Before the game Ed Werder reported for ESPN that Drew Brees felt the Saints could put 40 points on the board against the Giants with several shock plays he hoped would be called.

The New York Giants boasted the top-rated defense in the National Football League.

This was a team that had allowed 17, 31, 0, 16, and 7 points on their way to an unblemished record.

Meanwhile, after compiling a gaudy 93 points in their first two games, the Saints chose to grind it out against the Bills and Jets (whose fanbases also felt their respective defense was the best in the NFL heading into games with the Saints) before sitting idle last week.

I stopped and considered what Drew had said, and then it dawned on me.

This is not an individual known for boasting, in fact he seems quite the perfectionist. Every comment carefully worded, every action deliberate, and every decision weighed properly.

Still, he let it be known his feelings.

Confidence abounds in New Orleans right now, so it could be chalked up to that, certainly. However, Drew seems unaffected by such jubilation. His sole goal seems to be increasing the number in the win column, not patting himself nor his charges on the back with pre-game hype.

It turns out Drew Brees wasn’t being boastful at all, rather stating what he saw that no one outside of Airline Drive had — the Saints offense will face top-rated defense after top-rated defense and show that excellent offensive execution will always trump outstanding defensive play.

The problem is it so rarely happens in the history of this league.

Ranked number one overall, the Giants had allowed a meager 210 yards total per game on defense.

The Saints had far eclipsed that total by halftime.

In fact, by the end of the game the Saints had scored 7 touchdowns (tying a team record set 40 years ago) by 7 different players.

No matter what play Sean Payton dialed up, it almost seemed to matter on one thing, that Drew Brees was the one orchestrating the development of it. Marques Colston ran free in the Giants secondary — also rated tops in the league going into the game allowing a paltry 105 yards per game through the air — and accumulated 100 yard receiving by the half. Brees had 100 yards passing at the end of the first quarter.

The Saints biggest weakness for years has been their offensive line. Not able to withstand pressure up the middle, speed rushers on the edge, nor capable of grinding out the tough yards, they staked their claim to being able to not only overcome all three knocks, but rather it may well have become a strength.

New Orleans has run the ball consistently in each game, even when the other team knows it is coming. On fourth and goal from the 1, Payton decided to go for it on the opening drive. No observer of the Saints in the previous three years would have applauded such a move, especially against that Giants front four. In four games and one drive, however, the offensive line had made believers not only of the fans but more importantly their coach and play-caller.

The result? Touchdown.

And for once, the defense faced an established quarterback, one who has even led his team to a championship, and still it mattered not. Turnovers came infrequently as they had in previous weeks, but that also didn’t seem to make much difference. Playing with the lead, Greer and Porter got their hands on passes, forcing Eli to put a little more on the ball to a wide open streaking Steve Smith.

What would have been a touchdown against Oakland or Tampa Bay was an overthrow against New Orleans.

Darren Sharper’s touchdown return on an interception was negated by a penalty that led to a Giants touchdown, and while that would have deflated past Saints defenses whose big plays were so infrequent that it may as well have spelled a collapse, it almost seemed to fuel them even more.

Manning looked uncomfortable dropping back, even getting in the face of his running back for a poor blitz pickup that came on an interception that he threw up for grabs, not Bradshaw.

You could see things unraveling.

And for the fifth straight game the Saints snowball effect eventually came into play.

Force your opponent into being one-dimensional, allow Gregg Williams to bring pressure, and have an attitude on defense that your offensive line matches and allow number 9 to go out and direct the ballclub.

Welcome to the best Saints team in the history of the franchise.

And that is only five games in.

Heady times.

Drew Brees was harried, harassed, and hurried.

Never allowed to discover any semblance of a rhythm, the Saints passing attack led by its previously unflappable orchestrator was more than held in check.

It was shutdown.

However, in a game in which the Saints could muster little through the air, they found their sledding on the ground. It took several quarters of attrition and fresh, eager legs from Pierre Thomas to seal the deal.

The Saints amassed over 220 yards on the ground and three scores.

Yet that hardly tells the story of this game.

No, despite the gaudy numbers the Saints offense seems to effortlessly be able to generate on the ground or in the air, this game belonged to the defense and its mastermind, Gregg Williams.

Previous weeks the Saints allowed yardage and points to inexperienced signal-callers, playing a prevent defense some fans, myself included, didn’t much care for even if we understood the cause to implement it.

Gregg Williams unleashed a taste of what New Orleans fans have craved since 2000, an attacking and aggressive defense that does not give any yard easily, and causes more mayhem than it has missteps.

New Orleans finally has a defense that can shut an opponent down in a grind-it-out game, and a running attack that can bolster its point production when the footing proves anything but solid.

Saints players slipped and fell on numerous occasions. Brees was hit early on. Long-developing pass patterns were rarely allowed to form.

The Bills came out and smacked the Saints in the mouth.

They did it up the gut.

Buffalo sought to make the Saints one-dimensional, preferring to take the ball out of their leader’s hands, and place it firmly in those of undrafted players Lynell Hamilton, Pierre Thomas, and gadget player extraordinaire Reggie Bush.

They would play the battle of field position. Limit possessions. Run the clock.

Keep the score low.

