New Orleans SAINTS official thread 2014-15

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And there's this, our 3rd safety to IR of the year...

 

Rafael Bush fractured his tibia in Saints loss

 

Posted by Josh Alper on November 16, 2014, 5:22 PM EST

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When the Saints lost safety Jairus Byrd for the season, they turned to Rafael Bush.

 

It looks like they’ll need to see what’s behind door No. 3 as they try to turn their current 4-6 record into something that can outlast the other aspirants in the NFC South. Ramon Antonio Vargas of the Baton Rouge Advocate reports that Bush said after Sunday’s loss to the Bengals that he fractured his tibia late in the contest.

 

It was just a freak accident,” Bush said. “Obviously, you don’t want those things happening that late in the game. Things have already … gotten out of hand, but we kind of knew the outcome of this game. But being competitors and continuing to fight, that’s just all I was doing.

 

That injury would likely knock him out for the year. Bush wasn’t great this season, but if the Saints had a surer bet on the roster they would have been on the field already. Marcus Ball and Jamarca Sanford are the reserve safeties currently on the 53-man roster and one of them will likely be moving up to the first team alongside Kenny Vaccaro.

 

Anything they come up will have to work fast because the Saints don’t have too much more margin for error to use up this season.

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Brandin Cooks had thumb surgery, agent says he’ll miss at least a month

 

Posted by Josh Alper on November 17, 2014, 1:53 PM EST

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Reports on Monday morning that Saints wide receiver Brandin Cooks broke his thumb during Sunday’s loss to the Bengals were correct and Cooks wasted very little time starting on the road back to the lineup.

 

Cooks’s agent Jeff Sperbeck announced on Twitter Monday that his client has already undergone successful surgery to repair the injury. While the earlier reports were that Cooks would miss 2-4 weeks as a result of the injury, Sperbeck provides a slightly longer timeline of 4-6 weeks before the rookie would be able to return to the lineup.

 

Mathematically inclined readers will surely realize that there are only six weeks left in the season unless the Saints make the playoffs, so it’s no sure thing that Cooks will play again this year. A player coming back from such an injury on a 4-6 team would have a good chance of being shut down in most cases, but the Saints play in the NFC South and that means there’s plenty still to play for in New Orleans this season.

 

With Cooks out of the lineup, Kenny Stills, Robert Meachem and Nick Toon could see an increased role in the offense over the next few weeks.

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Sorting Through the Disaster That Is the NFC South

 

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

by BILL BARNWELL

 

http://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/drew-brees-tri-e1416318534964.jpg?w=750

 

I can’t get enough of the NFC South. Football’s most appalling division actually went 2-2 on Sunday and even picked up an interdivision win, albeit with Tampa Bay beating Washington, which might be the NFC South’s honorary fifth member. The Saints appeared to have first place locked up two weeks ago with a three-game homestand ahead, but after losing the first two games of that trio to the 49ers and Bengals, they’ve fallen out of the top spot on a tiebreaker.

 

That divisional lead has fallen to the Falcons, who survived a battle of who could care less, fittingly, in Carolina. Graham Gano’s late miss from 46 yards out1 did more than give the Falcons a rare winning streak — it launched them, somehow, into first place. At 4-6, they’re the leaders of a division that is a staggering 6-20-1 this season versus opponents from outside the NFC South. As Chase Stuart noted yesterday, that .241 winning percentage would be the worst record in out-of-division games in league history, topping the brutal 2008 NFC West’s .250 mark.

 

As bad as they might be outside the NFC South, somebody has to win this wretched division. Who will it be? Will they have a winning record? And should we legislate against a playoff team this bad ever showing up again?

 

To predict what will actually happen in this division, I’ve put together a Monte Carlo simulation. I’ll use the same Log5 method that I used last week to project Oakland’s chances of going 0-16 to simulate the remainder of the season’s games that involve teams from the NFC South. That includes, naturally, the five divisional games remaining between these four teams, which will have the largest impact on who wins the South.

 

After 1,000 simulations, here’s how the four teams sorted out …

 

1. New Orleans Saints

 

Average of 7.4 wins per simulation, won division 59.0 percent of time

 

A tiny bit of good news, New Orleans fans: Even though the Saints basically fell over after making it back to .500, they’re still the favorite to win the NFC South. They’re not even projected to make it to eight wins if you round up, yet they have the best win projection in the division, which is honestly quite terrifying, but I don’t suspect that Sean Payton & Co. will care about their record if they’re hosting a game in January.

 

The Saints are projected to get past the Falcons and win the division because their play suggests they’re the best team on a per-snap basis in the NFC South. I used point differential to estimate each team’s Pythagorean expectation in the Log5 simulation, and the Saints have a point differential of plus-9, the only positive point differential in the division. The Falcons are a step behind them at minus-17, while the Panthers and Buccaneers are both among the worst teams in football at minus-85. Only the Jets (minus-91), Raiders (minus-113), and Jaguars (minus-124) are worse.

 

Point differential isn’t the only metric that gives the Saints a boost. The Pro-Football-Reference.com Simple Rating System estimates them to be just a tiny bit below average, which is still comfortably better than anybody else in the division. Efficiency models like DVOA and GWP had them well ahead of the rest of the South heading into the week, and while the Saints will take a hit after this week’s rankings are released, Atlanta’s narrow win over Carolina isn’t going to send it rising up the charts, either.

