Catlin is an over the hill QB coming off a recent championship and the slow moving plot revolves around his decision to keep playing or retire, which descends it into a yarn about  star athlete ego in excess. There is a crumbling marriage, an affair and the upcoming season, and throughout the course of the movie, the viewer waits for redemptive qualities in Catlin but ultimately is provided with very little. His wife and fleeting mistress, played by Jessica Walter and Diana Muldaur, are spunky and sexy, are the better halves of the couplings and the plot should have included much more of them.

A young Bruce Dern stole the show, playing Heston's former wide receiver who has moved on with his life with no regrets and is better adjusted for it, having walked away from the game before it walks away from him. He is definitive Sixties hip. Locker room appearances from various old former Saints like big Doug Atkins and Dave Whitsell are endearing, as is a club scene with the venerable Al Hirt, as himself.  N'Awlins, baby.           

Despite the screenplay's flaws, there are many alluring scenes for Saints - and New Orleans - fans. Game and crowd footage from grand old Tulane Stadium is excellent, providing a pleasant trip down memory lane for older ones and a glimpse of what it was like for younger ones who have only experienced the Saints in the comparatively sterile Superdome.

A good scene takes place in Audubon Park, when the rookie back-up who wants Heston's job, played by Kelly Williams, effectively tells him, "Look man, you were one of the greats, like Tittle.....Unitas, but it's over. Sorry man - the king is dead". The casting director was somewhat prescient in making that role for a black quarterback, which  hardly existed in 1969; it may have been to stir a little "controversy" and sell more tickets.

There are some cool scenes of Heston tooling around in a big, steely American car in the Quarter at night, and on lower St. Charles. There are also scenes in the original Saints ticket headquarters on Lee Circle with then Saints GM Vic Schwenk playing himself, as well as practice clips in the team's first facility out on David Drive and Airline Highway that bristle with the scent of training camp and a season anew, making the movie timely viewing for this summer.           

Four decades later, the original Saints uniforms with gold pants and white or black jerseys, with jazzy striping and numbering, are still far superior to those homogenized versions of today. Uniforms change subtly over time but when Jim Mora became head coach in the 1980's, he had them patterned after those of the Steelers to shake a "loser's image". That malarkey has sufficiently expired and a grass roots movement to bring them back should begin.

The music is mostly good, period background stuff, handled by Beverly Hills composer Dominic Frontiere, which has a twist onto itself. Mr. Frontiere eventually headed Paramount's music division in the 1970's, but made headlines for both being the ex-husband of Rams owner Georgia Frontiere (she had several) and serving prison time for a Super Bowl ticket scalping scandal in 1980, which reportedly netted him with about a half million IRS un-reported dollars from tickets provided by his ex.  

Georgia Frontiere (who died 18 months ago from breast cancer) was a former sometime night club singer and chorus line performer, a buxom, blonde, fast-laner. She was thrust into the pro football world in April 1979 when her then husband, Carroll Rosenbloom, the owner of the Los Angeles Rams, drowned in the ocean while swimming near his Florida home. At the time, some thought the drowning was suspicious since Rosenbloom was known to be an adroit swimmer and the surf that day was not up.

Rosenbloom had groomed his son from a previous marriage, Steve, as his successor, but he left 70 percent of the Rams' ownership to his wife, evidently to minimize estate taxes. She quickly asserted control as the first and only female owner in pro football, firing her stepson and replacing him as the team's general manager, and subsequently moved the Rams from Los Angeles to St. Louis in a lucrative new stadium deal (come to think of it, this is all good screenplay material itself........).

It's always been difficult to make a high quality film about pro football. Many of them have not been been made with league consent for trademark use of teams and logos (Number One is an exception - the game footage uses actual teams and players, though Heston looks every bit the 46 that he was when the film as made, breaking a rib in the process), which stretches the believability factor. Also, how many twists can there be on the somewhat tired sports cliché of overcoming adversity to win? And how much of that adversity is real - or Hollywood contrived?

Brian's Song (1971) was a sentimental fact based favorite about Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers' race blind, cancer terminal friendship while they were with the Bears. I still need to see The Longest Yard (1974) with Burt Reynolds as a former pro in prison in its entirety. Former Cowboy Peter Gent's novel, North Dallas Forty (1979) was an acclaimed movie with Animal House theatrics, starring Nick Nolte and country singer Mac Davis. Incidentally, actor G.D. Spradlin played head coach in both that film (as Tom Landry) and Number One (as then Saints head coach Tom Fears).

Tom Cruise as player agent Jerry Maguire (1996) told lots more about the real business of pro ball than did Oliver Stone's so called expose, Any Given Sunday (1999). Besides trying to get used to seeing Al Pacino as a football coach, the movie was a  typical media  over-hyped, melodramatic bust (save a good player on painkillers performance by  Lawrence Taylor), leaving some fans scratching their heads why they were even fans of the damn game.

Perhaps the best of the lot is 2006's under-rated Invincible, starring Mark Wahlberg in a true story about former Eagle receiver Vince Papale's ascendance from bartender to pro football player after a walk-on tryout at the beginning of the Dick Vermeil era in Philadelphia in the 1970's. Greg Kinnear ably plays Coach Vermeil in all polyester, eager beaver detail. There are archives from NFL Films and the rest of the playing footage is plenty real, and good.         

Number One spawns no sharp reactions either way other than being the greatest bad movie ever made for Saints aficionados. It was made during a simpler, stiffer, yet in some ways arguably better, era. The original United Artists poster for the flick includes "When you are Number One, you have no where to go but down!"  In the end, how far Cat Catlin goes down is less categorical and more subject to viewer's interpretation and preference, mildly controversial in that regard. The answer has hardly kept movie viewers sleepless all this time yet Number One remains on the recommended list.    

