When I glanced at the second quarter score of the Miami Dolphins vs. New Orleans Saints game this afternoon, I was shocked but convinced the Dolphins—with a 24-3 lead—were for real and had found a way to put the brakes on the NFL’s highest-scoring offense. I reasoned that the Saints were, perhaps, not the same explosive team outside the friendly confines of the New Orleans Superdome. Then I quickly gathered my senses, remembering how quarterback Drew Brees and company rallied for 17 points in the 4th quarter to beat the Buffalo Bills four weeks ago.
So why wouldn’t they do the …read more

Did you have Drew Brees on your fantasy team today? Good for you. Drew tied a New Orleans Saints record (as well as tying his personal best) with six touchdowns in a 45-27 thumping of the Detroit Lions. He also had 358 yards passing. Which means Drew is merely picking up where he left off last season—he threw for 5,069 yards (just 15 measley yards shy of Dan Marino’s record for a single season) and was the NFL’s 2008 Offensive Player-of-the-Year. Of course, before Saints fans start making their Super Bowl reservations, they need to remember they …read more

Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Pat Williams says he doesn’t know if he can trust the NFL anymore—this after the league failed to tell its players that the over-the-counter supplement StarCaps secretly contained a prescription diuretic banned by the NFL. Pat and Vikings teammate Kevin Williams continue to face four-game suspensions to start the 2009 season if their ongoing appeal is overturned.
Pat is willing to take his medicine, so to speak, but he feels betrayed:
“Basically now I got to hold trust issues with the NFL. I don’t know if I can trust them now. If I did something wrong, I’m going …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
Yesterday, I wrote about the New Orleans Saints signing 12-year veteran safety Darren Sharper and revamping their defense. Today, much to my surprise, the team released one of their best defensive players — 10-year veteran cornerback Mike McKenzie. Mike played five seasons with the Saints after coming over from Green Bay in 2004. He started all but one of the 63 games he played in and had 225 tackles, 58 passes defensed, 12 interceptions and one forced fumble. He wasn’t the reason for the team’s less-than-stellar defensive efforts the past couple seasons. Saints Executive Vice …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
The New Orleans Saints signed former Minnesota Vikings safety Darren Sharper today. Terms of the deal weren’t known at the time of this post. At 33-years-old, Darren has no doubt seen his best years, but he will probably give the Saints some much needed leadership in their defensive secondary. After all, he’s been to four Pro Bowls and has 54 career interceptions, which is more than any other active player. He seemed pretty excited to be leaving Minnesota to play for new Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams:
“He’s excellent. I talked to guys around the league, …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
In what had to be one of this offseason’s most difficult decisions, the New Orleans Saints released beloved running back Deuce McAllister today. Deuce has had a magnificent career. Not only is he one of the best players to ever don a Saints uniform (he’s the team’s career rushing leader with 6,069 yards), he’s also one of the most revered athletes in his community. He spoke at length about the difficult decision:
“They say all good things must come to an end. As a player, this is a day that you dread happening. If you don’t …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
I first met linebacker Dan Morgan at the NFL Players Rookie Premiere back in 2001. He had just been drafted by the Carolina Panthers and was excited to start his NFL career. I’ve interviewed him several times since. He turned out to be one of my favorite players. I love the way he plays the game. But seven seasons, five concussions and a torn right Achilles’ tendon later, he was forced into an early retirement. After a year off, Dan announced his “unretirement” today and plans to return to the league with the New Orleans …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was named the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year today. Drew was a great choice. All he did was re-write the Saints’ record books this season. He became just the second player in NFL history to throw for 5,000 yards in a single season and he had a team-record and league-leading 34 touchdown passes. Naturally, he spoke of team first:
“I don’t come out from week to week and say I have to throw for 300 (yards). I don’t think about that. It’s really about what I can do to …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
The opponents for all 2009 regular-season games have been determined and a complete list of each team’s home and away matchups was issued yesterday by the NFL. The scheduling formula implemented in 2002 with realignment guarantees that all teams play each other on a regular, rotating basis. Under the formula, every team within a division plays 16 games as follows:

Home and away against its three division opponents (6 games)
The four teams from another division within its conference on a rotating three-year cycle (4 games)
The four teams from a division in the other conference on a …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees received 951,246 votes to lead all NFL All-Stars in fan balloting for the 2009 NFL Pro Bowl. N.Y. Jets quarterback Brett Favre (880,833 votes) ranks second overall, while N.Y. Giants quarterback Eli Manning (821,852 votes), Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis (767,817 votes) and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner (673,710 votes) round out the top-five. Here is the list of Top-Ten vote-getters for the 2009 National Football League Pro Bowl:

Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
Brett Favre, N.Y. Jets
Eli Manning, N.Y. Giants
Clinton Portis, Washington Redskins
Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals
Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings
Larry …read more