 

Atlanta promises to be New Orleans’s closest competitor down the stretch, but the Saints are better positioned than the Falcons to finish on top. They have a pair of common opponents in Carolina and Pittsburgh and play each other in Week 16. New Orleans’s three other opponents are Baltimore, Chicago, and Tampa Bay, while the Falcons still have to face Arizona, Cleveland, and Green Bay. Which of those two schedules would you rather face?

 

And then, all else being equal, there’s the matter of where that possible division decider will be played. The Falcons hold the NFC South tiebreaker by virtue of beating the Saints in Atlanta in Week 1. The Week 16 rematch will be held in New Orleans. I wrote a few weeks ago about how the Saints’ home/road splits were often overstated, and indeed since then, they’ve won a road game and lost two home games, but the Saints would obviously rather play this game in New Orleans than travel to Atlanta.

 

2. Atlanta Falcons

 

Average of 6.6 wins per simulation, won division 33.1 percent of time

 

Against that difficult schedule, Log5 suggests that the Falcons will go 2-4 or worse almost exactly half the time (499 of 1,000 simulations). Losses to the Vikings, Giants, and Bears earlier in the season look worse in hindsight, and the Falcons will likely need to come up with a win against the Cardinals or Browns to have a serious shot at retaining their divisional lead heading into that Week 16 rematch with the Saints.

 

Four of those six remaining games are at home, though, and while the Georgia Dome isn’t exactly the fortress it used to be during the early days of the Mike Smith era, the Falcons have posted a point differential of plus-30 there, mostly driven by their 42-point victory over the Buccaneers in Week 3. Their point differential in six road games is a less impressive minus-47.

 

The good news if you’re a Falcons fan is that you probably just need to battle the rest of the division to a draw to make it into the playoffs. Atlanta is going to win a lot of tiebreakers thanks to its 4-0 record against the three other teams in the South.2 The Falcons have already swept the Buccaneers and hold victories over the Panthers and Saints. A win over New Orleans in Week 16 would guarantee that Atlanta would win any tiebreaker against another NFC South team. Even if Atlanta loses to New Orleans, the Saints would need to win the remainder of their divisional games to finish with a better divisional record than the Falcons.

 

Of course, astute readers will note that 4-0 record in the NFC South, remember that the Falcons are 4-6 on the year, and realize that the Falcons are a winless 0-6 on their trips outside the worst division in football. So even if Atlanta does manage to make it to the playoffs, its utter ineffectiveness against even marginally competent football teams will make it difficult to go very far.

 

3. Carolina Panthers

 

Average of 5.4 wins per simulation, won division 7.6 percent of the time

 

If you are a Panthers fan, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking these numbers are harsh. After all, if Gano hits that field goal at the end of regulation, the Panthers would actually be in first place.3 Even at 3-7-1, Carolina’s just a game out of first place, and with the bye week upcoming, it’s guaranteed not to lose in Week 12.

 

The reason that Carolina’s playoff chances are so far below New Orleans and Atlanta is because the Panthers have played like a far worse team by those aforementioned metrics. They’re tied for the fourth-worst point differential in football, which means the Log5 method doesn’t project them winning very many games. The simulation has them as underdogs in four of their five remaining games, with only a home game against the Buccaneers giving the Panthers much hope. Three of those five games are on the road, which doesn’t help matters.

 

Do the numbers underestimate Carolina for one reason or another? I don’t think they do. Unless the Panthers get Greg Hardy back and he turns around their defense, they don’t have any obvious measure of performance that’s likely to improve over the final five games.

 

If anything, given how Cam Newton has fallen apart and looked possibly injured over the past five weeks, you might expect their offense to decline a bit more as the season finishes up.

 

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Panthers rest their franchise quarterback if things get much worse or if he’s more hurt than the team’s let on. That would bring on Derek Anderson, and while Panthers fans might remember how he had a competent game against the Buccaneers in Week 1, Anderson’s broader body of work suggests that he’s one of the worst quarterbacks in football.

 

Maybe you don’t want to believe the Log5 numbers. That’s fine. It’s remarkable, though, to see how similar they look to the betting market on Bovada for the NFC South divisional crown. Adjust those betting odds for the casino’s vigorish and you get these notably similar expected odds of each team winning the division:

 

Team Log5 Bovada

Saints 59.0% 59.1%

Falcons 33.1% 33.8%

Panthers 7.6% 7.1%

Buccaneers 0.3% 0.0%

 

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

 

Average of 3.9 wins per simulation, won division 0.3 percent of the time

 

The online sportsbook doesn’t even offer odds on Tampa Bay winning the division. The Buccaneers won the NFC South in three of the 1,000 iterations in the Monte Carlo simulation, finishing 7-9 each time. They lose the division on all ties with the Falcons (after losing to them twice during the regular season) and would find it extremely difficult to win a tiebreaker with the Saints, given that they’ve lost once to New Orleans and are already 0-4 in the NFC South.

 

In each of those three miraculous Tampa Bay simulations, the Buccaneers beat the Packers (estimated as a 17.9 percent shot by Log5). The Bucs also have to play the Lions in Detroit. They could theoretically still win the division by going 4-2 in their final six games, but that would require the Falcons and Saints to each finish 1-5 or worse, while the Panthers win their games against the Falcons and Saints but lose the other three. It seems unlikely, but then again, if anything seems sure about this division, it’s that teams will lose a lot of games.