Number One is not easy to find. A friend graciously found and sent me a copy.  It's doubtful your local video store will have the DVD. Cursory Netflix and Amazon searches did not yield it. In January a message board on media hub IMDB.com said Eddie Brandt's Video (818-506-4242) might have it for $16 or so, and am told that Steve Perry at sportsdiscs08@gmail.com might have it. Seems local TV stations like WWL and WDSU TV could be convinced to show it in place of tedious syndicate reruns, if emailed enough.       

Does it seem that long ago that the Saints had all but moved to San Antonio, ultimately en route to Los Angeles, while boarded up houses spray painted with FEMA'S dreaded X's in New Orleans accumulated more mold?

Does it seem that long ago that then Commisioner Paul Tagliabue was annointed the role of White Knight by the media for his role in keeping the Saints in New Orleans - for the time being - after the greatest natural disaster in U.S. history?   

Does it seem that long ago - Pre K - that owner Tom Benson moaned and groaned about people not buying enough tickets to see the team, and that maybe New Orleans was not an NFL caliber city?  

Of coures it doesn't. In fact, it seems too recent, way too recent, which makes today's news of the Saints selling out for the 4th consecutive season - with more than a 50,000 waiting list - more than a passing blurb.    

Hindsight has a way of providing perspective on the relative absurdity of it all.

To top it off, the Saints and the State of Louisiana have negotiated the teams' presence in the Crescent City until about 2023.  To boot, the Super Bowl will finally return here after a shameful decade plus absence by the league. All those new stadiums in other venues later, and the consensus is still a slam dunk that nobody can host the Big Game, or the Big Party,  like New Orleans.

Call it a minor miracle, or indicative of the wizardry of Father Time.  And some redemption for those who have chosen to Keep The Faith.

The news is hardly all appeasing. Who Dat faithful still worry if their team can really compete for it all come September, if they can stop people from out-scoring their potent offense, and if the new season will go south into another forty-something fall. They worry if Drew Brees will get hurt, or if Sean Payton was a one hit wonder. They worry if Reg-gie will ever be what he was advertised to be.

In the bigger picture, Saints fans have more important things to worry about. Like their jobs, their homes, their kids' educations, if they can afford to get sick, their cars - when this nasty thing called a recession but in reality is a black hole - when and if this malaise will ever come to an end.

Traditional optimism about the future has become unhinged by cover the ass in the present, just like during the aftermath of a hurricane.  

Saints fans also worry - or position themselves - for who the next Mayor will be, Mr. Nagin having worn out his welcome.  They are still trying to understand Bobby Jindall, resigned to that being a waste of time, again reminded that politicians remain moving targets of expediency, irrespective of party, the spineless jellyfish of the sea. Predictably, that sentiment has run back to Capitol Hill and the White House after the latest propaganda campaigns of change have already run their course.

They are used to all the petty bickering among councilmen at City Hall, with some if it finally starting to seethe underneath their skins, but too concerned about their own welfares to do anything about it. Except mostly for people like Garland Robinette, who make a living doing it on talk radio.  

Some still wonder why former Gov. Kathleen Blanco and some in her adminsitration were never at least indicted for involuntary manslaughter after what transpired here in 2005. 

The laissez-faire and charm that has accompanied being a New Orleanian, and a Saints fan, has been dissipated by present day circumstance and reality. No matter how good the news   may be, there is something potentially adverse lurking just behind it.

Sign of the times; the best and worst of times for Saints fans.   

Apparently, the players did not read or adhere to NFL Handbook Rule 101, which advises against urinating in public, and 101A, which strongly suggests not compounding the situation with lewd conduct if caught in such a compromising position.

These disconcerting events had reverberations throughout Who Dat Nation.  

Would Saints marketers in the front office have to change the beloved slogan, Bless You Boys, into - Boys Will Be Boys?  Will the use of Geaux Saints, Geaux still be considered appropriate?

Counsel for their defense has a tall order. They will likely contend that some of the evidence has dried up and that if the passers by were male, a complaint likely would not have been made. Defense best not claim the latter, to avoid incurring any wrath from the special interest group WARP (Women Against Random Peeing). The prosecution will likely overwhelm the judge with aggravating circumstances.

What will their sentence be? Will community service require them to relieve themselves in a state facility twice a day in the presence of corrections officers to verify that it was done - in a urinal? What happens if they miss? Will they be further penalized for personal foul, or intentional grounding?  Let's hope it doesn't degenerate into an analysis of what is and isn't allowed outside the pocket.

During the whistle-blowing, hustle bustle of training camp drills this summer, assistant coaches will have to think twice before exhorting the troops with a standard battle cry, "C'mon, let's see what 'ya got!"

Such transgressions have not been recalled (or at least reported) by Saints players, thus Biren Ealy and Kolomana Kapanui will go down as having put their own set of  footprints, er, stains, on franchise history.

There are about 80 bodies on the roster, about 1/3 of which will not be come September, making their slim chances of making the team that much more remote. In fact, they were   just cut, effectively having pissed away their opportunities to become Saints.    

The Saints have never had a "franchise" defensive back.

To date, their best has probably been Dave Whitsell, taken from the Bears in the 1967 expansion draft. Safety Tommy Myers ('72 - '81) had limited ability but a decent career due to effort and consistency. During the Mora era, the defensive backfield was manned by ordinaries who would not have started for many other teams, or even made their  rosters. Their stints resulted from the largesse of the formidable front seven of the Dome Patrol.

Jimmy Mora, Jr., coaching the defensive backfield for his father, heavily influenced the team making CB Alex Molden their top draft pick in the '96 draft, passing on stellar RB Eddie George in the process. Molden had 8 interceptions in 5 seasons with the Saints.  Lamentably, now retired CB Fred Thomas was featured in a YouTube video titled Worst Cornerback Ever.

