2008 Midseason: Making the Grade

pQuarterback span style=”font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;”A+/span/p
p!– BEGIN WIDGET –/p
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th/th th/th th colspan=”9″Passing/th th colspan=”5″Rushing/th th colspan=”2″Sacks/th
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th/th thG/th thRating/th thComp/th thAtt/th thPct/th thYds/th thY/G/th thY/A/th thTD/th thINT/th thRush/th thYds/th thY/G/th thAvg/th thTD/th thSack/th thYdsL/th
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td class=”td-name td-first”2008 - a href=”/nfl/players/l.nfl.com-p.22″Drew Brees/a/td
td8/td
td101.6/td
td210/td
td304/td
td69.1/td
td2563/td
td320.4/td
td8.4/td
td15/td
td7/td
td11/td
td-7/td
td-0.9/td
td-0.6/td
td0/td
td7/td
td class=”td-last”48/td
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pI would have given Drew an A+++++ but that would have been plain ridiculous. Best quarterback in the league and quite possibly the MVP for the first half of the season. Praising Drew comes so easy and is becoming quite redundant so consider this matter closed./p

pRunning Back span style=”font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;”D/span/p
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th/th th/th th colspan=”6″Rushing/th th colspan=”6″Receiving/th
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th/th thG/th thRush/th thYds/th thY/G/th thAvg/th thLng/th thTD/th thRec/th thYds/th thY/G/th thAvg/th thLng/th thTD/th
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td class=”td-name td-first”2008 - a href=”/nfl/players/l.nfl.com-p.5610″Reggie Bush/a/td
td7/td
td87/td
td294/td
td42.0/td
td3.4/td
td29/td
td2/td
td42/td
td366/td
td52.3/td
td8.7/td
td42/td
td class=”td-last”3/td
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th/th th/th th colspan=”6″Rushing/th th colspan=”6″Receiving/th
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th/th thG/th thRush/th thYds/th thY/G/th thAvg/th thLng/th thTD/th thRec/th thYds/th thY/G/th thAvg/th thLng/th thTD/th
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td class=”td-name td-first”2008 - a href=”/nfl/players/l.nfl.com-p.1284″Deuce McAllister/a/td
td6/td
td68/td
td263/td
td43.8/td
td3.9/td
td12/td
td2/td
td8/td
td53/td
td8.8/td
td6.6/td
td11/td
td class=”td-last”0/td
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pThe running game is just plain pathetic. Check out those rushing numbers. We all have our own thoughts and opinions on this matter and frankly they are all a little accurate. Whatever the reasons for a failed ground attack it all needs to change. Hopefully we will see more of a commitment to the running game and a more balanced offense from Payton./p
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pReceiving span style=”font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;”B/span/p
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thDevery Henderson/th th colspan=”6″Receiving /thth colspan=”5″Kickoff Returns /thth colspan=”5″Punt Returns /th
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thG/th thRec/th thYds/th thY/G/th thAVG/th thLng/th thTD/th thKR/th thYDS/th thAVG/th thLng/th thTD/th thPR/th thYds/th thAvg/th thLng/th thTD/th
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td8/td
td18/td
td499/td
td62.4/td
td27.7/td
td84/td
td3/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0.0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
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thLance Moorebr //th th colspan=”6″Receiving /thth colspan=”5″Kickoff Returns /thth colspan=”5″Punt Returns /th
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thG/th thRec/th thYds/th thY/G/th thAVG/th thLng/th thTD/th thKR/th thYDS/th thAVG/th thLng/th thTD/th thPR/th thYds/th thAvg/th thLng/th thTD/th
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td8/td
td38/td
td431/td
td53.9/td
td11.3/td
td33/td
td3/td
td1/td
td36/td
td36.0/td
td36/td
td0/td
td0/td
td21/td
td10.5/td
td11/td
td0/td
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thBilly Millerbr //th th colspan=”6″Receiving /thth colspan=”5″Kickoff Returns /thth colspan=”5″Punt Returns /th
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thG/th thRec/th thYds/th thY/G/th thAVG/th thLng/th thTD/th thKR/th thYDS/th thAVG/th thLng/th thTD/th thPR/th thYds/th thAvg/th thLng/th thTD/th
/tr
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td6/td
td23/td
td323/td
td53.8/td
td14.0/td
td41/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0.0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
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pThe receiving corp has looked pretty solid so far this season but the production has not come from who we might have expected. Devery Henderson and Lance Moore have stepped it up in the absence of Marques Colston and David Patten. Billy Miller is quietly putting together a solid season while Shockey heals. With Drew Brees spreading the ball around to everyone and their mother this is more of a team effort with everyone doing a great job./p
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pOffensive Line span style=”font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;”C/span/p
pThey’ve been doing a good job keeping Drew safe but a pretty horrible job making some room for Deuce and Reggie. Matt Lehr has filled in pretty seamlessly under center so thats a plus. Carl Nicks is also a bright spot in this unit./p
pnbsp;/p
pnbsp;/p
pDefensive Line span style=”font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;”C/span/p
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th/th th/th th colspan=”2″Sacks/th th colspan=”3″Interceptions/th th colspan=”3″Tackles/th
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th/th thG/th thSacks/th thYdsL/th thInt/th thYds/th thIntTD/th thSolo/th thAst/th thTotal/th
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td class=”td-name td-first”2008 - a href=”/nfl/players/l.nfl.com-p.2783″Charles Grant/a/td
td8/td
td3.0/td