 

The cumulative impact of the NFC South’s putridity is staggering. The simulation suggests that there’s a 38.8 percent chance of the division winner finishing with a losing record, with just a 22.2 percent chance that the division champ will go on a hot streak and finish with a record above .500. Here are the likelihoods of the eventual division winner finishing with each given win total:4

 

Wins Simulation Percentage

5 0.0%

6 7.5%

7 31.3%

8 39.0%

9 19.4%

10 2.8%

While there wasn’t a five-win champion in the NFC South through my 1,000 simulations, it is theoretically possible. Assume that NFC South teams lose each of their games against opponents from outside the division. And then let’s say that the Bucs beat the Panthers and Saints in their two remaining divisional games, leaving Tampa Bay at 4-12. That would essentially leave Atlanta, Carolina, and New Orleans in a round-robin against one another for the division. If all three of those teams went 1-1, that would leave the Panthers at 4-11-1 and the Falcons and Saints tied for the division title at 5-11, with the Falcons winning the South via tiebreaker. The chances of a five-win division champ are exceedingly small, but it’s not impossible.

 

Even if the division champ manages to eventually make its way to a mighty six wins, is the guaranteed playoff spot for a divisional winner something that should be legislated out of the game? I don’t think so. Yes, there’s a decent chance that the NFC South finishes with a division winner whose record is under .500. That’s also not going to happen very frequently, and when it does, it’s not proof that a team is hopeless against better competition. Remember that we went through this same scenario in 2010, when the Seahawks had to beat the Rams in the final game of the regular season to finish 7-9 and claim the NFC West crown. Sure enough, they went out and beat the Saints at home in the wild-card round. If this happens once every five years or so, we’ll be OK.

 

I just can’t say the same for the NFC South. It’s a lot of things, but OK isn’t one of them.

[treeduck]

Report: Saints’ Brandin Cooks out for season

 

Posted by Michael David Smith on November 18, 2014, 5:28 PM EST

 

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The Saints have lost their top wide receiver for the rest of the season.

 

Brandin Cooks, the first-round draft pick who is the leading wide receiver in New Orleans this year, is being placed on season-ending injured reserve, Field Yates of ESPN reports. Cooks was injured in Sunday’s loss to the Bengals.

 

Although the initial word on Cooks’s injury was that he had suffered a broken thumb that would force him to miss two to four weeks, apparently additional testing has revealed that the injury is more significant than previously believed. Yates reported that Cooks has a wrist injury.

 

Cooks ends his rookie year with 53 catches for 550 yards and three touchdowns, seven rushes for 73 yards and one touchdown, 10 punt returns for 35 yards and one kickoff return for 12 yards.

[treeduck]

New Orleans Saints place Rafael Bush, Brandin Cooks on IR; re-sign safety Pierre Warren

 

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New Orleans Saints rookie wideout Brandin Cooks and safety Rafael Bush have been placed on injured reserve.

 

Cooks had surgery on his thumb this week, which would have put him out for at least 4-6 weeks. Bush fractured his fibula, according to a source. He was on crutches after Sunday's game but didn't know if surgery was required.

 

The Saints brought back training camp standout Pierre Warren signing him off the Vikings' practice squad with their safety depth rapidly dwindling (Jairus Byrd, Vinnie Sunseri are also on IR).

 

Warren, a 2014 rookie free agent from Jacksonville State, did not make the initially 53-man cut at the end of training camp. The Saints then added him to the practice squad once he cleared waivers. The Saints waived Warren off the practice squad in mid-September and Minnesota added him to its practice squad shortly thereafter.

 

The Saints also waived running back Edwin Baker and signed defensive back Terrence Frederick from the practice squad. Linebacker Moise Fokou has also been signed.

 

Linebacker Jerry Franklin has also been signed to the practice squad.

[treeduck]

New Orleans Saints roster, practice squad: A closer look at 3 newcomers

 

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The New Orleans Saints added three players to the active roster and one to the practice squad this week, but only two are unfamiliar faces in the locker room.

 

The Saints signed safety Pierre Warren, linebacker Moise Fokou and cornerback Terrence Frederick to the active roster.

 

(The Saints also added receiver Jalen Saunders and released Brian Leonard after this post was published Wednesday.)

 

Warren, who camped with the Saints in August, was signed off the Minnesota Vikings practice squad. Frederick had been on the Saints practice squad.

 

Here's a closer look at the three players and how they might fit with the Saints.

 

Pierre Warren

 

An undrafted free agent out of Jacksonville State (which he left after his junior year), Warren was a standout in training camp. So it was a mild surprise when the Saints cut him from the practice squad.

 

The Minnesota Vikings added him to their squad in October, and he worked there until he was signed to the active roster by the Saints this week.

 

Warren is familiar with the defense and showed a knack for making plays in camp. While it's hard to imagine him playing a lot on Monday night, the Saints have so few options that it's possible.

 

Terrence Frederick

 

A 24-year-old in his third year in the league, Frederick has already been a part of four organizations. The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted him in the seventh round in 2012. He was waived and picked up by the New York Giants, where he played in the only two games of his career late in 2012.

 

The Giants waived him the following August, and he spent most of 2013 on the Cleveland Browns' practice squad before the Saints scooped him up to provide late-season depth last December.

 

Frederick is familiar with the defense and can help out on special teams. If the Saints choose to move Corey White from cornerback to a free safety role, Frederick could play in the nickel package as early as Monday night.

 

Moise Fokou

 

A native of Cameroon who went to school in Maryland, Fokou is a 28-year-old veteran who has played for three different teams. He was a semi-regular starter for the Philadelphia Eagles from 2009-2011, played as a reserve for the Indianapolis Colts in 2012 and then started 12 games for the Tennessee Titans in 2013.

 

Waived by the Titans in August, Fokou has been looking for a job since.

