They love him. They hate him. They love him. They hate him.

Would you people please make up your minds? Yes, I’m talking to you, Saints fans.

Aaron Brooks, New Orleans’ quarterback for nearly three years now, has seen fans go back and forth on him like a game of Pong. When he first burst on the scene, he was a savior who delivered the first playoff victory in franchise history.

Oh, how times have changed.

Last year, he became public enemy No. 2 (No. 1 being Michael Vick) during a late-season collapse that left the Saints out of the playoffs. Fans criticized his seemingly carefree demeanor after an inexplicable loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, in which he performed worse than Britney Spears in concert.

My defense to all that was, of course, that he was hurt.

And he was. He had off-season surgery to repair his torn biceps.

Before you yell at me, I agree with the Brooks-haters for chastising him for purposely hiding his injury so he could play.

I think he let his greedy side get the better of him.

But his failure to report his injury in no way makes him a bad quarterback.

Before the late season collapse, the Saints were 9-4 and had beaten the eventual Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice. The offense was praised as one of the most prolific in the league, as the unit regularly posted 30 points on the scoreboard.

That had a lot to do with the play of Brooks.

Despite several halftime deficits, Brooks rallied his offense for several come-from-behind victories.

The biggest critiques of Brooks’ play have been that he smiles after mistakes and that he constantly throws off his back foot.

Granted, when he back-pedals and then throws off his back foot, he throws quite a few interceptions. But what quarterback doesn’t have a flaw that he must correct?

When Brooks is on his game, he has one of the best arms in the league. He usually has a good touch and can zip the ball into small openings in the defense.

However, it seems that no matter what he does right, fans still boo this once-heralded quarterback. (Remember when everyone was talking Super Bowl last year, after the Saints started the season 6-1 by beating four division champions?)

For instance, last Sunday in the Saints’ home opener against the Houston Texans, Brooks made one bad pass in the second quarter.

A chant of “We want Jake (Delhomme)” began three rows behind me in the Superdome.

Brooks finished the game with 189 yards, two touchdown passes, and no turnovers. The Saints won easily, 31-10.

Brooks has the all-time Saints touchdown pass record for a season with 27 last year, which broke his own record of 26 in 2001. Yet fans still insist he is not the answer at quarterback for New Orleans.

I remain confident that Brooks will be a top quarterback in the National Football League, and with the right mix of talent alongside him, he has the potential to take the Saints to the Super Bowl.

And he’ll be smiling all the way.