Posted by Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune December 18, 2008 12:12PM
Sammy
Knight was one of the last Saints to make the Pro Bowl, in 2002.
This week’s First-and-10 column
First take ….
To no one’s surprise, the Saints failed to put a defender in the Pro Bowl this year. There was only one player, quarterback Drew Brees.
Unfortunately for the Saints, not having a defensive player on the team has become the norm. It’s the seventh time in the past eight seasons that the league’s annual all-star game will be played without a Saints defender. Will Smith’s appearance in 2006 was the lone exception.
Since 2000, when the Saints sent four defenders to the Pro Bowl – defensive tackle La’Roi Glover, defensive end Joe Johnson and linebackers Mark Fields and Keith Mitchell – only three Saints defenders have made it to Hawaii: Glover and Sammy Knight in 2001; and Smith in 2006.
Heck, Minnesota had more than that named to the Pro Bowl this season alone (four).
I realize the Pro Bowl is as much about popularity and reputation as anything, but still, that’s a remarkable streak of futility, one that surely ranks among the worst in the league.
Speaking of Glover, his remarkable 18-sack season in 2000 helped the Saints to a league-leading total of 66 in 2000, the most by any team this decade.
The Cowboys have generated a lot of hype because of their recent sack attack this season. But they’d have to record 13 in their final two games just to match the Saints’ 2000 total, which is one of the top marks in league annals.
In case you’re wondering, the 1984 Chicago Bears hold the NFL single-season record with 72.
… And 10 (more observations)
1. Casual locker-room observation of the week: Pierre Thomas’s locker was decorated with balloons on Wednesday, one day before his 24th birthday. Several players stopped by to wish him congratulations. Drew Brees even warbled a quick version of the Happy Birthday Song as he walked by. It was clear by the response, Thomas is one of the most well-liked players on the roster.
2. Off-the-field note of the week: Ultimate Bliss, a 2-year-old filly trained by Tom Amoss, will make her Louisiana racing debut in the second race at Fair Grounds Race Course on Saturday. Ultimate Bliss is the second horse in the Last Mango Racing Stable, which is managed by Saints vice president of communications Greg Bensel and includes among its ownership coach Sean Payton, quarterback Drew Brees, general manager Mickey Loomis, singer Jimmy Buffett and former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski. Post time is 12:58 p.m. just a couple of hours before the Saints are scheduled to fly to Detroit so the Saints contingent will have to monitor the race from team headquarters.
Detroit coach Rod Marinelli says that Saints quarterback Drew Brees is a similar player to Peyton Manning.
3. Quote of the week: “He’s very similar to the one we just played — (Peyton) Manning. (Brees) gets the ball out, he’s quick, he’s decisive and it’s an up-tempo offense. They play basketball on grass.” — Lions coach Rod Marinelli said on Saints quarterback Drew Brees.
4. Didya notice of the week: The Atlanta Falcons rushed for 175 yards in their overtime victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week. That was one week after Carolina rushed for 299 yards against the Bucs. That’s the same Bucs defense that Saints Coach Sean Payton said the team’s game plan was to pass against in a 23-20 loss on Nov.30, the same Bucs defense that’s ranked No. 3 in the league against the pass and No. 20 against the run. The Saints rushed for 44 yards on 18 carries in the loss to the Bucs. The 18 attempts were the second fewest against the Bucs this season.
Saints players Reggie Bush and Marques Colston dejectedly sit on the bench as the team loses to previously winless St. Louis last season.
5. Fact of the week: Buddy Pat Yasinskas at ESPN.com unearthed a remarkable — and ominous — statistic this week. The Saints have played four winless teams that were 0-7 or worse in their history and have lost every time. The 2007 St. Louis Rams were 0-8 before beating the Saints 37-29 in Week 10. The 1999 Browns were 0-7 before upending the Saints 21-16 on a Hail Mary pass from Tim Couch to Kevin Johnson. It was Cleveland’s first win since Week 16 of the 1995 season. The 1998 Carolina Panthers routed the Saints 31-17 to post their first win of the season after an 0-7 start. And the 1977 Tampa Bay Buccaneers notched the first win in franchise history with a 33-14 rout of the Saints in Week 13. The Bucs were 0-12 that season and had lost 26 consecutive games since joining the league as an expansion team two years earlier.
6. Encouraging stat of the week: With a quietly effective 22-carry, 87-yard night at Chicago, Pierre Thomas now has rushed for at least 80 yards all five times that he’s carried the ball at least 15 times, dating to the 2007 season finale against Chicago.
7. Disturbing stat of the week: The Saints are 1-6 on the road this season and are trying to avoid their worst road record since Mike Ditka’s final season in 1999, when they went 0-8. In fact, since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 1978, the Saints have had only three seasons with road records worse than 2-6: 1-7 in 1980, 1-7 in 1996 and 0-8 in 1999.
Marques Colston rebounded to have a good game last week against Chicago.
8. What I liked from Week 15: Marques Colston rebounded from his nightmare performance (three drops) against Atlanta to post a strong six-catch, 84-yard night. He also scored his second touchdown of the season. Colston has endured a rough year but for the first time in a while he looked like the guy who caught 168 passes during his first two NFL seasons.
9. What I didn’t like from Week 15: Kick coverage units were shaky for the second time in the past three weeks. The Bears outgained the Saints 192 to 63 in kickoff return yardage. The Saints now rank 26th in punt return coverage and 24th in kickoff coverage. Both areas have regressed consistently since Payton’s first season in 2006.
10. Fearless prediction for Week 16: Drew Brees will top the 400-yard passing mark for the third time this season and put him back on pace to break Dan Marino’s season passing mark in the season finale against Carolina. After three consecutive sub-300-yard games, Brees will riddle the Lions’ injury-riddled secondary. Brees has passed for 4,332 yards and needs 753 yards to break Marino’s 24-year-old NFL record of 5,084 yards. Look for the Saints to use multiple-receiver packages to get the Lions in nickel coverage situations. Stuart Schweigert, who joined the Lions a month ago, will replace Kalvin Pearson at safety in those situations, with Pearson moving from safety to nickel back. That’s just the kind of situation Brees relishes.
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