Aaron Brooks outlook at footballguys.com

Week 1 at CLE - Brooks had a solid overall game. He showed good pocket awareness, and proved adept at eluding pressure, opening up throwing lanes, and finding open receivers. Although he did not find the end zone, he made confident accurate throws when called upon, and led an effective two minute offense to get his team into position for a game winning field goal at the end of the game. Brooks also scrambled for 32 total yards, with 22 of them on a play to sustain a critical Saints’ fourth quarter drive. Brooks’ lone gaffe of the day was a costly one, occurring when he lost a fumble on a ball that simply squirted out of his hands even though he was untouched by the defense. He’s still the same easy going Aaron Brooks though as he was laughing on the sideline after an incomplete pass to Joe Horn forced the Saints the punt the ball away leading by just three points and 3:13 left on the clock.

Week 2 at GB - It was up and down night for Aaron Brooks. He looked sharp in the first quarter and at times throughout the rest of the game. He favored Joe Horn often, most impressively on a 21 yard touchdown strike at the beginning of the second quarter. He completed six out of six passes for 73 yards on that drive to answer the Giants’ previous score. But that was the last touchdown he would throw. And while he finished with 375 passing yards, he was a big part of this losing effort with turnovers. He lost a fumble, threw two interceptions and was sacked four times. And then threw a final third interception to end the game.

Week 3 vs ATL - Brooks was off his game the whole afternoon. He just could not connect with his wide receivers and his decision making was questionable. He was unable to generate anything in the first half until the 2:00 warning, and the team’s first six drives consisted of five three and outs and an INT. His TD came right at the two minute warning when he hit TE Ernie Conwell for a 13 yard score.

Week 4 at CAR - Brooks was almost picked off on the Saints’ opening series when looking for Donte’ Stallworth, but he recovered and played well in the game. The second drive ended after Stallworth and McAllister dropped passes that should have been caught. Brooks found Stallworth for a 24 yard gain and the play would have gone for a touchdown had Lawyer Milloy not made a saving tackle for the Bills. Brooks ran well in this game, scrambling for two first downs and running in the Saints’ only touchdown of the day. Brooks did not make any costly errors in the game, but failed to throw any touchdown passes.

Week 5 vs TB - Brooks played awful in the game underthrowing and overthrowing his receivers often and consistently making poor decisions. He was pulled in the third quarter after the game was well out of reach and finished the game completing just nine passes for 146 yards and two interceptions. Brooks’ poor decisions led to both interceptions as he continued to look for Donte Stallworth forcing passes into double coverage and not recognizing the zone coverage.

Week 6 vs PHI - Brooks looked very confident and comfortable throwing the ball both on the move and in the pocket. Brooks was under pressure a number of times, but was still able to complete two thirds of his passes for over 250 yards and two touchdowns. His only turnover was on a tipped pass by his receiver Devery Henderson. Henderson made up for it later, catching one of Brooks’ two fourth quarter touchdown passes.

The Saints’ passing game was helped greatly by the balanced attack from New Orleans. With both starting RBs contributing over 80 yards each towards a 200 yard rushing game, the Falcons always had to play both the run and the pass. Brooks took full advantage of both aspects, distributing the ball well amongst seven different receivers. Brooks also added 28 rushing yards on just three carries. Brooks’ rushing average entering the game was 7.6 per carry, better than his counterpart in this game, QB Michael Vick (7.3).

Week 7 FA - Brooks played well in the first half, but had problems handling the Rams’ blitzing, which intensified in the second half. When given time, he looked very comfortable, and made the right decisions in terms of which receiver was open. He showed he could throw the intermediate and deep balls comfortably, and hit his receivers in stride several times in the first half. Unfortunately, they dropped several passes that they should have caught. In the second half, Brooks overthrew his receivers several times, in an effort to avoid being sacked. He distributed the ball fairly evenly in the first half, but focused on Aaron Stecker and Donte Stallworth more in the second half, targeting them with 13 of the 22 passes he threw. A hot and cold effort by Brooks which resulted in decent numbers, but could have been better.