 

Fokou can provide special teams help and also depth at linebacker, as Curtis Lofton, David Hawthorne and Kyle Knox have all been limited by injury in practice at times during the last two weeks.

 

Here's the full 53-man roster as it now stands:

 

Saints 53-man roster

 

# Page name Pos. Height Wt. Age College High school

20 Brian Dixon CB 6-0 195 24.57 Northwest Missouri State Deerfield Beach (Pompano Beach, Fla.)

21 Patrick Robinson CB 5-11 191 27.20 Florida State Gulliver Prep (Miami, Fla.)

24 Corey White CB 6-1 205 24.53 Samford Dunwoody (Ga.)

28 Keenan Lewis CB 6-1 208 28.51 Oregon State O. Perry Walker (New Orleans)

33 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB 6-3 218 24.61 Nebraska Miami Central (Fla.)

37 Terrence Frederick CB 5-10 187 24.77 Texas A&M Katy (Texas)

32 Kenny Vaccaro S 6-0 214 23.76 Texas Early (Texas)

36 Marcus Ball S 6-1 209 27.33 Memphis Stephenson (Stone Mountain, Ga.)

38 Jamarca Sanford S 5-10 200 30.79 Ole Miss South Panola (Batesville, Miss.)

42 Pierre Warren S 6-2 200 22.26 Jacksonville State Marbury (Ala.)

75 Tyrunn Walker DE 6-3 294 24.67 Tulsa Westgate (New Iberia, La.)

76 Akiem Hicks DE 6-5 324 25.01 Regina Del Campo (Fair Oaks, Calif.)

94 Cameron Jordan DE 6-4 287 25.36 California Chandler (Ariz.)

95 Brandon Deaderick DT 6-4 305 27.25 Alabama Elizabethtown (Ky.)

77 Brodrick Bunkley NT 6-2 306 30.99 Florida State Chamberlain (Tampa, Fla.)

92 John Jenkins NT 6-3 359 25.36 Georgia Maloney (Meridien, Conn.)

91 Kasim Edebali OLB 6-2 253 25.26 Boston College Kimball Union (Plainfield, N.H.)

93 Junior Galette OLB 6-2 258 26.65 Stillman St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, N.J.)

50 Curtis Lofton ILB 6-0 241 28.47 Oklahoma Kingfisher (Okla.)

53 Ramon Humber ILB 5-11 232 27.28 North Dakota State Champlin Park (Minn.)

57 David Hawthorne ILB 6-0 246 29.52 Texas Christian Corsicana (Texas)

58 Kyle Knox ILB 6-1 220 25.69 Fresno State St. Bernard (Los Angeles)

?? Moise Fokou LB 6-1 243 29.23 Maryland The Bullis School (Potomac, Md.)

56 Ronald Powell OLB 6-3 237 23.52 Florida Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley, Calif.)

98 Parys Haralson OLB 6-0 255 30.82 Tennessee Madison Central (Miss.)

55 Jonathan Goodwin C 6-3 318 35.96 Michigan Lower Richland (Hopkins, S.C.)

68 Tim Lelito C 6-4 315 25.33 Grand Valley State St. Clair (Mich.)

65 Senio Kelemete OG 6-3 300 24.53 Washington Evergreen (Vancouver, Wash.)

66 Ben Grubbs OG 6-3 310 30.69 Auburn Elmore County (Eclectic, Ala.)

73 Jahri Evans OG 6-4 318 31.24 Bloomsburg Frankford (Philadelphia)

64 Zach Strief OT 6-7 320 31.16 Northwestern Milford (Ohio)

67 Nick Becton OT 6-6 323 24.77 Virginia Tech New Hanover (Wilmington, N.C.)

72 Terron Armstead OT 6-5 304 23.33 Arkansas-Pine Bluff Cahokia (Ill.)

79 Bryce Harris OT 6-6 300 25.84 Fresno State Tulare (Calif.) Union

7 Luke McCown QB 6-4 217 33.36 Louisiana Tech Jacksonville (Texas)

9 Drew Brees QB 6-0 209 35.84 Purdue Westlake (Austin, Texas)

41 Erik Lorig FB 6-4 250 28.01 Stanford Palos Verde Peninsula (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.)

22 Mark Ingram RB 5-9 215 24.91 Alabama Flint Southwestern (Mich.)

23 Pierre Thomas RB 5-11 215 29.92 Illinois Thornton Fractional South (Lansing, Ill.)

29 Khiry Robinson RB 6-0 220 24.89 West Texas A&M Belton (Texas)

39 Travaris Cadet RB 6-1 210 25.80 Appalachian State Miami Central (Fla.)

40 Brian Leonard RB 6-1 225 29.23 Rutgers Central (Gouverneur, N.Y.)

3 Shayne Graham K 6-0 210 36.94 Virginia Tech Pulaski (Dublin, Va.)

47 Justin Drescher LS 6-1 235 26.88 Colorado Carroll (Southlake, Texas)

6 Thomas Morstead P 6-4 235 28.70 Southern Methodist Pearland (Texas)

80 Jimmy Graham TE 6-7 265 27.99 Miami (Fla.) Community Christian (Wilson, N.C.)

82 Benjamin Watson TE 6-3 255 33.92 Georgia Northwestern (Rock Hill, S.C.)

89 Josh Hill TE 6-5 229 24.50 Idaho State Blackfoot (Idaho)

12 Marques Colston WR 6-4 225 31.46 Hofstra Susquehanna Township (Harrisburg, Pa.)

13 Joseph Morgan WR 6-1 184 26.66 Walsh McKinley (Canton, Ohio)

17 Robert Meachem WR 6-2 215 30.14 Tennessee Booker T. Washington (Tulsa, Okla.)

84 Kenny Stills WR 6-0 190 22.58 Oklahoma La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad, Calif.)

88 Nick Toon WR 6-4 218 26.04 Wisconsin Middleton (Wisc.)

 

Active roster as of Nov. 19, 2014. Ages are in exact decimal format. E.g. a player who is 24 years and six months is listed as 24.50

The Saints also added one player to the practice squad to fill the void left by Frederick's promotion. Journeyman linebacker Jerry Franklin essentially takes the spot left by Todd Davis, who was poached last week by the Denver Broncos.

