lost all 3.

Jeff Blake, I really liked him. Got hurt 7 games into the season, coach put Aaron Brooks in. Never really got the opportunity to win his job back.

The Billy Joes... of the Billy Joes, Billy Joe Hobert actually had some talent, but was always hurt. Billy Joe Tulliver played most of that time... reject from Atlanta.

Kerry Collins was a drunk. Fantastic arm, though.

Danny Wuerffel, *shudder* *need my meds*

Heath Shuler *shudder* *need more meds*

Jim Everett finished his career in NO. Last 3 years of the Mora era... last 2 years really bad... last year awful...

Wade Wilson.. ugh..

Bobby Hebert... game manager who thought he was the cat's mew. If not for the Dome Patrol... he did manage to lose 3 playoff games with the best defense in the NFL (INTs).

There was the year of Steve Walsh... Dallas defrauded the Saints for a 1st rounder.

The Other Wilson, Dave... ugh.

Ken Stabler, playing his last 2 years. At the time, his body was 84 years old.

Archie Manning... legend.

... so, TL;DR, you have no idea how good you have had it.

 

[ChicagoSaintsFan]

Let’s not forget the great Richard Todd

 

[SaintsAreWinners]

It’s one thing to lose for over 30 years because we were legitimately incompetent, but it’s another to continually have bad breaks and losing seasons as a result of the commissoner’s targeting.

 

[0rion]

Our kicker led the team in scoring

 

[FatCitySaint]

Don't forget about Kerry Collins.

I'll never forget the image of that joker being released from JP lockup smoking a cigar. That P'Oed me off so bad at the time lol

 

[DomePatrol5657]

I see an earlier poster mentioned Steve Walsh. What makes that worse was what we traded to Dallas in order to get Walsh.

While not giving up as much as we gave up for Walsh, we did trade two draft picks to the Redskins for Heath Shuler. Yeah that worked out well.

 

[Gumbo's Dad]

I would say Bobby Hebert was the second best Saints QB in terms of winning games. He had Mora's Dome Patrol on the other side. We would have flashes of good QB play with Archie, who was most talented, Jim Everett, and even Wade Wilson led us to some victories for a stretch. Other than that, it is a vast desert like someone mentioned, the Browns. If Teddy cannot speed up his reads, and if Taysom cannot learn more of the playbook as a pocket passer, it will be a long wait for Drew to return. Clearly, we have to draft a successor to Drew.

 

[AARPSaint]

To sum up, it was a continuous nightmare interrupted by occasionally waking up for Aaron Brooks and Bobby Hebert. I wasn't a Saints fan for most of Manning's tenure.

 

[ThibodauxSaint]

I came up in the Hebert era. Being from the South Lafourche area it was almost blasphamist to say anything bad about the hometown boy. Overall though he was a decent QB, made a Pro Bowl. He had a defense that should have at least gotten us a playoff win but we were also unfortunate to be stuck in the same division as the 49ers dynasty.

After Hebert we had to endure years of bad Quarterback play. It felt like they were throwing darts against the wall hoping to hit something. They were signing guys like Jim Everett, Heath Shula, and Kerry Collins. You had the guys like the Billy Joes and Danny Weurful. Not a good time.

Then came the Haslett era. Finally it looked like we had something in Jeff Blake and then he breaks his ankle in that game against the Raiders while we had a winning streak going and I remember thinking this is just typical Saints. Then Brooks comes in and the next week upsets the mighty Rams and goes on this run where we win our first playoff game. Brooks takes a lot of heat on this forum but I got to say from my perspective, it was great to see the Saints finally with a high powered offense. Brooks was a gunslinger, very Favre-esq. He wasn't scared to make a throw. I didn't care for his nonchanlant attitude but, hey, everyboday is different. He did throw a backward pass to a lineman lol. Overall though we were in every game and usually in the hunt for a playoff spot which was pretty good at the time. It got bad at the end because he was injured and Haslett refused to take him out. That was pretty much it for him.

Then we sign Drew Brees and the rest his history. As I start looking ahead to life without Brees I find I'm more optimistic. We will never have a QB of Brees' caliber but what we do have is a competent front office now and a head coach who is known as an "offensive genius" who I truly believe is itching for a chance to prove that his success is not just tied to Drew Brees. I just didn't want it to end like this.

 

[Gumbo's Dad]

To sum up, it was a continuous nightmare interrupted by occasionally waking up for Aaron Brooks and Bobby Hebert. I wasn't a Saints fan for most of Manning's tenure.

You would never see Bobby Hebert smiling after interceptions. That said, Bobby did fly the Falcon when he won against us. AB had more physical talent, but Hebert was smarter and a much better game manager.

 

[limeyjohn]

I see the OP was about spending major money on going to a game, l would encourage you, NoLA is a amazing place to visit, and nothing like your first time in the Dome, win or lose you will never forget it mate

 

[Saintslfc13]

I see the OP was about spending major money on going to a game, l would encourage you, NoLA is a amazing place to visit, and nothing like your first time in the Dome, win or lose you will never forget it mate

I didn’t get that vibe from the OP but I totally echo the sentiment. I’ve never lived in New Orleans but I fell in love with that city when I was about 8 years old and the Saints followed soon after. I would recommend anyone to visit there if they have the chance. It’s the only place other than my hometown that has ever felt like “home” to me. Been to all over Hawaii, been to Baja, I live in Cali, but there isn’t anywhere else like New Orleans.