Maybe even sack the quarterback a couple of times and collect a fumble while scoring on special teams.

Should all of these things come to fruition, the Bills would have plied their gameplan exactly as they wanted. One would think that Dick Jauron had to like his odds.

Yet it was the Saints who came out the victors. Taking what the defense gave them, and gashing them for leaving five defensive backs in the ballgame. The defense found exotic ways to generate pressure, and the often termed overpaid defensive ends for New Orleans actually made their presence felt on more than one occasion for the first time all season.

In the end, the Saints had won.

What we saw today would have been blowout losses to the Ravens in ’06, the Bears in ’06 and ’07, and on and on and on..

The Saints have changed their personality. They have found an identity.

That is why New Orleans sits atop the NFC South with an unblemished record.

With thirteen more to go.

via many sources but here’s ProFootballTalk.com

New Orleans Saints linebacker Dan Morgan has decided to retire from the NFL because of recurring injuries, according to his agent.

Drew Rosenhaus, via his Twitter account, announced that Morgan is hanging up his cleats. This marks the second time that Morgan has retired.

“Dan Morgan has informed the Saints that he has decided to retire due to continued injuries,” Rosenhaus wrote. “Dan would like to thank the Saints for the chance to come back this year, but injuries would not let him continue his career.

]]> http://whodatzone.com/2009/06/08/dan-morgan-retires-or-re-retires/feed/ 0 http://whodatzone.com/2009/05/23/starcaps-ruling-goes-against-players/ http://whodatzone.com/2009/05/23/starcaps-ruling-goes-against-players/#comments Sat, 23 May 2009 14:46:35 +0000 David http://whodatzone.com/?p=121 Charles Grant and Will Smith will be suspended, as well as former Saint Deuce McAllister should he play in the NFL in 2009. A federal judge has ruled against them in the StarCaps lawsuit so they will miss the first four games of 2009 as a result.

via Saints Beat

New Orleans Saints defensive ends Will Smith and Charles Grant and former Saints tailback Deuce McAllister will have to serve their four-game suspensions at the start of the 2009 season after a federal judge threw out their lawsuit against the NFL late Friday in Minnesota.

The Saints have been preparing for the possibility of losing Smith and Grant to start the season. They added veteran defensive end Paul Spicer early in free agency and recently added defensive end Anthony Hargrove to a mix that already includes Bobby McCray, Jeff Charleston and Rob Ninkovich.

]]> http://whodatzone.com/2009/05/23/starcaps-ruling-goes-against-players/feed/ 0 http://whodatzone.com/2009/05/22/williams-in-charge-of-the-d/ http://whodatzone.com/2009/05/22/williams-in-charge-of-the-d/#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 17:14:02 +0000 David http://whodatzone.com/?p=108 Gregg Williams was brought in to shore up a defense that did not generate pressure, turnover, or even crucial stops that are all key to winning football. In the very first OTAs we are seeing that he’s brought a different attitude and trying to convey that what happened last year is not acceptable.

via Peter Finney’s View

When the question was put to the head coach Thursday — “What impresses you most about Gregg Williams?” — the first words out of the mouth of the head coach was “he’s a leader.”

As he watches the defense “flying around” — giving you the feeling “there is no gray area” when it comes to claiming loose balls, it’s more “the ball belongs to me” — Payton expects Williams’ traits as a leader to translate into turnovers.

What did he see in that December loss to Carolina?

Payton said he saw Delhomme “take one hitch, two hitches, three hitches, and he was back there for an inordinate amount of time.”

Now he’s looking for a coordinator’s leadership, more than schemes, to change an inconsistent pass rush.

What does linebacker Scott Fujita see in the new coordinator?

“Coach Williams is someone intent on getting you to maximize your talent, ” he said. “It’s more than Xs and Os. It’s a matter of creating a new culture.

]]> http://whodatzone.com/2009/05/22/williams-in-charge-of-the-d/feed/ 0 http://whodatzone.com/2009/05/21/greer-impressed-with-saints-secondary/ http://whodatzone.com/2009/05/21/greer-impressed-with-saints-secondary/#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 01:34:00 +0000 David http://whodatzone.com/?p=100 Tracy Porter and Randall Gay served as the starting tandem in today’s OTA. Jabari Greer and Jason David with the second team.

via NOLA

“No matter what happened on the field last year … or the media bashing these men have taken, they’ve responded correctly,” Greer said. “They went above and beyond the amount of work it takes to be successful and I definitely think that it will show.”

With not only new personnel, but also a new defensive coordinator in Gregg Williams, it seems few players on defense are taking their starting roles from last season for granted.

“It’s definitely a higher intensity level because we know what type of defense we need to be, as well as what everyone says: Our weakness was the secondary,” Porter added.

With changes in personnel, which included the departure of free safeties Josh Bullocks and Kevin Kaesviharn, third-year pro Usama Young, who began his Saints career as a cornerback, has now moved to free safety. He worked with the first team this week, but Sharper, who did not attend practice for undisclosed family reasons, is expected to compete for that starting role.

Roman Harper, last season’s starter at strong safety, remained in the same spot, but it appears his role under Williams could shift, with more emphasis on blitzing.

Already, Saints offensive players say they notice a difference in the secondary and the defense as a whole.

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