Too bad S Ed Reed of Destrehan did not seek free agency to leave the Ravens and finish his career in New Orleans. If he did, he would be just as valuable to the Saints (and worthy of just as much compensation) as Drew Brees. Reed is not only the best DB, but is the most dominant defensive player in the league.   

Defenses really are not on a level playing field with offenses in today's NFL. This is primarily due to the league making a conscientious effort to market the game for offense in the late 1980's with new rules for liberal blocking techniques by offensive linemen and no contact allowed by CB's on receivers beyond 5 yards. This is typified by the referees biased to making ticky-tacky pass interference calls to the extent that throwing deep late in close games by offenses is good strategy in that a flag may get thrown almost as frequently as a completion might occur. It is absurd that pass interference is not subject to officials' review in the booth, a real injustice to the game.          

There aren't any "shutdown" cornerbacks in the league anymore. Deion Sanders was known as one early in his career, but just as much because many QB's were afraid to throw in his direction, not wanting to risk being on the wrong side of a Prime Time pick six television highlight. As his career wore on, Sanders became an inviting target to run power sweeps at as he became astute at avoiding contact and turned into a wimpy tackler. Out in Oakland, Nnamdi Asomugha is as close to a shutdown corner as there is, highly adept at the "bump and run" technique, following in the footsteps of Raider legacies Willie Brown and Lester "Stick-Em" Hayes.      

Pre-requisites for top corners are something of a Catch 22.  Smaller ones may be swift enough to run with wide receivers, but lack the height to break up passes thrown at taller wideouts, and the physicality to make sure tackles. The taller ones (6'0 and over) simply tend to not be fast enough to stay. It's tough out there, on the island. The CB's opponent knows where he is going and has the wheels to get there quickly. The refs stand by, prone to penalize for any inadvertent contact. The position is as difficult to master as any, including QB. The best ones simply minimize the damage.

It's no coincidence that many top safeties have been cornerback conversions. Corners are frequently switched when they are not up to snuff in man to man, or later on in their careers when they lose a step. Hall of Fame S Ronnie Lott was an average corner before making the switch. Saints 3rd year corner Usama Young has some ability but is now being projected at safety for this upcoming training camp.

Here's to keeping the faith that top draft choice Malcolm Jenkins can change the Saints' longtime woes out on the island that is CB. On college film, he appears to have good size, sufficient speed, and the range to make plays. Keys for him will be how well he reacts to the ball while in flight - many corners shadow adequately but do not turn around and play the ball in the instant that it counts -  and how he reacts to the inevitable, which is getting beat. If Jenkins' territory stays firmer than the wetlands in much of south Louisiana, he will be considered a success.     

That year, John Elway was selected 1st, and the ensuing QB's picked were Todd Blackledge, Jim Kelly, Tony Eason, and Ken O'Brien, until Don Shula said the heck with it and ended up with one of the most prolific passers in the history of the game with the 27th pick. Had Shula managed to assemble a real defense down in Miami the following decade, Marino would have gotten a much deserved ring or two (the Killer Bees had more in common with Swarming Gnats). Heresy, innuendo, and last minute high anxiety can dramatically affect draft selections and alter fates in the NFL.

The draft has been around since 1936. It used to be thought of primarily as a repository of college players from which teams could train and replenish their rosters over the longer haul. Sure, there were the "can't miss" 1st round prospects who were expected to step right in and contribute, but they were the exception, not the norm. His first year in the league, O.J. Simpson was actually considered being converted into a wide receiver.

There is no such thing as rebuilding in today's NFL, only reloading. The pressure to win now, or at least appear to be on a path to doing so, has adjusted teams into thinking in terms of plugging holes right away to shoot for the playoffs that season (unless of course it's the Detroit Lions). It is very much a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league, much like the society in which we live. The advent of free agency contributed to this mindset, with rookies now tied to their teams for only 4 years before becoming eligible to go get a better contract elsewhere. Thus, teams seek to maximize the utility of draft picks as soon as they get off the plane.

Background checks on college players by their prospective employers are likely more thorough than for the top graduates of the best business, medical and law schools in the country. Scouts mill around prospects' homes, schools, and police departments all year, grilling anyone who might know something about the kid's habits and character to fully formulate what they have seen of the prospect on film, which is typically all of their college career games and in some cases, all their high school games. Tens of seven figured signing contracts, much of it guaranteed, for the unproven rookies have scouts acting like private investigators in protecting their team's substantial investments (and their own jobs). Were this not done under the aegis of upward mobility, it could be construed as an invasion of privacy.

There is a plethora of physical tests given to the prospects in Indianapolis at the annual combine in February. Sprints, cone shuttle drills, vertical leaps, 225 lb. bench presses, etc., are performed by a herd of prospects and scientifically scored by the scouts. The combine testing is so thorough that top prospects have been increasingly avoiding it, leery of a sub-par day, as that could move them down in the estimated pecking order quickly, opting instead for "pro day" workouts within the comfortable confines of their own respective colleges in the spring.

The attention paid to the drills can get comical. You see a video of two dozen scouts huddled around and on top of one another at the finish line of a top prospect's highly esteemed 40 yard dash, staring at their stopwatches as if they are in an operating room for open heart surgery. What, Joe from the Seahawks times him in 4.478 seconds and Red from the Bills catches him in a 4.485? Wow - what an edge!

And there is the Wonderlik (sp) "intelligence and aptitude" multiple choice test, which has some questions not unlike, if there is a carton of a dozen eggs in the refrigerator and you eat four a day, how many days will the carton last? Or, you went out to see a movie a week for 3 months. How many movies did you see over a 12 week period?

