Saints vs Falcons 1998 1st game (1 Viewer)

[rsmith2783]

I was bored last night and I watched this game before I went to bed. Thanks to the member on here who sent me this game a few years ago!

This game is one of the few that stood out to me back then during the 1998 season because the Falcons went 14-2 and we almost beat them. We held Anderson in check for most of the game (even though he had 100 yards).

I was a Billy Joe Tolliver fan after this game, and he looked great. I thought that we had our QB of the future (even though we just signed Kerry Collins). He was able to scramble, he knew how to use his pocket and he had a cannon for an arm.

After watching this game I noticed:

• That we shot ourselves in the foot while we were in scoring range.
• We knocked out Chris Chandler and had to finish the second half against a 44 year Steve Deberg.
• Our WRs dropped sure TD passes.
• Cam Cleeland could have been one of the greats for us if injuries have not occurred.
• Our offense was completely terrible and very predictable!!
• Our defense was amazing! There was too much talent on that defense to not be in the playoffs.
• Keith Poole was underrated.
• Zaven Yaralian was the modern day Greg Williams.

I'm curious as to why Zaven didn't continue to coach after he left the Saints?

 

[St.Dan]

I was bored last night and I watched this game before I went to bed. Thanks to the member on here who sent me this game a few years ago!

This game is one of the few that stood out to me back then during the 1998 season because the Falcons went 14-2 and we almost beat them. We held Anderson in check for most of the game (even though he had 100 yards).

I was a Billy Joe Tolliver fan after this game, and he looked great. I thought that we had our QB of the future (even though we just signed Kerry Collins). He was able to scramble, he knew how to use his pocket and he had a cannon for an arm.

After watching this game I noticed:

• That we shot ourselves in the foot while we were in scoring range.
• We knocked out Chris Chandler and had to finish the second half against a 44 year Steve Deberg.
• Our WRs dropped sure TD passes.
• Cam Cleeland could have been one of the greats for us if injuries have not occurred.
• Our offense was completely terrible and very predictable!!
• Our defense was amazing! There was too much talent on that defense to not be in the playoffs.
• Keith Poole was underrated.
• Zaven Yaralian was the modern day Greg Williams.

I'm curious as to why Zaven didn't continue to coach after he left the Saints?

Whoa, of all the zillions of old games on YT you found this one? One of the few times the Failclowns put together a good season? I'm going to have to put you onto some better YT channels than that

 

[rsmith2783]

Whoa, of all the zillions of old games on YT you found this one? One of the few times the Failclowns put together a good season? I'm going to have to put you onto some better YT channels than that

During that i felt we were competitive against them in that game, so I wanted to go back and watch it (even though I saw it a few years ago).

 

[Zack Lee]

I was bored last night and I watched this game before I went to bed. Thanks to the member on here who sent me this game a few years ago!

This game is one of the few that stood out to me back then during the 1998 season because the Falcons went 14-2 and we almost beat them. We held Anderson in check for most of the game (even though he had 100 yards).

I was a Billy Joe Tolliver fan after this game, and he looked great. I thought that we had our QB of the future (even though we just signed Kerry Collins). He was able to scramble, he knew how to use his pocket and he had a cannon for an arm.

After watching this game I noticed:

• That we shot ourselves in the foot while we were in scoring range.
• We knocked out Chris Chandler and had to finish the second half against a 44 year Steve Deberg.
• Our WRs dropped sure TD passes.
• Cam Cleeland could have been one of the greats for us if injuries have not occurred.
• Our offense was completely terrible and very predictable!!
• Our defense was amazing! There was too much talent on that defense to not be in the playoffs.
• Keith Poole was underrated.
• Zaven Yaralian was the modern day Greg Williams.

I'm curious as to why Zaven didn't continue to coach after he left the Saints?

Ah the wonderful years of Billy Joe Neck, Billy Joe Knee and Vodka Collins.

 

[meily]

I was a BIG Keith Poole fan, I was hoping he'd be the second coming of Steve Largent. I was also a big Cam Cleeland fan, he was a big athletic TE.

 

[Saintman2884]

It may be difficult for some Saints fans in this generation who have watched, observed, and seen the Saints become so dominant and successful under Brees for nearly 15 years now that once upon a time we didn't beat Atlanta for 5 seasons from 1995-1999. Which stands as an even more ironic contrast because Brees-era Saints have dominated Falcons so thoroughly even some years when Ryan had some really, good potent weapons on both sides of the ball like in 2012 for example.

Being a Saints fan in the mid-late 1990s was a lonely, frustrating, often miserable experience sometimes lit up with occasional dashes of false hope or a premature sense of progress that gradually or quickly faded away. Like when we started 3-0 to begin the 1998 season.

Keith Poole was Jerome Pathon or Lance Moore 5-10 years before two other WRs came along.

