2000; Aaron Brooks as QB; First Playoff Win is Saints History

I was a fan. Good times but we knew we were not a good team

There is an inherent flaw (misrepresentation) in that photo.

I remember the Az Hakim fumble vividly.

What is the purpose?

That she has a purpose.

Can you start a couple more threads?

I was there. After losing to Detroit the first game I was thinking only a 2 win season too.

Opened the game against St. Louis on the road with an onside kick. Brooks came out, running with abandon, throwing darts.

That whole season was fun.

LSU played in the Peach Bowl vs. Ga Tech. Rohan came in. We won. Partied, then drove back for the home playoff game against St. Louis in the dome. Hakim dropped the ball. We partied some more (to be young.)

I watched some clips of that game sometime last year. We were really a mediocre team overall and really lucky to win that game.

Jeff Blake was shown the door. Brooks got a contract and got paid and was never the same player.

That season was the very first season I started watching the Saints, I was in 6th grade that year. I had always heard about the struggles and losing seasons the Saints had endured over the years, and I remember that season as being one that will always be remembered by Saints fans.

Jim Haslett was in his first year as the Saints head coach, and I remember the defense being the strength of the team. Our defensive line especially, with La'Roi Glover, Joe Johnson, Darren Howard, and Norman Hand, was an awesome defensive line. Sammy Knight, who I would think most fans agree was the best safety in Saints history, was a beast for the defense.

The Saints went into the season with a veteran QB who had had success with the Cincinnati Bengals, Jeff Blake, as the starter. I remember him being pretty decent until he was injured a few games into the season. Then Aaron Brooks came in, a guy who did well in college but hadn't started in the NFL yet, he had been a backup in Green Bay before coming to the Saints. He and Joe Horn were the two big surprises on offense that year, Joe Horn previously having been an under the radar player the Saints had gotten from Kansas City.

I remember that season as the beginning of a big rivalry between the Saints and the defending Super Bowl champions St. Louis Rams. They split the season series with them, and who can forget the epic playoff game between the Saints and Rams? What a fitting way for the Saints to, after all those struggling years, to finally win a playoff game, in the Dome.

That season was the highlight of the Haslett/Brooks era. Every season after that (with the exception of the 05' Katrina season) was mired in mediocrity. The 2002 Saints SHOULD have been in the playoffs that year, they beat the eventual Super Bowl champion Buccaneers twice that season. But a late season collapse ruined that season and I still remember it well.

The 2000 season will always be remembered fondly, particularly for me since it was the very first season I started watching Saints football.