New Orleans Saints: Chris Ivory, Gregg Williams And The Denver Broncos

The Saints are still in recovery mode after coming off their devastating playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks this past Saturday.

It was a game in which the Saints were heavily favored considering thet had already beat the Seahawks in week eleven 34 to 19. Instead it was Seattle who took it to New Orleans at Qwest Field.

Injuries likely played a huge part in how little success the Saints had in the post season. Entering the game they were without some big players. Chris Ivory, Pierre Thomas and Malcolm Jenkins to name just a few.

This off-season will surely be calmer than the last when the Saints were coming of their first ever Super Bowl championship, and as the team prepares for the draft it’s time to get some players under the knife.

Jenkins and defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove likely will not have to undergo any procedures to fix there swollen knees but the outlook is not so rosy for running backs Chris Ivory and Pierre Thomas.

Thomas will continue to evaluate his ankle, which caused him to miss ten games including the playoff game, with renowned surgeon Robert Anderson. A treatment plan will be put in place and the possibility exists that surgery may be the best answer.

Meanwhile rookie Chris Ivory reportedly is suffering from a Lisfranc injury in his foot, a very serious injury for a runnign back to have.

"The foot can be thought to consist of three primary parts. The forefoot area consisting of the toes; the midfoot made up of the small bones called the navicular, cuneiform, and cuboid; and the hindfoot consisting of the talus (lower ankle) and calcaneus (heel). The Lisfranc joint is the space between the bones of the forefoot and midfoot.The Lisfranc injury is an injury to the ligaments that connects these joints. Sometimes the injury is a simple dislocation (ligament injury) or a fracture and dislocation. The dislocation is a separation of the normal joints between the forefoot and midfoot. The fracture usually occurs in the midfoot bones. — Sourced from about.com"

His injury will most definately require surgery with an expected recovery time of a solid six months. That of course means that Ivory may not be 100 percent by the time training camp kicks-off this summer.

The Lisfranc injury is also one that continue to cause pain and discomfort after surgery so the possibility exists that Ivory will continue to experience problems well into the 2011 season.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams will be interviewing for the vacant head coaching position with the Denver Broncos. He will meet with them this Wednesday.

Dever declared their intention to interview Williams about a week ago but had to wait until the Saints were officially eliminated from the playoffs before officially making contact with the Saints to be granted permission.

If Williams does leave for Denver it will be a huge loss for the Saints considering that he has rebuilt their defense in two seasons from the league’s worst to among the league’s best. New Orleans defense finshed the regular season ranked as the fourth best unit in football.

Head coach Sean Payton has given Williams his blessing and referral so now it’s a wait and see what happens deal. If it’s any consolation to Saints fans Williams did say he was “Very, very, happy here.” when questioned about his level of interest to leave the team.