A Brees-like QB or a halfway decent QB on those mid-late 90s Saints teams scores TDs or comes away with at least a FG instead of blowing their feet out with dumb, idiotic mistakes in the redzone.

Chris Chandler could've had a far more successful, interesting career if he had played with decent or top-notch supporting casts that he had in Atlanta for a few seasons in late 1990s. If he'd had better offensive lines in Houston and Atlanta, he probably throws for more career passing yards, career TDs, etc. By 1998, he had been a journeyman NFL QB who'd played for 3-4 different teams for almost a decade earlier and had terrible O-lines that saw him take horrendous beatings so I imagine he would be a big fragile like a chandelier glass case. He wasn't some agile duel threat scrambling QB like Steve Young or younger John Elway where if the pocket protection breaks down, he could use his feet to create more time to extend plays to find WRs.

 

[St.Dan]

Even though the Cowgirls came in banged up and aging (the "Triplets," to be specific), I think that game was the most impressive showing of 1998, when we kinda-sorta thought Ditka could work out as a coach. Plus, it was always cool to have Madden and Summerall do a Saints game back then. It didn't happen very often! .......

 

[rsmith2783]

Even though the Cowgirls came in banged up and aging (the "Triplets," to be specific), I think that game was the most impressive showing of 1998, when we kinda-sorta thought Ditka could work out as a coach. Plus, it was always cool to have Madden and Summerall do a Saints game back then. It didn't happen very often! .......

I still have this game on my computer. But Zavan Yaralian was a great coach. Of course he had the talent, but we put up some work on the Cowboys back then!

 

[St.Dan]

I still have this game on my computer. But Zavan Yaralian was a great coach. Of course he had the talent, but we put up some work on the Cowboys back then!

Knight and Glover were two pretty good building blocks for the 21st century. Wish we'd have kept both longer!

And I'll predict YT's views of old ballgames will go through the roof if we keep trending toward an absent season. No shortage of material on there!

 

[Saintman2884]

St. Dan, if that happens, it will be the first time since the strike-shortened season of 1982 that there will be no NFL regular season games going on in the fall and winter months. Crazy thing about that strike year is that the first two weeks of that regular season were played and IIRC, if it was determined after a decision by the NFLPA and Gene Upshaw that after a MNF game between Giants/then St. Louis football Cardinals ending Week 2 the players would officially go on strike immediately. And for next two months, there was no NFL, I'm sure College Football had some monster ratings that year. I believe even CBS, NBC aired CFL games here in the States during the lockout.

 

[Saintman2884]

We could conceivably kept Laroi Glover instead of choosing to go with trying to resign Joe Johnson after the 2001 season. I think Mueller, Haslett, and Venturi went into contract negotiations with Johnson's agent a bit naive and overconfident, not ever possibly considering that Johnson might try to play hardball or use Saints offer as leverage into getting a better deal with Green Bay, which is exactly he ended up. Venturi and Haslett always admitted they should've gone with more of a sure thing with Glover because they assumed Johnson wanted to stay in New Orleans when he was really just leveraging our offer against other NFL teams.

I think also mentally Joe Johnson had already given up on New Orleans especially with all the locker room turmoil and tension that led to our late-season collapse and finishing 7-9 in 2001.

 

[St.Dan]

St. Dan, if that happens, it will be the first time since the strike-shortened season of 1982 that there will be no NFL regular season games going on in the fall and winter months. Crazy thing about that strike year is that the first two weeks of that regular season were played and IIRC, if it was determined after a decision by the NFLPA and Gene Upshaw that after a MNF game between Giants/then St. Louis football Cardinals ending Week 2 the players would officially go on strike immediately. And for next two months, there was no NFL, I'm sure College Football had some monster ratings that year. I believe even CBS, NBC aired CFL games here in the States during the lockout.

I can kinda-sorta remember that season, though I was quite young. Whole family was/is Saints and LSU fans and had football on TV often enough to where I can't help but remember

Saints went 4-5 during that abbreviated season and lost a complicated tiebreaker to the Lions for the final playoff spot. Interesting note, the playoffs that year were seeded the way it should always be seeded -- by straight-up record and not by whether a team won a division or not.

 

[SaintJ]

I'm not sure what's sadder: that somebody started this thread, or that I replied on it.

 

[rsmith2783]

Knight and Glover were two pretty good building blocks for the 21st century. Wish we'd have kept both longer!

And I'll predict YT's views of old ballgames will go through the roof if we keep trending toward an absent season. No shortage of material on there!

Exactly!
Randy Mueller was a great GM for us, but I don't know what was going through his mind when he allowed them to walk.

I know that the "Heavy Lunch Bunch" was a terrible idea. Maybe he was trying to mimic the 2000 Ravens D-Line.

 

[rsmith2783]

I'm not sure what's sadder: that somebody started this thread, or that I replied on it.

Welcome to the off-season, Covid edition.