td20/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td26/td
td7/td
td class=”td-last”33/td
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th/th thG/th thSacks/th thYdsL/th thInt/th thYds/th thIntTD/th thSolo/th thAst/th thTotal/th
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td class=”td-name td-first”2008 - a href=”/nfl/players/l.nfl.com-p.7484″Sedrick Ellis/a/td
td5/td
td1.0/td
td5/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td7/td
td3/td
td class=”td-last”10/td
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pThe big guys on the line have turned in pretty spotty performances. We have seen some good games from them but also watched them disappear for 60 minutes. The blueprint for this unit was the New York Giants Superbowl winning pass rush and it is safe to say the Saints are nowhere close to that point. Charles Grant is now lost for the season but his play up to this point was certainly not indicative of his fat contract. Worse could be said about Will Smith so far this season. Are we surprised? The upside is Sedrick Ellis, who was a good choice and a nice addition but I think we have yet to see his full brilliance./p
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pLinebacker span style=”font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;”C/span/p
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th/th th/th th colspan=”2″Sacks/th th colspan=”3″Interceptions/th th colspan=”3″Tackles/th
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th/th thG/th thSacks/th thYdsL/th thInt/th thYds/th thIntTD/th thSolo/th thAst/th thTotal/th
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td class=”td-name td-first”2008 - a href=”/nfl/players/l.nfl.com-p.4300″Jonathan Vilma/a/td
td8/td
td0/td
td0/td
td1/td
td8/td
td0/td
td53/td
td19/td
td class=”td-last”72/td
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pVilma is another one of the bright spots of this team this season. The guy is all over the field sniffing out tackles. Unfortunately one linebacker a defense does not make. Losing Simoneau for the season was a big blow to this unit and Fujita and Shanle have simply played mediocre.nbsp; I would love to see more from these guys in the second half of 2008./p
pnbsp;/p
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pSecondary span style=”font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;”C/span/p
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th/th th/th th colspan=”2″Sacks/th th colspan=”3″Interceptions/th th colspan=”3″Tackles/th
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th/th thG/th thSacks/th thYdsL/th thInt/th thYds/th thIntTD/th thSolo/th thAst/th thTotal/th
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td class=”td-name td-first”2008 - a href=”/nfl/players/l.nfl.com-p.1379″Mike McKenzie/a/td
td6/td
td0/td
td0/td
td1/td
td14/td
td0/td
td19/td
td1/td
td class=”td-last”20/td
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th/th thG/th thSacks/th thYdsL/th thInt/th thYds/th thIntTD/th thSolo/th thAst/th thTotal/th
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td class=”td-name td-first”2008 - a href=”/nfl/players/l.nfl.com-p.7438″Tracy Porter/a/td
td5/td
td1.0/td
td8/td
td1/td
td25/td
td0/td
td23/td
td2/td
td class=”td-last”25/td
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p!– BEGIN WIDGET –/p
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td class=”td-name td-first”2008 - a href=”/nfl/players/l.nfl.com-p.4311″Randall Gay/a/td
td5/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td0/td
td19/td
td1/td
td class=”td-last”20/td
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pLast year these guys would probably be getting an F so a C really isn’t so bad. To be fair, this unit has definitely improved. It’s also amazingly sad to say that the absence of Tracy Porter seems to have caused a drop in performance. There is still a lot of room for improvement as we saw last week against San Diego. Preventing big plays is one thing but completely shutting down a teams passing offense and creating game changing plays and turnovers is another./p
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pSpecial Teams span style=”font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;”C-/span/p
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th/th th/th th colspan=”8″Field Goals/th th colspan=”3″PAT/th th/th
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th/th thG/th th0-19/th th20-29/th th30-39/th th40-49/th th50+/th thFGM/th thFGA/th thPCT/th thXPM/th thXPA/th thPCT/th thpts/th
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td class=”td-name td-first”2008 - a href=”/nfl/players/l.nfl.com-p.7675″Taylor Mehlhaff/a/td
td3/td
td0 - 0/td
td1 - 1/td
td1 - 2/td
td1 - 1/td
td0 - 0/td
td3/td
td4/td
td75.0%/td
td9/td
td10/td
td90.0%/td
td class=”td-last”1/td
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pI know you’re probably thinking these guys deserve an F. The post-Carney kicking experiment is failing miserably but Reggie Bush and the return game is also part of special teams so that keeps this unit from getting a flat out F-.. Still, the inconsistency in the kicking game is most frustrating and I struggled even giving it the current grade./p

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legendPoll/legend
h5 class=”poll-title”What grade do you give the Saints for the first half of the season?/h5

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li class=”clearfix”span class=”radio”input id=”poll_option_152554″ name=”poll_option” type=”radio” value=”152554″ //span
label for=”poll_option_152554″span class=”option”B/span/label/li

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label for=”poll_option_152555″span class=”option”C/span/label/li

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label for=”poll_option_152556″span class=”option”D/span/label/li

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label for=”poll_option_152557″span class=”option”F/span/label/li

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