Doug Miller, NewOrleansSaints.com
Tuesday, September 25, 2007 – 3:16 PM
The New Orleans Saints were the recipients of bad news on Tuesday morning, as running back Deuce McAllister was placed on injured reserve with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The team also learned that starting cornerback Jason David would be sidelined for an indefinite period of time with a fractured foreman.

McAllister, in his seventh season, injured his knee in the second quarter of last night’s game and didn’t return. The team’s all-time leading rusher, with 5,678 yards, said that he suffered the injury when he landed after jumping to catch a Drew Brees pass.

The pride of Ole Miss hobbled off the field, and hoped for the best, while knowing deep down that the injury was serious.

“I just told myself to get up off the ground,” said McAllister. “One lesson I learned growing up was to never let your opponent see you hurt. Regardless of what it is – if you can walk, walk off that field. Once I got to the sideline, I knew it. I didn’t want to believe it, but taking the walk to the locker room I could feel it kind of giving way a little bit and it was reminiscent of how the other one felt.”

McAllister, who suffered a similar injury in 2005 to his right knee, said that the prospect of surgery and a grueling rehabilitation is front and center in his mind, although a timetable hadn’t been scheduled as of this morning for the surgery. “You have a lot of things that are going through your mind. Obviously, you’re hoping and praying that it’s not as bad as you might think. Even this morning going to get the MRI and looking at the X-rays last night, you’re just hoping that it’s not that bad. But anytime you’ve done it once before and now it’s the other knee, you question whether you’ll be the same, whether you’ll ever be the back that you once were. ‘Will you ever play again?’ Those are different thoughts that run through your mind as a player. But we’ll just take it day by day. We’ll see how the surgery goes and go from there.”

McAllister stated that he believes in himself and looks to make a comeback from the latest setback. “I believe in myself and it’s just a matter of me putting the time in and me putting the work in.” He also stated that he won’t feel sorry for himself and doesn’t wonder ‘Why Me?’ “It’s not for me to question. It’s said that there won’t be too much put on you that you can’t bear and as a human you look for that spiritual blessing. It’s just something that you have to go through.”

Quarterback Drew Brees said the loss of McAllister is a setback and an obvious disappointment to the team. “He has been the heart and soul of this team for a while. Ever since he came here he has been such a big part in what the offense has done, and the team has done. He is an emotional leader and a guy that everyone respects and everyone likes. You hate to see something like that happen to a guy. It seems unfair.”

Brees also stated that he believes the team will rally together and strive to fill McAllister’s void, but that each player in the locker room needs to elevate their caliber of play in order for the Saints to get back on the winning track. “It means some guys will have the opportunity to step up,” Brees said. “And we have to have some guys step up now. With everything else Reggie (Bush) is responsible for, this is going to add to the load on him a little bit more, and Aaron Stecker, and Pierre Thomas. We will see how this thing shakes out, but we need to elevate our game a little bit.”

Head Coach Sean Payton also said that starting left tackle Jammal Brown suffered a dislocated finger but doesn’t expect him to be sidelined due to the injury and that wide receiver David Patten suffered a strained calf muscle in the game and that his progress will be monitored in the next two weeks. LB Scott Fujita also suffered an ankle injury but Payton believes the linebacker will be able to recover quickly from the injury and expects him back for the Carolina game in less than two weeks.

“Obviously, we’re challenged offensively now with losing a key player to our offense and a guy that has been an important part of our offense,” Payton said.

“That changes the dynamics a little bit and we’ll have to deal with that. Defensively, obviously in Jason’s case with the time that he’s out, we’ll have to shift that rotation around a little bit and see what we get from some of the younger guys and also some veteran guys such as Jason Craft and Fred Thomas. It’s part of the game right now. It’s frustrating and I’m disappointed for Deuce, and I know how disappointed he is. But right now no one really outside of that room in there is concerned with our problems. People in this league aren’t concerned about our injuries and aren’t concerned about our 0-3 start. We have to be the ones to handle that – coaches, starting with me, and everyone else in that room. We have to start doing the little things right that allow you to win games and don’t keep you from winning games.”

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