 

An Arkansas native and former Razorback, Franklin has been with five NFL organizations, most recently the Kansas City Chiefs, for whom he played seven games this season.

 

Franklin could be a candidate for a weekend "call-up" to the active roster if injuries ever leave the Saints in a pinch on special teams.

 

Saints practice squad

# Name Pos. Height Wt. Age College High school

62 Lawrence Virgil NT 6-5 290 23.83 Valdosta State Brooks County (Quitman, Ga.)

?? Jerry Franklin LB 6-1 245 26.86 Arkansas Marion (Ark.)

70 DeMarcus Love OT 6-4 315 26.70 Arkansas David Carter (Dallas)

74 Tavon Rooks OT 6-5 300 24.53 Kansas State Woodlawn (Md.)

4 Ryan Griffin QB 6-5 206 25.00 Tulane Chaminade Prep (West Hills, Calif.)

34 Michael Zordich FB 6-1 245 25.06 Penn State Cardinal Mooney (Youngstown, Ohio)

30 Tauren Poole RB 5-10 210 25.08 Tennessee Stephens County (Toccoa, Ga.)

81 Orson Charles TE 6-3 254 23.81 Georgia Henry Plant (Tampa, Fla.)

15 Seantavius Jones WR 6-3 200 22.28 Valdosta State Tucker (Ga.)

16 Brandon Coleman WR 6-6 225 22.41 Rutgers Bishop McNamara (District Heights, Md.)

Practice squad as of Nov. 19, 2014. Ages are in exact decimal format. E.g. a player who is 24 years and six months is listed as 24.50.

The injured reserve, listed below, is growing more crowded, although not all of the injured players will be a part of the Saints' plans in 2015.

 

Saints injured reserve list

# Name Pos. Height Wt. Age College High school

14 Andy Tanner WR 6-0 183 26.51 Midwestern State Rockwall (Texas)

20 A.J. Davis CB 6-0 183 25.37 Jacksonville State Clay-Chalkville (Pinson, Ala.)

49 Ty Zimmerman S 6-1 204 24.41 Kansas State Junction City (Kan.)

31 Jairus Byrd S 5-10 203 28.12 Oregon Clayton (Mo.)

97 Glenn Foster DE 6-4 285 24.47 Illinois Mt. Carmel (Ill.)

35 Austin Johnson FB 6-2 240 25.43 Tennessee Hickory (N.C.)

10 Brandin Cooks WR 5-10 189 21.15 Oregon State Lincoln (Stockton, Calif.)

25 Rafael Bush S 5-11 200 27.52 South Carolina State Williston Elko (S.C.)

43 Vinnie Sunseri S 6-0 210 21.14 Alabama Northridge (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

99 Cheta Ozougwu OLB 6-2 255 26.00 Rice Alief Taylor (Houston)

[laughedatbytime]

New Orleans Saints roster, practice squad: A closer look at 3 newcomers

 

http://imgick.nola.com/home/nola-media/width620/img/tpphotos/photo/2014/07/30/15512630-mmmain.jpg

 

The New Orleans Saints added three players to the active roster and one to the practice squad this week, but only two are unfamiliar faces in the locker room.

 

The Saints signed safety Pierre Warren, linebacker Moise Fokou and cornerback Terrence Frederick to the active roster.

 

(The Saints also added receiver Jalen Saunders and released Brian Leonard after this post was published Wednesday.)

 

Warren, who camped with the Saints in August, was signed off the Minnesota Vikings practice squad. Frederick had been on the Saints practice squad.

 

Here's a closer look at the three players and how they might fit with the Saints.

 

Pierre Warren

 

An undrafted free agent out of Jacksonville State (which he left after his junior year), Warren was a standout in training camp. So it was a mild surprise when the Saints cut him from the practice squad.

 

The Minnesota Vikings added him to their squad in October, and he worked there until he was signed to the active roster by the Saints this week.

 

Warren is familiar with the defense and showed a knack for making plays in camp. While it's hard to imagine him playing a lot on Monday night, the Saints have so few options that it's possible.

 

Terrence Frederick

 

A 24-year-old in his third year in the league, Frederick has already been a part of four organizations. The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted him in the seventh round in 2012. He was waived and picked up by the New York Giants, where he played in the only two games of his career late in 2012.

 

The Giants waived him the following August, and he spent most of 2013 on the Cleveland Browns' practice squad before the Saints scooped him up to provide late-season depth last December.

 

Frederick is familiar with the defense and can help out on special teams. If the Saints choose to move Corey White from cornerback to a free safety role, Frederick could play in the nickel package as early as Monday night.

 

Moise Fokou

 

A native of Cameroon who went to school in Maryland, Fokou is a 28-year-old veteran who has played for three different teams. He was a semi-regular starter for the Philadelphia Eagles from 2009-2011, played as a reserve for the Indianapolis Colts in 2012 and then started 12 games for the Tennessee Titans in 2013.

