By The Associated Press

A member of the players’ negotiating team says the union and the NFL have agreed to a 24-hour extension in labor talks.

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By Pat Yasinskas

The 2010 season will not be remembered for great defense in the NFC South. That’s mainly due to the fact the Saints and Falcons each had massive defensive collapses in their playoff losses.

But put that aside and there were some strong individual performances during the regular season. We’re going to highlight some of those performances as we begin to unveil our All-NFC South team for the 2010 season. We’re going to start it off with the defense.

Click here to see which members of the Saints are on the team.

By Pat Yasinskas

With all the NFC South teams done playing games, let’s make one up for ourselves.

It’s real easy. Which playoff loss was worse, Atlanta’s loss to Green Bay on Saturday or New Orleans’ loss to Seattle the week before?

I’ll lay out a brief case for each and then I’ll cast my vote. After that, I want you to cast your votes and debate it out in the comments section below.

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By Jason Cole,

1. Drew Brees(notes), New Orleans Saints, 2006: Let’s see: What has Brees meant to not only the Saints, but the entire city of New Orleans? Well, he has been the best quarterback in team history. He has won various offensive player of the year honors, and was named Sports Illustrated Man of the Year and Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 2010. Oh yeah, there’s that Super Bowl title he helped win. Then there’s all the charity work he has done to help rebuild the city. Hollywood doesn’t write scripts this corny.

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By Pat Yasinskas

One of the things I like best about New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees is his ability to look at things and clearly see them as they are.

While Brees admitted he’s disappointed with Saturday’s first-round playoff loss to Seattle, he has a pretty good perspective on the overall season for the Saints in this interview with XX Sports Radio in San Diego.

“I wouldn’t say that this season is a failure, because look at the last 10 teams that have won Super Bowls,’’ Brees said. “Half of them haven’t even gone back to the playoffs the next year.’’

Read the rest of Pats story here.

NORTHBROOK, Ill. (STATS) – The New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts did an excellent job protecting their respective Pro Bowl quarterbacks this season.

Ultimately, though, giving Drew Brees and Peyton Manning time to throw wasn’t enough.

New Orleans and Indianapolis graded out well once again in the New York Life Protection Index on wild-card weekend, but both teams saw their hopes of a return to the Super Bowl slip away.

By Pat Yasinskashttp://www.whodatnation.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpNew Orleans fans might want to keep a very close eye on what happens with the head-coaching situation in Denver. There’s a very good chance someone who does not get that job will be running the Saints’ defense next season.

As expected, Denver requested permission Monday to interview New Orleans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Coach Sean Payton said permission was granted and Williams will interview sometime this week. The Broncos couldn’t seek permission to interview Williams until the Saints’ season was over and that came with Saturday’s loss to Seattle.

If Williams gets the Denver job, one possible candidate to replace him in New Orleans would be John Fox, who also is scheduled to interview for the Denver job Wednesday. Fox spent the last nine seasons coaching the Carolina Panthers and he and Payton are close friends dating back to the days when they both were assistants with the New York Giants.

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By Pat Yasinskas

There already is a lot of speculation by fans about Reggie Bush‘s future with the New Orleans Saints. It’s understandable because there is a lot of money involved.

Let’s start with the facts. The 2011 season is the last on Bush’s contract, and he is scheduled to count a whopping $16 million against the salary cap, with $11.8 million coming in base salary. Another $1 million of that figure comes from the prorated renegotiation bonus Bush received when he restructured his contract in 2008.

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SEATTLE — The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its 15 modern-era finalists for this year’s class Sunday and the list includes former New Orleans offensive tackle Willie Roaf.

Three other players with NFC South ties also made they cut. Deion Sanders and Chris Doleman, who spent part of their careers with the Atlanta Falcons, and Tim Brown, who ended his career with Tampa Bay also are among the finalists. The vote for this year’s class will be held Feb. 5 in Dallas.

Read the rest of Pat’s story here.

By Pat Yasinskas

SEATTLE — The memories of their Super Bowl season will last forever. The magic did not.

The feel-good story of last season — or maybe the past decade or two — is over. It ended unexpectedly and more than a little embarrassingly for the New Orleans Saints. The defending Super Bowl champions came into Qwest Field on Saturday to play the first team in NFL history to make the playoffs with a 7-9 record.

It ended with the Seattle Seahawks, a team that stumbled to the NFC West championship, defeating the Saints 41-36. Just like that, the magic and miracles that carried the Saints all the way to Miami and last year’s Super Bowl are over.

“After you experience raising that trophy, you don’t want to see anyone else lift it,’’ New Orleans linebacker Scott Shanle said. “There wasn’t a person in this locker room that didn’t think we would be lifting that trophy again.’’

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