re: Just an observation on the direction of our team going forward

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This league is built on parity(mediocrity) by design.

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i think part of blame is thanks to the new CBA with more restrictions in practice. Just cause these guys are pros doesn't mean they don't need to practice as hard. When the season starts each year the quality of play is noticeably sloppier. And because of that there are more flags. Sure there are still flat out bad calls being made but there always has been and always will be.

quote:

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Exactly one half (16 teams) have records between
5-7 and 7-5 at this point of the season.

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i mean go back and look at other seasons since the salary cap was introduced. I don't think there is a huge difference this year compared to other years since the early/mid 90's. Main thing is though its harder for teams to establish dynasties anymore. Last repeat champion was in 2003 and 2004 (New England).

we've seen the Saints make changes in the scouting dept. I think maybe Payton is finally coming around (slowly) and just maybe he'll nut up and hire a new special teams coach this year. Maybe its just extreme odd luck the ball has bounced the way it has this year but I think that's where you have to start as far as making changes. Its about the bottom line and 3 games arguably were decided by errors in special teams having to do with blocked kicks. Something is very wrong there... obviously.