By Pat Yasinskas

The linebackers are next in our series of NFC South position rankings and this one took a lot longer and was way more agonizing than our previous installments on safeties and cornerbacks.

It started right at the very top because this division has two linebackers I’d put up against anybody. Everyone knows Jonathan Vilma and Jon Beason are absolutely great. But how the heck do you pick between the two? I don’t want to overdramatize this, but my gut said this was like picking between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson or Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio. You make a call, but there’s a part of you that feels like you’re slighting the other guy.

For all of these rankings, I rely on conversations with coaches, personnel guys and players to make my decision. When it came down to making the call between Beason and Vilma, I reached for the phone and made even more calls. The sources are anonymous, but I called some high-ranking people that I trust most on this one and they also were torn.

I took what they said, processed it and analyzed it and came to the decision that ultimately was mine. Here it is:

To the his picks click here now.

Nakia Hogan

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is more than just a little amped about playing tonight’s preseason game at the Superdome.

The opponent is the San Diego Chargers, the franchise that five years ago was less than enthused about trying to keep Brees on its roster and eventually let him walk in free agency to the Saints.

Brees has never forgotten about his departure from San Diego and his arrival in New Orleans.

But the excitement for Brees, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, has nothing to do with getting an opportunity to rub it in to the Chargers. Instead, it stems from this being the third and perhaps most important of the Saints’ four preseason games.

Read the rest of the story here.

How can you not love this guy? Williams changed the whole mentality of the Saints defense. These guys are not stone cold killers. Saints defense will beat you down with physical play. I am expecting them to be even better this year. Vilma, Smith, Porter causing chaos.

associated press

Scott Fujita arrived in New Orleans a few months after Hurricane Katrina blew through the city.

Five years have passed, but Fujita can recall seeing the storm’s lethal and long-lasting impact as if it just happened.

“It looked like a bomb went off,” the Cleveland Browns linebacker said before practice Wednesday. “Driving around the 9th Ward for the first time, it felt like I was in a third-world country. It was devastating — unbelievable and mind-boggling.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Peter Finney, Times-Picayune

The story begins, “How about a two-dat?”

The New Orleans Saints Super Bowl win was almost universally liked.

It’s a preview on the 2010 New Orleans Saints that caught my eye, one in which Bruce Marshall, a Las Vegas-based NFL pundit, tells us he could not recall “a more refreshing sporting development” than the storybook journey Sean Payton’s football team traveled last season.

Marshall said it was accompanied by “a joie de vivre rarely seen in the button-down world of today’s NFL, where teams often look and play alike and title winners are frequently rewarded for ruthless and often colorless efficiency.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Jeff Duncan

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton said reserve quarterback Patrick Ramsey would take over the offense after starter Drew Brees leaves the exhibition game against the San Diego Chargers on Friday night.

The Saints employed the same strategy with Chase Daniel against the Texans last week. Daniel entered the game in the second quarter and played the rest of the game.

Daniel was 15 of 21 for 182 yards and three touchdowns against the Texans. He also had a 9-yard run on third-and-3.

Read the rest of the story here.

Review by CBS Sports.

If you’re a fan of the Super Bowl XLIV Champions, you may be familiar with my work on the field. I’m Zach Strief, #64, Offensive Tackle for the New Orleans Saints. Since my NFL draft in 2006, I have had the unique opportunity to give back to the great city of New Orleans through The Zach Strief Dream Big Foundation.

BIG NIGHT OUT
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Generations Hall
7:00 – 10:00 p.m

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Fri Aug 27th United Way Game Night After Party& help Sharper and Roman raise funds for those affected by Oil Spill

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The O line dominated Houston. Reggie and crew had huge holes to run through. The blocking on the Pierre Thomas TD screen was textbook!