There are some fundamental problems with the weight of evaluation given to the drills. The prospects do them in shorts and tees, without the 10-25 pounds of pads and equipment that are uniforms on game days, making them much more indicative of overall athleticism than how good a football player a kid really is. Also, all drills are non-contact, and they don't play in shorts (or skirts, though some contend quarterbacks and kickers do) on Sundays.

A linebacker prospect may look and clock great in the shuttle, running squares around the cones in simulated pursuit against the wind, but how does he look with a 6'5, 350 lb. pro bowl offensive lineman who knows all the tricks arm wrestling him and snorting in his face while he tries to look over or around the behemoth to locate the ball carrier? Or more importantly, does the kid have that sixth sense of where the ball carrier is as the play develops?

A quarterback prospect may have a rifle of an arm in the drills, trotting back with no rush and making "all the throws" with velocity and accuracy on deep sideline routes, as scouts and coaches drool in anticipation. But how does he look some miserable cold, wet December evening while on the visiting team up in Foxboro or Three Rivers, his team down by 10 with only about 4 minutes left, it's 3rd and 13, doesn't like the call that gets transmitted into his helmet (what he can hear of it), and has had a belly full of some wide eyed multi-million dollar sack specialist yelling in his ear hole after every pass rush as if on crack about how good it was being with his mother was last night?

As much as they may try, scouts simply can't quantify the intangibles - feel for the game, focus, and heart. They're quite aware of them, but teams ultimately bank mostly on tangibles with their selections, and over the years clubs have made and will continue to commit major league blunders. Essentially, that's why Tom Brady lasted until Round 6, Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning were considered about equal coming out of college and why Joe Montana was not selected until the bottom of the 3rd round. In the Golden Era, John Unitas was drafted in Round 9 before being cut by the Steelers, and Bart Starr was picked in the last round, 17.

The Olympics were once considered a hotbed for obtaining fleet, game breaking wide receivers. Problem was, the sprinters could not harness their straight away speed into pass routes that fooled anybody, nor could most of them catch anything. Bob Hayes in Dallas was the exception. Willie Gault was a useful but one dimensional receiver in Chicago, and hardly a star. The Saints drafted Larry Burton out of Purdue in 1975 but he wasn't around very long, and was on the field even less.

Perhaps Jimmy Johnson said it best on Fox last year when he intimated teams should not worry about who everybody else likes or where everybody thinks the player should go - but to just go ahead and select who they want, when they have the opportunity to take them. The Cowboys had smashing success doing precisely that during most of the Tom Landry era, unexpectedly selecting obscure players from small schools with top picks such as RB Duane Thomas, LB Thomas Henderson, and DE Ed Jones, to name a few.

Trivia note: WR Michael Irvin is associated with the Jimmy Johnson tenure in Dallas but it was actually Landry who drafted Irvin his last year at the helm. Irvin didn't play much as a rookie, the head coach preferring to bring him along semi-slowly. Also, Landry said he would likely take Troy Aikman with his top pick that spring, just before being dismissed. The late, great, Tom Landry......

There is plenty of mock draft conjecture out there as to whom the Saints may take with their top picks and that will not be added onto here, noting only a hope that there is a linebacker in the mix. Jonathan Vilma and to a lesser extent, Scott Fujita, look like the Saints' only cogs at LB at this point, though 2nd year player Jo-Lonn Dunbar flashed some ability last season and potentially could be a starter. This position on the team is thin.

If you watch it on TV Saturday, it starts later this year (4 PM EST, 3 PM CST), so as to attract more prime time viewers (NFL trend). If tuning in to ESPN, turning down the volume below normal so Chris Berman's hyperbole does not cause premature nausea is suggested. There is still too much time between selections (personnel departments spend 50 something weeks a year working on this stuff and should have their minds made up). Take a close look at the ebullient draft guru, Mel Kiper, Jr., who has worked hard at it and made a good living off the draft for a long time. With that pompadour of his, he might also make a pretty good Elvis impersonator and would definitely make a great car salesman.

Enjoy the draft for what it's worth. It has effectively become not unlike an American reality TV show with all the media hoopla, high priced flesh peddling, consumerism, hot air, intrigue, and suspense one can expect from a production of this scale. Unlike Survivor or Lost, however, it is considered to have more meaningful and long term implications - at least for pro football fans. Inherently though, the draft still manages to come out as a rite of spring laced with some optimism about tomorrow - it's most enduring tradition.

Basically a country boy, he parlayed his considerable size, strength, and talent with all out effort to All American at Miami and 1st draft choice of the Giants in '02. He also played with a discernible nasty streak, the kind more frequently seen on defense.

Swift enough, the Giants would often wide him out, where he would impose his will on defensive backfields, deadly at 10-20 yards down the field, gutting for extra yards after the catch.and snaring jump balls for touchdowns. He didn't shy away from following through on crunching blocks, either.  

In his rookie season, he had dominated a playoff game out at old Candlestick against the 49'ers, only for the Giants to have a comedy of errors in deep snap kicking, which ultimately led to them blowing a big lead and the game. The playoff performance by a TE was reminiscent of Kellen Winslow's marauding effort against the Dolphins in double overtime a few decades ago. Unfortunately, both gems by the two players resulted in losses for their teams.  

The sky seemed the limit for Shockey, whose role was being orchestrated at the time by Sean Payton on the Giants offensive staff. He quickly became the talk of the town in Manahattan, a Generation X' er with an old school style of play - but with elite talent. Former Giant TE Mark Bavarro was a bull and similarly stoked the fires of the frenzies in NY, but did not have Shockey's range as a receiver.

