New Orleans Saints at Mid Season

Nobody asked me, but it’s midseason and tell me Drew Brees doesn´t deserve MVP consideration. He´s thrown three touchdown passes in each of his last three games and is the primary reason the Saints are the team to beat in the NFC South...Sean Payton deserves Coach of the Year consideration as well...Marques Colston is a lock to win Rookie of the Year honors...Brees´ passer rating of 136.7 against the Bucs was the highest for a Saints quarterback since Aaron Brooks threw for five TDs and had a rating of 138.8 in a 45-7 route of the Giants in 2003...

"I thought he was outstanding " said Payton in reference to his quarterback´s game against the Bucs. "He´s always looking for that perfect game. He threw touchdown passes. He made great decisions. He avoided some sacks at times. He played extremely well."...That 100-yard receiving game for Devery Henderson was the first of his career. Reggie Bush threw the key block on Brees´ long TD pass to Henderson. Bush is his main critic and doesn´t yet have faith in his offensive line´s ability to block for him...

Dulymus (that´s his true name) McAllister didn´t have the biggest game of his career against the Bucs, but he did pass a personal milestone.  Deuce, who finished with 32 yards and a 3-yard TD run on 15 carries, reached the 5,000-yard mark in career rushing on a 5-yard run in the second half. His short TD run in the third quarter was the 39th of his career, tying the club record set by Dalton Hillard from 1986-93...The Saints had four rookies on the field for the team´s first offensive snap against the Bucs. Colston, Bush, fourth-round pick Jahri Evans and seventh-round pick Zach Strief...

The Saints had a lot of players perform at a high level in the blowout of the Bucs, but Streif in particular was the talk in the locker room and the press box  after he made his NFL debut by keeping three-time All-Pro defensive end Simeon Rice away from Brees all day long. When it appearedd that Strief would be active for the first time of the season and start in place of an injured Jammal Brown, Brees expressed confidence in the 6-7, 349-pounder[.] who was a right tackle at Northwestern and was selected with the 210th pick in the draft this spring...

Brees´ faith in the previously untested Strief was rewarded when he completely  and effectively neutralized Rice in protecting Brees´ blindside. Rice, who had 120 career sacks, did not have a sack or a quarterback hurry and was credited with just two tackles in the Saints´ win..."I can´t ever remember Simeon ever being really close to me," said Brees. "When it´s quiet like that, I assume he played pretty well."...

"It was a great opportunity to come out of the blocks and play someboy as respected as Simeon Rice is," said Strief. "It was even better to come out of there with a win."... Said Payton: "It´s the first time Zach ever put on a Saints uniform  He played pretty good, pretty good against a good football player."...Said Bucs coach John Gruden: "Our goal was to get them behind in the down and distance, rush the passer and take advantage of a rookie left tackle and see if he can pass protect."...They found out the hard way...

Just  another reason to admire Peyton Manning of the undefeated Colts: He´s 4-0 on the road against teams with a combined record of 22-10, including three division leaders...If Denny Green gets fired by the Arizona Cardinals after the season and has a desire to go back into coaching, he should look at the Cardinal job. He´ll find a way to win at Stanford, which is the worst team in football, period...New Saints linebacker Danny Clark, the ex Raider, is on the NFL´s naughty boy list. A magazine polled NFL running backs to learn the identies of the league´s dirtiest defensive players. Heading the list with Clark were Rodney Harrison of the Patriots, Sean Taylor of the Redskins, Warren Sapp of the Raiders, Troy Polamalu of the Steelers’ Dewayne White of the Bucs...

I´ll bet you didn´t know that LSU tailback Alley Broussard is the biggest pratical joker on the Tigers´ team. He´s also considered  the top comedian on the team and has cut a rap album...He and teammate Marlon Favorite performed at halftime of an LSU men´s basketball game...

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