 

Waived by the Titans in August, Fokou has been looking for a job since.

 

Fokou can provide special teams help and also depth at linebacker, as Curtis Lofton, David Hawthorne and Kyle Knox have all been limited by injury in practice at times during the last two weeks.

 

Here's the full 53-man roster as it now stands:

 

Saints 53-man roster

 

# Page name Pos. Height Wt. Age College High school

20 Brian Dixon CB 6-0 195 24.57 Northwest Missouri State Deerfield Beach (Pompano Beach, Fla.)

21 Patrick Robinson CB 5-11 191 27.20 Florida State Gulliver Prep (Miami, Fla.)

24 Corey White CB 6-1 205 24.53 Samford Dunwoody (Ga.)

28 Keenan Lewis CB 6-1 208 28.51 Oregon State O. Perry Walker (New Orleans)

33 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB 6-3 218 24.61 Nebraska Miami Central (Fla.)

37 Terrence Frederick CB 5-10 187 24.77 Texas A&M Katy (Texas)

32 Kenny Vaccaro S 6-0 214 23.76 Texas Early (Texas)

36 Marcus Ball S 6-1 209 27.33 Memphis Stephenson (Stone Mountain, Ga.)

38 Jamarca Sanford S 5-10 200 30.79 Ole Miss South Panola (Batesville, Miss.)

42 Pierre Warren S 6-2 200 22.26 Jacksonville State Marbury (Ala.)

75 Tyrunn Walker DE 6-3 294 24.67 Tulsa Westgate (New Iberia, La.)

76 Akiem Hicks DE 6-5 324 25.01 Regina Del Campo (Fair Oaks, Calif.)

94 Cameron Jordan DE 6-4 287 25.36 California Chandler (Ariz.)

95 Brandon Deaderick DT 6-4 305 27.25 Alabama Elizabethtown (Ky.)

77 Brodrick Bunkley NT 6-2 306 30.99 Florida State Chamberlain (Tampa, Fla.)

92 John Jenkins NT 6-3 359 25.36 Georgia Maloney (Meridien, Conn.)

91 Kasim Edebali OLB 6-2 253 25.26 Boston College Kimball Union (Plainfield, N.H.)

93 Junior Galette OLB 6-2 258 26.65 Stillman St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, N.J.)

50 Curtis Lofton ILB 6-0 241 28.47 Oklahoma Kingfisher (Okla.)

53 Ramon Humber ILB 5-11 232 27.28 North Dakota State Champlin Park (Minn.)

57 David Hawthorne ILB 6-0 246 29.52 Texas Christian Corsicana (Texas)

58 Kyle Knox ILB 6-1 220 25.69 Fresno State St. Bernard (Los Angeles)

?? Moise Fokou LB 6-1 243 29.23 Maryland The Bullis School (Potomac, Md.)

56 Ronald Powell OLB 6-3 237 23.52 Florida Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley, Calif.)

98 Parys Haralson OLB 6-0 255 30.82 Tennessee Madison Central (Miss.)

55 Jonathan Goodwin C 6-3 318 35.96 Michigan Lower Richland (Hopkins, S.C.)

68 Tim Lelito C 6-4 315 25.33 Grand Valley State St. Clair (Mich.)

65 Senio Kelemete OG 6-3 300 24.53 Washington Evergreen (Vancouver, Wash.)

66 Ben Grubbs OG 6-3 310 30.69 Auburn Elmore County (Eclectic, Ala.)

73 Jahri Evans OG 6-4 318 31.24 Bloomsburg Frankford (Philadelphia)

64 Zach Strief OT 6-7 320 31.16 Northwestern Milford (Ohio)

67 Nick Becton OT 6-6 323 24.77 Virginia Tech New Hanover (Wilmington, N.C.)

72 Terron Armstead OT 6-5 304 23.33 Arkansas-Pine Bluff Cahokia (Ill.)

79 Bryce Harris OT 6-6 300 25.84 Fresno State Tulare (Calif.) Union

7 Luke McCown QB 6-4 217 33.36 Louisiana Tech Jacksonville (Texas)

9 Drew Brees QB 6-0 209 35.84 Purdue Westlake (Austin, Texas)

41 Erik Lorig FB 6-4 250 28.01 Stanford Palos Verde Peninsula (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.)

22 Mark Ingram RB 5-9 215 24.91 Alabama Flint Southwestern (Mich.)

23 Pierre Thomas RB 5-11 215 29.92 Illinois Thornton Fractional South (Lansing, Ill.)

29 Khiry Robinson RB 6-0 220 24.89 West Texas A&M Belton (Texas)

39 Travaris Cadet RB 6-1 210 25.80 Appalachian State Miami Central (Fla.)

40 Brian Leonard RB 6-1 225 29.23 Rutgers Central (Gouverneur, N.Y.)

3 Shayne Graham K 6-0 210 36.94 Virginia Tech Pulaski (Dublin, Va.)

47 Justin Drescher LS 6-1 235 26.88 Colorado Carroll (Southlake, Texas)

6 Thomas Morstead P 6-4 235 28.70 Southern Methodist Pearland (Texas)

80 Jimmy Graham TE 6-7 265 27.99 Miami (Fla.) Community Christian (Wilson, N.C.)

82 Benjamin Watson TE 6-3 255 33.92 Georgia Northwestern (Rock Hill, S.C.)

89 Josh Hill TE 6-5 229 24.50 Idaho State Blackfoot (Idaho)

12 Marques Colston WR 6-4 225 31.46 Hofstra Susquehanna Township (Harrisburg, Pa.)

13 Joseph Morgan WR 6-1 184 26.66 Walsh McKinley (Canton, Ohio)

17 Robert Meachem WR 6-2 215 30.14 Tennessee Booker T. Washington (Tulsa, Okla.)

84 Kenny Stills WR 6-0 190 22.58 Oklahoma La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad, Calif.)

88 Nick Toon WR 6-4 218 26.04 Wisconsin Middleton (Wisc.)

 