Shockey's career subsequently shifted down from overdrive but remained productive. Sean Payton moving on to assist Bill Parcells in Dallas, the Giants having mediocre teams, them shifting his role from primary to alternative target, in addition to the wear and tear accumulated on his body from his physical style of play, were all factors.  

It bottomed out for him in NY during the Gmen's unlikely Super Bowl at the end of the '07 season. Being injured and missing the playoffs, he watched his replacement, a kid named Boss, make a big catch and run down the field against the Patriots, an instrumental play in the upset, seemingly detached from the team - in the press box.

A year ago, it was no secret Sean Payton thought Shockey still had plenty of gas in the tank - him being a few years shy of 30, in addition to the coach feeling his TE position on the team was being manned by pedestrians (though Billy Miller is an adequate playmaker). At first the asking price was too steep but the Saints ultimately obtained him for a # 2 and a # 5 in this year's draft. Training camp was abuzz with what he could add to the potency of the Saints offense. Would there be enough balls to go around?

Perhaps Shockey never got over his last injury - it nagged him throughout '08 - and came back a bit too soon. He had some trouble adjusting to Drew Brees' tendencies and obviously had some rust to shake, resulting in some untimley drops and fumbles. In the forever increasing quickness of the pro game, that happens to players coming off layoffs. 

The trade to obtain him became questionable last October before the trade deadline, particularly when "still the king" of TE's, Tony Gonzales, was said to be available in Kansas City, where Herm Edwards maligned "rebuilding" plan went awry in a hurry. It is regrettable to  remind Saints fans that Mike Ditka could have drafted the King here instead of journeyman OL Chris Naole.     

Shockey bristled, was noticably frustrated, but did not dog it and did not appear to be a problem in the locker room. That's no minor feat in this brittle ego era of pro football (latest, see: Jay Cutler). In that sense, he was something of a microcosm of the entire team last season.

Throw Shockey a mulligan for '08 and knock on wood that he comes to camp - and stays - healthy. At the top of his game, he can raise the bar for the whole team, inciting the defense on the sidelines and generating electricity for the home crowd. Payton would be wise to get back to getting him the ball on intermediate routes beyond the LB's as opposed to the short curls and outs the TE mostly saw last year. Shockey matches up best against corners and safeties.

Draftniks will be actively monitoring if the price paid for Shockey was too high when the Giants make their selections and they take the field.   

If all goes reasonably well, the price paid for # 88 could still prove to be a bargain. Shockey would inevitably savor a ring here more than the one he received in New York, having had to earn it, in part, watching from the press box when it counted.   

Stay tuned. Next post April 22.        

A new defensive honcho on the sidelines, no more sentimental favorite Deuce, a capable when healthy CB Mike McKenzie, or bowling ball FB Mike Carney, among other changes -such as some name free agent additions in the defensive backfield, and the '09 Saints roster is beginning to take shape as the college player draft approaches in about a month. 

Who Dat Nation has been waiting for the re-enactment of the magic of the Post Katrina Saints of '06. Some pubs like Sports Illustrated had them among the Super Bowl favorites the following season. A mediocre .500 type club has taken the field since, not bad enough to bring a return of the disgust of bagheads of yore, but a major disappointment nevertheless.   

For two plus seasons the defense has been soft. Playoffs have way of magnifying weaknesses in the NFL, and this should have been obvious to Saints brass after Chicago ran all over them in the '06 NFC Championship at Soldier, thwarting the Saints 1st historic bid to get to the Super Bowl, where they would have made a far more entertaining opponent for the Colts than the Bears were. 

In '07 the club drafted Tenn. WR Todd Meacham in the 1st round, not only displaying a lack of priority on the defense side of the ball, but resulting in the peculiarity of the pick not even ready to dress out that season, and not due to injury.  

Last season, one thing the defense did reasonably well under now former def. coordinator Gary Gibbs was blitz. They did it way too little, choosing to "play it safe" but of course got burned through the air repeatedly anyway. The unit would have been better off going down swinging.

It is no cliche that offense wins games but defense wins championships in the NFL. The Giants getting hot at rushing the passer down the stretch and the Steelers holding off the Cardinals at critical points in the Super Bowl are the latest examples.

The Saints GM, coaching staff, and player personnel dept. have collectively fumbled in a) making defense a priority and b) evaluating the talent and implementing it since '06, when the unit and team was basically a happy-go-lucky, fun bunch of overachievers.  Post K, it was motivated to achieve for a community cause greater than self, but that effect has dissipated. 

2009 is setting up to be a critical season for the organization in Year 4 under offensive minded Sean Payton.  The hiring of def. coordinator Greg Williams makes the duo as close to a Co-Head Coach arrangement as there is in the NFL.

Stay Tuned. Will be posting every Saturday commencing April 11.  

There's a light at the end of the tunnel, finally.  Hope for a defensive resurrection in the Big Easy is now realistic.  With the addition of defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, the Saints took a crucial step in overhauling a defense that has served as a ball and chain for the Black-and-Gold over the past several seasons.

Under Gary Gibbs, whom the Saints just fired after three lackluster years as defensive coordinator, the Saints were never an elite defensive team. 

Part of the blame goes on the players, of course.  There has been a dearth of talented defenders on the roster (especially in the secondary), and if you don't have talent, you won't win games, bottom line.

But Gibbs deserves some of the blame as well.  Often times I felt New Orleans was far to conservative with defensive play calling. 

Logically speaking, if you're already weak in the secondary, and will likely be beat on a long ball anyway, why not send the house and hope for a quarterback hurry or sack?  Why sit back and wait for your undersized, overmatched cornerbacks to be Fred Thomas toasted?    

Gregg Williams is the type of guy that will call those blitzes.  He's the coach that is sending two linebackers and a safety on third and 11.  He's the defensive coordinator that led the Tennessee Titans to a near Super Bowl win in 2000.

