Saints fans begin turning on home team
By By Richard Dark /EMG staff writer
November 28, 2002
NEW ORLEANS, La. When fans turn on the home team, it can make for an awkward, even uncomfortable atmosphere. When it happens in the Crescent City, consider it downright ugly.
And immediately following the New Orleans Saints lackluster 24-15 loss to the Cleveland Browns Sunday, hordes of those who ponied up for the not-so-cheap seats let the Saints know about it, raining down boos, beer, obscene gestures and insults on the team as they slunk, heads down to the locker room following what coaches and players characterized as an embarrassing performance.
One would think the sorry spectacle would not have been so dramatic given the history of the team, but when fans are teased with such a dynamic start, it's possible it hurts even more.
If the similarities to last season's cataclysmic collapse are in the forefronts of their minds, that would explain several screaming wildly at every player that walked by, "You're through, it's over!"
But Monday on Airline Drive, there were no insults from crazed fans; just Saints coach Jim Haslett letting those assembled know that the season was far from over, and those attempting to make comparisons to last year's free-fall, were off base.
If off-the-field problems don't exist, then what exactly is the author of a three-out-of-four swoon?
Having said that, the coach is also quick to let it be known he isn't wearing blinders.
If the playoffs started today, the Saints (7-4) would be the fifth out of six seeds in the NFC, possibly playing one of the teams they have already defeated. One way to improve upon that standing is to complete a season-sweep of the league's hottest team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-4), when they visit the Louisiana Superdome this Sunday night.
Haslett said there was a strong possibility that the team would have the services of running back Deuce McAllister.
Deuce will be considered questionable until the coach can see how the Ole Miss product practices beginning Wednesday.
The situation at defensive tackle was somewhat murky judging from Monday's comments.
Although Haslett called Kenny Smith's offsides penalties in each of the last two games undisciplined, he did stipulate that Smith played fairly well and that no lineup changes were planned. But he went on to praise Norman Hand's performance and stopped short of saying Smith would keep the spot.
Regardless of how that rotation goes, the defense, which has lost the ability to stop the run and the team as a whole which has misplaced its ability to win are under the gun. "The thing is, we don't want to go south like we did last year," Hand said Sunday.
Many of the fans that hung around after the Cleveland Brownout would say this team is already there.