Active roster as of Nov. 19, 2014. Ages are in exact decimal format. E.g. a player who is 24 years and six months is listed as 24.50

The Saints also added one player to the practice squad to fill the void left by Frederick's promotion. Journeyman linebacker Jerry Franklin essentially takes the spot left by Todd Davis, who was poached last week by the Denver Broncos.

 

An Arkansas native and former Razorback, Franklin has been with five NFL organizations, most recently the Kansas City Chiefs, for whom he played seven games this season.

 

Franklin could be a candidate for a weekend "call-up" to the active roster if injuries ever leave the Saints in a pinch on special teams.

 

Saints practice squad

# Name Pos. Height Wt. Age College High school

62 Lawrence Virgil NT 6-5 290 23.83 Valdosta State Brooks County (Quitman, Ga.)

?? Jerry Franklin LB 6-1 245 26.86 Arkansas Marion (Ark.)

70 DeMarcus Love OT 6-4 315 26.70 Arkansas David Carter (Dallas)

74 Tavon Rooks OT 6-5 300 24.53 Kansas State Woodlawn (Md.)

4 Ryan Griffin QB 6-5 206 25.00 Tulane Chaminade Prep (West Hills, Calif.)

34 Michael Zordich FB 6-1 245 25.06 Penn State Cardinal Mooney (Youngstown, Ohio)

30 Tauren Poole RB 5-10 210 25.08 Tennessee Stephens County (Toccoa, Ga.)

81 Orson Charles TE 6-3 254 23.81 Georgia Henry Plant (Tampa, Fla.)

15 Seantavius Jones WR 6-3 200 22.28 Valdosta State Tucker (Ga.)

16 Brandon Coleman WR 6-6 225 22.41 Rutgers Bishop McNamara (District Heights, Md.)

Practice squad as of Nov. 19, 2014. Ages are in exact decimal format. E.g. a player who is 24 years and six months is listed as 24.50.

The injured reserve, listed below, is growing more crowded, although not all of the injured players will be a part of the Saints' plans in 2015.

 

Saints injured reserve list

# Name Pos. Height Wt. Age College High school

14 Andy Tanner WR 6-0 183 26.51 Midwestern State Rockwall (Texas)

20 A.J. Davis CB 6-0 183 25.37 Jacksonville State Clay-Chalkville (Pinson, Ala.)

49 Ty Zimmerman S 6-1 204 24.41 Kansas State Junction City (Kan.)

31 Jairus Byrd S 5-10 203 28.12 Oregon Clayton (Mo.)

97 Glenn Foster DE 6-4 285 24.47 Illinois Mt. Carmel (Ill.)

35 Austin Johnson FB 6-2 240 25.43 Tennessee Hickory (N.C.)

10 Brandin Cooks WR 5-10 189 21.15 Oregon State Lincoln (Stockton, Calif.)

25 Rafael Bush S 5-11 200 27.52 South Carolina State Williston Elko (S.C.)

43 Vinnie Sunseri S 6-0 210 21.14 Alabama Northridge (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

99 Cheta Ozougwu OLB 6-2 255 26.00 Rice Alief Taylor (Houston)

I think we're definitely going to see 10 in a row with these additions.

[treeduck]

Receiver Jalen Saunders signed by New Orleans Saints

 

http://imgick.nola.com/home/nola-media/width620/img/saints_impact/photo/16379488-mmmain.jpg

 

The New Orleans Saints signed receiver Jalen Saunders to their active roster on Wednesday, cutting veteran running back Brian Leonard, according to a report by ESPN's Field Yates.

 

Saunders' agent confirmed the signing Wednesday evening.

 

Saunders, who had been on the Seattle Seahawks practice squad, was drafted in the fourth round by the New York Jets in May. He was released in September. Before joining the Seahawks' practice squad, he had a brief stint with the Arizona Cardinals, making the Saints his fourth organization.

 

Leonard signed with the Saints last week after injuries to running backs Khiry Robinson, Pierre Thomas and Edwin Baker.

 

Baker was released on Tuesday, suggesting that one or both of the two injured backs are ready to return.

 

Saunders will give the Saints more depth at receiver after rookie Brandin Cooks broke his thumb and was placed on the injured reserve. Saunders also gives the Saints another option on returns.

 

Jairus Byrd, who was used a backup punt returner to Cooks, is also on the injured reserve. Receiver Joe Morgan could get the first shot to replace Cooks.

 

A California native, Saunders began his career at Fresno State before transferring to Oklahoma. He had 61 receptions for 729 yards and eight touchdowns in his senior season with the Sooners. He twice returned punts for touchdowns.

 

Leonard's Saints tenure lasted only seven days, but he did catch one pass for 15 yards in Sunday's loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

 

Saunders will have two quick friends in the Saints receiver room. He grew up near Cooks in the Stockton, Calif., area, and one of the best games of his prep career came against Cooks' Lincoln High School. Saunders is also familiar with Kenny Stills, his teammate on the Sooners in 2012.