And believe it or not, Williams might have some decent talent to work with next season, assuming the Saints can avoid the vicious injury bug that literally took their knees out from under them this season. 

There are playmakers on every level of the defense.  On the defensive line, there's Sedrick Ellis and perhaps Will Smith and Charles Grant if they decide to actually give a damn this year.  In the linebacking corps, there's Jonathan Vilma, a tackling machine.  And in the secondary, you've got the up-and-coming Tracy Porter. 

The cupboard isn't exactly bare for Gregg Williams.  He'll have some players to work with.

The Saints made a great move bringing Williams into the fold.  I think he made the right decision as well.  After all, who wouldn't want to coach the defense on a team with the No. 1 offense? 

He's got a built in security blanket with Drew Brees, who'll get him 25 points a game no problem.  Williams can afford to take risks because he'll know no lead is safe against the Saints offense.  And risk-taking is exactly what the Saints' defense needs.

Let's credit Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis for making the right move at the right time.  It's a great start to a hopefully prosperous offseason.  

Think back for a second:  It's roughly Week 7 or 8 of the NFL season and you're kicked back in the recliner on a Sunday afternoon watching your favorite team. 

For the sake of argument, let's say you're a die-hard Arizona Cardinals fan and you're pumped because the team is having a great year and you might actually get to witness a home-playoff game for the first time since Dinosaurs walked the Earth.

So the Cardinals have the ball on their own forty-yard line and their driving.  It's the second quarter and they've got a 10-point lead. 

They break the huddle and Kurt Warner heads toward his normal spot in the shotgun position.  But then, before the ball is even hiked, Warner turns to the sideline and starts to run.  You watch in bewilderment as your potential MVP candidate ambles over to the flat and stops, assuming a wide receiver's stance. 

Then, the ball is hiked to Anquan Boldin who you didn't even know was lined up at quarterback because you were too busy starring at Warner and wondering if it's humanly possible for a man to look more awkward than Warner looks in a receiver's stance.

The next thing you know, Boldin has rushed for seven yards and Warner is back in the huddle calling the next play.  What the heck just happened? 

Ladies and Gentleman, allow me to introduce you to the wildcat formation.

College football fans are very familiar with it, as it's been adopted full-force by dozens of college teams.  But until this season, it hadn't made it to the NFL.  Now it's here and it seems like almost everyone is using it. 

It all started in Week 3 with Miami who, needing a reversal of fortune after a 0-2 start, said what the hell and whipped it out against the Patriots.  New England was completely caught off guard and the Dolphins blew them out 38-13.  That's all it took.

The wildcat formation caught on and spread like gonorrhea in a whorehouse.  If you don't think the NFL is a copycat league, think again. The week after Miami's big win, every team started thinking hard about who they could put in the Shotgun to take a direct snap.

It's really not that tough of a decision, either.  All you need is an athletic wide receiver or shifty running back.  If you've got one of those, put him five yards behind the center and snap him the ball.  If you've got a decent offensive line, you'll probably get at least four or five yards on every play.  It's pretty simple.

What's really smart though is what Miami has done with it.  They're putting both Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown in the backfield and making the defense choose.  One of them is going to get the ball, but the defense doesn't know whom.

There are drawbacks to the wildcat, though.  For one, it can't be run on every down unless you've got a running back/ wide receiver who can throw the ball.  It's also pretty easy to defend when you know it's coming.  If defenders play their gaps soundly, there shouldn't be many big plays.     

So basically, it's a gimmick formation that works five-six times a game if your lucky.  But there's something to be said for a gimmicky college formation making it to the pros.  Who knows, perhaps next week we'll see Kurt Warner running the option.     

For those of you waiting for Falcons rookie quarterback Matt Ryan to flame out, I've got news for you: It's not going to happen.  But he's a rookie quarterback in the NFL, you say; he's bound to hit a brick wall one of these days. 

Yeah, that's what I thought going into the Saints, Falcons game Sunday.  Two hundred and forty eight yards and two touchdowns later, Ryan was the winning quarterback on the field, not league MVP candidate Drew Brees.

A lot of that had to do with a miserable Saints defense, but that shouldn't and doesn't take away from anything Ryan did.  He was as polished as a shiny new black Lexus driving off the lot.

It's truly astonishing what Ryan is doing in his rookie season.  He's in the top half of the league in almost every important passing statistic, except one: Interceptions.  That's almost unheard of for a rookie quarterback. 

Rookies playing quarterback are almost always dead last in the league in passing stats.  Heck, that's who those spots are reserved for, rookies and third-stringers who are only playing because Tom Brady and Tony Romo got hurt.     

Quarterbacking as a rookie in the NFL is so hard that most first-year guys don't even get a chance to try it.  Usually rookie quarterbacks sit out a year before they try their hand. 

Some don't, though.  Sometimes a team is in such desperate need of quarterback that they'll throw a rookie out there and take their chances.  That's what Atlanta did.  That's what the Colts did with Peyton Manning and what the Cowboys did with Troy Aikman.

Both Manning and Aikman performed admirably as rookies, albeit on miserable teams, but both were clearly light years away from what they would ultimately become. 

Ryan's not like that.  He's good now and on a pretty good football team.  As a Saints fan, it's actually kind of frightening to think that this kid is only going to get better.  If he's this good now, what is he going to look like five years from now when he's in his prime?     

So what do we make of this phenomenon?  How can Matt Ryan be immune to the pitfalls of the NFL that have felled so many young quarterbacks? 

Maybe it's his attention to detail.  He supposedly as diligent in his preparation as Manning and Brees.  You know, the first-to-arrive, last-to-leave type guy. 