Week 8 vs BAL - Brooks had a poor game. Although he didn’t have a lot of help. He was heavily pressured by the Dolphins’ pass rush and was sacked five times in the game. Devery Henderson appeared to run the wrong route and Brooks threw the ball directly to Reggie Howard for an interception. The Saints switched to a no huddle offense in the second half and Brooks fumbled a snap. He then fumbled again after Aaron Stecker ran into him and knocked the ball loose while trying to block the pass rush. Brooks almost found Stallworth in the end zone for a touchdown but the ball was poorly thrown. The Dolphins forced Brooks out of the pocket on several occasions, and he ended the game as the Saints’ leading rusher with a long gain of 20 yards.

Week 9 at TB - Brooks didn’t have a very good game, collecting only 170 yards and one touchdown against a stingy Bears’ defense. The touchdown was thrown to Donte’ Stallworth on a drag route that Stallworth ran into the end zone without being touched. Brooks was sacked three times and intercepted twice. He did score a rushing touchdown on a nicely designed play action bootleg on third and goal from the one yard line.

Week 11 vs CIN - Brooks had a big game. He attempted 50 passes as the Saints failed to get much going on the ground. He was able to scramble and avoid the pass rush, and was only sacked once in the game. Eight of his passes were for gains of 20 yards or over, and he also had a 20 yard run. Horn was targeted 16 times and Stallworth 13 as the Saints tried to overturn a 24-7 deficit. Brooks threw two touchdown passes, both to Donte’ Stallworth. Brooks might have had an even bigger game. He overthrew Horn on the opening drive when Horn was clear of the defender and would likely have scored a touchdown. Stallworth and Horn were both targeted in the back of the end zone but the passes were slightly overthrown. Brooks threw an interception on the final play of the game when trying to force the ball to Joe Horn for what would have been the tying score. He wasted valuable time through poor clock management on the final drive. Brooks went past Archie Manning as the Saints’ leading touchdown passer, as his two scores took him to 116 touchdowns for the team. Brooks was hurt in the first half after a hit from Willie McGinest, but did not have to leave the game.

Week 12 at ATL - Brooks had a very solid performance in leading the Saints to victory. With the ground game ineffective, Brooks took charge and executed a controlled, yet effective passing game. Although he was pressured early by an aggressive Jets’ defense, Brooks scrambled to avoid the rush often completing his pass attempts. Brooks had three touchdown passes in the game and no interceptions. He made several nice reads on blitz plays by New York, taking short drop backs and releasing the ball quickly to his receivers. Brooks connected on touchdown passes of 21, 15 and 30 yards contributing to his final yardage stats of 181 total yards.

Week 13 vs SF - Brooks finished the game with over 200 yards and completed over half of his passes, but the problem was his accuracy. Brooks had both WR Joe Horn and WR Donte’ Stallworth wide open deep in the first half for touchdowns of 40 or more yards, but he missed both badly. He made poor decisions all afternoon, throwing late or into double or even triple coverage.

The inaccuracy from Brooks led to four Buccaneers’ interceptions. While he was under pressure and hurried often, he made bad choices on more than one occasion. Brooks threw late towards open receivers or forced balls into coverage, giving the Buccaneers time to recover and make a play on the ball. One interception was on a fourth down, so Brooks should not be faulted for turning the ball over and trying to make a play, but three of the picks were his fault. The final interception was the most disheartening, as the Saints were driving in the final two minutes towards a potential game tying touchdown. His decision to force a throw into coverage for WR Joe Horn at the goal line resulted in Brooks’ fourth intercepted pass against Tampa Bay and ended the game.

Week 14 at DAL - Brooks continued his recent trend of below average play. He looked solid enough in the first half, leading his team on two sustained scoring drives. The second half was a different story. The Saints' offense was completely shut down, and the focus of their attack became the passing game with Atlanta consistently increasing its lead. Brooks threw the ball 46 times, but no one receiver caught more than five passes. His only touchdown toss came in the second quarter, and went to third receiver Az-zahir Hakim. Though the stat line says otherwise, Brooks was picked off in the first half by DeAngelo Hall, but the play was reversed on a roughing the passer penalty.

Week 15 vs WAS - Aaron Brooks, who was benched in favor of Todd Bouman, saw his 82 consecutive starts at quarterback come to an end.

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