In a welcome change of pace it’s the Saints defense that highlights the first day of camp, not it’s league leading offense.
The talk of the town is how Gregg Williams has his new defense playing with a long absent swagger.  He has motivated his unit to play at a feverish pace, clawing at the ball, forcing turnovers and interceptions.
Interestingly enough though controversial cornerback Jason David garnered the highest praise from Williams when he broke on a few routes during the teams seven-on-seven drills, forcing an interception.
Returning starter Tracy Porter also looked good in coverage batting down a pass intended for Marques Colston and the defense [...]

It’s unlikely that the Saints top draft pick Malcolm Jenkins will be signed by the start of training camp tomorrow, although both sides are working diligently to reach an agreement.
General manager Mickey Loomis is optimistic that a deal will get done, as is Jenkins, as he would like to get in camp sooner rather than later.
“I just hope so. We got one more day left,” Jenkins says ”We’ll see how the negotiations go.”
“It’s the type of defense I want to play for,” Jenkins said. He says he looks forward to playing under new Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams. “I’m really excited the [...]

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Last season the duo of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart carried the the Panthers to a 12-4 season, a playoff appearance, and their best year since 1996.
The potent combination totaled 2,351 yards on the ground and 28 touchdowns, tops in the NFL in 2008, and a headache for Saints fans everywhere.
In comparison Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas combined for 1,029 yards on the ground and 11 touchdowns, a far cry from some of the leagues marquee runningbacks.
A two back system is becoming more and more and prominent in today’s NFL. Several teams have employed the “runningback by committee” approach with success, the [...]

With fantasy football right around the corner we though it fitting to analyze the Saints play-makers to see where they stack up among the league elite — position by position.
Quarterback: Drew Brees
Brees is a fantasy stud,  ranking as the best quarterback for the upcoming fantasy season. In 2008 Brees had 5,069 passing yards, 34 passing touchdowns and 17 pass interceptions. He played in 16 games for a fantasy point game average of 22.21. Not much will change in 2009 as the Saints are clearly a team built around the passing game. He won’t throw for 5000 yards again, but he has more weapons [...]

Recently EA Sports released their highly anticipated player and team ratings for the next installment of the famed Madden series, Madden X.
Apparently the producers of the game are not fans of the NFL, as the new ratings are void of any actual realism to the game today.
I won’t get into all the issues with the other teams out there, and there are plenty.
We will focus on the Saints player ratings only, but if  you want to see the complete list of ratings follow this link.
 
Saints Overall Rating – 74

Position
Name
OVR

QB
D. Brees
96

QB
J. Harringon
63

QB
M. Brunell
62

RB
R. Bush
79

RB
P. Thomas
77

FB
H. Evans
82

WR
M. Colston
87

WR
L. Moore
81

WR
D. Henderson
67

WR
R. Meachem
59

WR
S. Green
53

WR
A. Arrington
45

TE
J. Shockey
85

TE
D. Campbell
75

TE
B. [...]

The last meeting between these two teams was in week 7 (October 30th) of the 2005 season – aka the season that never happened, Uh hmmm. The Dolphins D shut down our boys in the black and gold allowing only 200 hundred yards while managing to force two turnover’s.
Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks spent most of the game on his back as he was sacked five times.
The Saints offense sputtered as well as they failed to reach the end zone the entire game, only managing two John Carney field goals for a whopping 6 points.
Dolphin kicker Olindo Mare went 4/5 on field goals, carrying [...]

Sedrick Ellis was one of the most coveted defensive tackles in the 2008 draft next to Glenn Dorsey.
Depending on who you talked to some preferred Ellis over Dorsey, and some Dorsey over Ellis.
In my opinion I think Ellis is better than Dorsey, not just because Ellis is a Saint and Dorsey a Chief, but because numbers don’t lie.
In 2008 Ellis played in 13 games, recorded 30 tackles, 4 sacks, and 5 pass deflections. Dorsey meanwhile recorded 46 tackles, but only managed a single sack and pass deflection.
A clear distinction that Ellis is probably going to be the more dominant player in [...]

Love him or hate him Sean Payton may be here to stay for a while.
After all he did pilot the Saints to their best season in franchise history in 2006, he is the architect of the best offense in the NFL, and he was signed to a 5 year contract extension early into the 2008 season.
But after two disappointing seasons (7-9 in 2007 and 8-8 in 2008) will a third losing season propel Payton into the un-employment line?
Maybe so, but it’s a very tough call.
The NFL is a harsh business, you either perform well and produce positive results, or you [...]

The last meeting between these two teams (December 24th, 2006) was a breeze for the Saints as they demolished the Giants at home 30-7.
New Orleans was a game away from a first round bye,  improving their record to 10-5 on the season.
Reggie Bush had a breakout night running for 126 yards on 20 carries averaging 6.3 yards a carry with one touchdown.
Meanwhile Deuce busted loose scoring a touchdown of his own while totaling 108 yards on 27 carries, a 4 yard per carry average.
Side Note: So far during these game previews I have called the Saints to win in every [...]