Maybe it's the system he played in college.  Boston College runs a pro style offense, don't they?  Mixed in now, I'm sure, with a sprinkling of the wildcat formation that seems to be sweeping the football world these days.  But as an overall offensive philosophy, they seem to be pretty cut and dry.  Perhaps that's what's helping Ryan to be so successful.

Anyway you slice it, Ryan has been an absolute phenom so far this season.  Nobody expected him to have the Atlanta Falcons, a 4-win team last season, tied for second in the NFC South with a 6-3 record.

He's so good that he might earn a invite to Hawaii after the season's done.  How crazy would that be?  It probably won't happen though, contrary to what my title says.  The NFC has too many great QBs: Warner, Brees, Eli Manning, Daunte Culpepper (wait, what?). 

But to even be considered, to even be mentioned as a possible candidate proves how good Ryan has been this season. 

So don't hold your breath, Matt Ryan critics.  He's having one of the best rookie seasons for a quarterback in NFL history.  And he's showing no signs of stopping now.   

If Steve Irwin were still alive today, he would have two words to describe injury information in the NFL these days:  An elusive creature.  I don't know if this starts and ends with the Saints or if it is a league wide phenomenon, but this season I've noticed that injuries have been going unreported for way longer than they should be. 

It began after the Saints' Week 1 win over the Bucs.  During that game Marques Colston sustained an injury to his thumb which required surgery.  Normally, a club would release that type of information after the game or maybe early the next morning.  But in Colston's case, it took until Wednesday of the following week for an announcement to be made.

Saints fans were blindsided, having no idea that Colston had even sustained a serious injury. 

The same thing happened today with Charles Grant.  Here I was early this morning, eating a bowl of Cheerios and minding my own business. I log on to nola.com to see what's going on in the city, and all of a sudden I'm smacked in the mouth with the news that Charles Grant is done for the year. 

Where was this information a week ago?  Why must the coaches hold out on us fans?  When the game is over and there are no significant injuries, we like to know that there are no significant injuries.  We don't like being surprised with season-ending injury news.  It doesn't sit well with morning Cheerios.

Anyway, delayed injury news is not the purpose of this post.  Injuries in general are what concerns me.  This has been the hardest hit Saints squad in terms of injuries that I can remember.

It seems like every week there is a new Saint going down.  And they aren't Cie Grant-type scrub players.  They're key contributors. 

First it was Hollis Thomas in training camp.  Then in Week 1 it was Colston and Scott Fujita.  Then later on came Antwan Lake, Sedrick Ellis, Tracy Porter and Aaron Glenn.  After that, Jeremy Shockey and Reggie Bush.  Now it's Charles Grant.  And that doesn't even take into account Deuce McAllister and Mike McKenzie missing time early in the year because of their own injuries. 

Granted, some of these players have returned to play.  But that doesn't make up for the fact that most of them missed considerable time in important games when the Saints could've used them.

Injuries are not an excuse, I know.  Everyone has them, therefore no one should complain about them.  So in that vain, let me say that the Saints have done a remarkably good job in getting to a .500 record after sustaining such a vicious bite from the injury bug.

I still maintain that they should be at worst 6-2, but that's another story for another day. 

The reality of it is that New Orleans is 4-4 and heading into the second half of the season where hopefully they can put their injury woes behind them. 

If they can't, it'll be another wasted year for the Black-and-Gold.  But if the Saints can avoid injury, they've got a shot to get in the thick of things.  With a stable full of healthy horses, there's no telling how far they can run.   

It's unusual to say that a Week 8 game is a do-or-die situation for an NFL squad.  But for the Saints, no truer words can be spoken.

New Orleans squares off against San Diego in London this weekend in what will be the seminal game of the Saints' season.

Win, and the black-and-gold have a realistic shot at the playoffs.  Lose, and they can start auditioning players for next year.  It's that simple.

A victory against San Diego would even the Saints record at 4-4 heading into the bye week.  A loss would drop them to 3-5 and essentially end their playoff hopes.

Reaching 10 wins after starting the season 4-4 is doable.  It'll be tough task, but certainly not an insurmountable one.  The Saints would have to get on a role and become one of those "hot" teams with a four or five game winning streak entering December. 

But reaching 10 wins after starting 3-5 is like trying to keep Pacman off the bottle--it's just not very realistic.

To make the playoffs, the Saints will need to win no less than 10 games--and even that might not be enough.  They play in what is now shaping up to be the most competitive division in the NFL, so a 10-6 record might not cut it. 

The Panthers, Bucs and even Falcons all have a legitimate shot to win the division.  It'll take a minimum of 10 wins to even be in the discussion.

But what about the schedule?  Doesn't it get easier after the bye? 

Yes, the Saints have a relatively weak second-half schedule, but this is still the NFL where any team can win on any given day.  We just saw the proof this past Sunday in St. Louis' win over Dallas.

New Orleans simply can't rely on a easy schedule in the second half to help them make a late season surge.  They've got to get things going now against San Diego.  A win against the Chargers would do wonders for the team's confidence as they enter their bye week.

People always say it's good to go into a bye week on a high note.  I think it's crucial for the Saints to do just that.

So do they have a chance at saving their season against San Diego?  I think they do.  The Chargers have been as disappointing, if not more, than the Saints through seven weeks.

They were touted as Super Bowl contenders in the preseason.  Now they're facing an uphill battle just to make the playoffs. 

I can tell you one thing: The scoreboard operator's hand might cramp up by the time this one's over.  It's going to be a good ole fashioned shootout between two teams who can play offense, but not much defense. 

The Saints generally do well in offensive oriented games, mainly because they've got the firepower to keep up as long as Drew Brees is on target.  Brees is going to have to get back on track after last week's stinker in Carolina.

The Saints can't win if Brees has a bad day.  It's just not possible.  He is the tempo-setter, and if he's off, you can bet the rest of the team is as well.  But if he's on, the Saints can play with any team in the league. 

In the end, no one knows who's going to win this game.  What we do know though, is that if the Saints lose, they can start making vacation plans for January because they certainly won't playing football.     

It’s easy to say after Sunday’s thrashing of Oakland that the Saints have turned the corner; that the defense is playing at a top-notch level and that Drew Brees is unstoppable. 

It’s easy to think after a 31 point win that once Jeremy Shockey, Marques Colston and Sedrick Ellis return, New Orleans will turn on the jet fuel and start running over people.

Really, it’s easy to envision the Saints making a deep run to playoffs after such a dominating performance in front of the home crowd. 

But the fact remains that this was just one win; a win over a team that LSU might even have given trouble (not really, not after that embarrassing showing in the swamp).

But you get the point.  Sure the Saints won and won big, but any self-respecting, semi-talented, half-awake NFL team could have won that game.  The Saints took care of business in a game they should’ve won. 

That’s a good thing though.  Good teams do that; it’s a mark of a focused club.  They win they games they’re supposed to win. 

With that said, I still think the Saints have a lot of work to do.  At 3-3, the black-and-gold are heading into an absolutely critical portion of their schedule.  This week they travel to Charlotte to challenge Carolina for first place in the division.  After that, they go to London for a “home” game against the Chargers. 

For the Saints to have any chance at the playoffs, they’ve got to win at least one of these next two games.  A split would put them at 4-4 heading into the bye week; a perfectly manageable spot considering their remaining eight games.

After the bye, New Orleans plays Atlanta twice, Kansas City, Detroit, Green Bay, Carolina, Tampa and Chicago.  In at least five of those games the Saints will be favored.  And the other three are certainly winnable games. 

Suppose the Saints do what they need to do in the next two weeks and get to 4-4 at the midway point.  All things considered, they would need to win six of their remaining eight games to have a shot at the playoffs.  A 10-6 record, I would imagine, wins the division for the Saints.  Six out of eight is doable.  

Anything less, though, will keep them home for postseason--assuming that is, that they get to 4-4 in the next two weeks.

I may be underestimating them, though.  Who am I to say the Saints can’t win both of their next two games?  With the way Drew Brees is playing, it’s absolutely possibly.

Two losses, though, is equally as realistic.  Carolina got embarrassed last week against the Bucs.  They’ll certainly be ready to redeem themselves against the Saints.  And the Chargers are just as skilled offensively as the black-and-gold.

All told, these next two weeks are a make-or-break for the Saints.  Come bye time, I think we’ll have a much better idea of what the Saints might do this year.     

How close are the Saints to being 4-1?  89 yards—the combined length of two potentially game-winning field goals missed by Martin Gramatica against the Vikings and the Broncos.

Though the two loses aren’t entirely Gramatica’s fault, it’s hard to put the majority of the blame anywhere else.  43 and 46-yard field goals are not too much to ask of a kicker.  Not when the offense and defense have worked their tails off all game to put the team in a position to gain the lead in the final two minutes.

As I watched the Saints’ final offensive drive stall out on the Vikings 30 yard line Monday night, I said loudly and clearly to anyone in the room who was listening, “we cannot rely on Gramatica to win this for us.” 

I probably wasn’t the only Saints fan muttering that sentence, either.  And rightfully so.  The guy is a head case.  How can Sean Payton expect him to come through when the game is on the line?  He’s practically scared of his own shadow.         

Sure enough, Gramatica pushed it left and the Saints fail to prevent the offensively challenged Vikings from moving it 40 yards for the winning field goal. 

Just like that, the Saints are 2-3 and an afterthought in the suddenly competitive NFC South.

Do I sound frustrated?  Bitter, maybe?

I’m sorry, it’s just hard to watch.  The Saints were a far better team than the Vikings, and though they laid an egg for the majority of the game, they still had a chance to win it at the end. 

That’s what good teams do.  They put themselves in a position to win even when things aren’t going their way.  And to have an emotionally unstable kicker ruin it…well, to quote coach Payton, it’s a tough pill to swallow. 

Thankfully, Gramatica was replaced on the roster Wednesday by rookie kicker Tyler Mehlhaff.  Mehlhaff was shaky in the preseason, but anyone is an upgrade at this point.

Having vented a little now, let me say that Gramatica cannot be held solely responsible for the Saints bumpy start.  It’s a product of a lot of things. 

Injuries, for one, are absolutely killing the Saints.  It’s not an excuse, but when you’re beat up this bad, it’s hard not to notice them.  Promising rookie cornerback Tracy Porter is the latest casualty.  He's out for the year after dislocating his wrist Monday night.  Does that mean more Jason David?  I'd rather light myself on fire.  

Poor coaching, I think, is another reason why the Saints are below 2-3 instead of 4-1.  Sean Payton’s play calling has been okay—not great like it was in 2006--just okay. 

His personnel use is another issue.  In my opinion, the Saints would have beaten the Broncos if Deuce McAllister had played.  And in regards to Gramatica, the head coach has got to know pulse of his players.

Anybody with two working eyes and half-a-brain could have predicted Gramatica would miss the game-winner Monday night.  The guy was too frazzled.  He was on edge from his earlier miss.  Payton should have realized this and schemed to get the first down no matter what.

And what about team discipline?  Nine penalties in the first half against the Vikings?  How is that in any way shape or form acceptable for a team in the NFL?  Payton can make them run penalty laps around the practice field all he wants, but obviously the team isn’t getting the message.

Okay, that’s enough of the negative for today.  At 2-3 the Saints season isn’t in ruins just yet.  Thankfully, they’ve got a winnable game against Oakland this week.  Hopefully after his one we won’t be talking about what could have been.