 

The Saints have two rookies on their practice squad who could have been promoted to the active roster in Seantavius Jones and Brandon Coleman.

 

In addition to the injury to Cooks, veteran receiver Robert Meachem has missed the last two games with an ankle injury. If he's not healthy for Monday night's game against the Baltimore Ravens, the Saints could use a three-man receiver rotation of Marques Colston, Stills and Morgan.

[treeduck]

New Orleans Saints roster, practice squad: A closer look at 3 newcomers

 

http://imgick.nola.com/home/nola-media/width620/img/tpphotos/photo/2014/07/30/15512630-mmmain.jpg

 

The New Orleans Saints added three players to the active roster and one to the practice squad this week, but only two are unfamiliar faces in the locker room.

 

The Saints signed safety Pierre Warren, linebacker Moise Fokou and cornerback Terrence Frederick to the active roster.

 

(The Saints also added receiver Jalen Saunders and released Brian Leonard after this post was published Wednesday.)

 

Warren, who camped with the Saints in August, was signed off the Minnesota Vikings practice squad. Frederick had been on the Saints practice squad.

 

Here's a closer look at the three players and how they might fit with the Saints.

 

Pierre Warren

 

An undrafted free agent out of Jacksonville State (which he left after his junior year), Warren was a standout in training camp. So it was a mild surprise when the Saints cut him from the practice squad.

 

The Minnesota Vikings added him to their squad in October, and he worked there until he was signed to the active roster by the Saints this week.

 

Warren is familiar with the defense and showed a knack for making plays in camp. While it's hard to imagine him playing a lot on Monday night, the Saints have so few options that it's possible.

 

Terrence Frederick

 

A 24-year-old in his third year in the league, Frederick has already been a part of four organizations. The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted him in the seventh round in 2012. He was waived and picked up by the New York Giants, where he played in the only two games of his career late in 2012.

 

The Giants waived him the following August, and he spent most of 2013 on the Cleveland Browns' practice squad before the Saints scooped him up to provide late-season depth last December.

 

Frederick is familiar with the defense and can help out on special teams. If the Saints choose to move Corey White from cornerback to a free safety role, Frederick could play in the nickel package as early as Monday night.

 

Moise Fokou

 

A native of Cameroon who went to school in Maryland, Fokou is a 28-year-old veteran who has played for three different teams. He was a semi-regular starter for the Philadelphia Eagles from 2009-2011, played as a reserve for the Indianapolis Colts in 2012 and then started 12 games for the Tennessee Titans in 2013.

 

Waived by the Titans in August, Fokou has been looking for a job since.

 

Fokou can provide special teams help and also depth at linebacker, as Curtis Lofton, David Hawthorne and Kyle Knox have all been limited by injury in practice at times during the last two weeks.

 

Here's the full 53-man roster as it now stands:

 

Saints 53-man roster

 

# Page name Pos. Height Wt. Age College High school

20 Brian Dixon CB 6-0 195 24.57 Northwest Missouri State Deerfield Beach (Pompano Beach, Fla.)

21 Patrick Robinson CB 5-11 191 27.20 Florida State Gulliver Prep (Miami, Fla.)

24 Corey White CB 6-1 205 24.53 Samford Dunwoody (Ga.)

28 Keenan Lewis CB 6-1 208 28.51 Oregon State O. Perry Walker (New Orleans)

33 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB 6-3 218 24.61 Nebraska Miami Central (Fla.)

37 Terrence Frederick CB 5-10 187 24.77 Texas A&M Katy (Texas)

32 Kenny Vaccaro S 6-0 214 23.76 Texas Early (Texas)

36 Marcus Ball S 6-1 209 27.33 Memphis Stephenson (Stone Mountain, Ga.)

38 Jamarca Sanford S 5-10 200 30.79 Ole Miss South Panola (Batesville, Miss.)

42 Pierre Warren S 6-2 200 22.26 Jacksonville State Marbury (Ala.)

75 Tyrunn Walker DE 6-3 294 24.67 Tulsa Westgate (New Iberia, La.)

76 Akiem Hicks DE 6-5 324 25.01 Regina Del Campo (Fair Oaks, Calif.)

94 Cameron Jordan DE 6-4 287 25.36 California Chandler (Ariz.)

95 Brandon Deaderick DT 6-4 305 27.25 Alabama Elizabethtown (Ky.)

77 Brodrick Bunkley NT 6-2 306 30.99 Florida State Chamberlain (Tampa, Fla.)

92 John Jenkins NT 6-3 359 25.36 Georgia Maloney (Meridien, Conn.)

91 Kasim Edebali OLB 6-2 253 25.26 Boston College Kimball Union (Plainfield, N.H.)

93 Junior Galette OLB 6-2 258 26.65 Stillman St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, N.J.)

50 Curtis Lofton ILB 6-0 241 28.47 Oklahoma Kingfisher (Okla.)

53 Ramon Humber ILB 5-11 232 27.28 North Dakota State Champlin Park (Minn.)

57 David Hawthorne ILB 6-0 246 29.52 Texas Christian Corsicana (Texas)

58 Kyle Knox ILB 6-1 220 25.69 Fresno State St. Bernard (Los Angeles)

?? Moise Fokou LB 6-1 243 29.23 Maryland The Bullis School (Potomac, Md.)

56 Ronald Powell OLB 6-3 237 23.52 Florida Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley, Calif.)

98 Parys Haralson OLB 6-0 255 30.82 Tennessee Madison Central (Miss.)

55 Jonathan Goodwin C 6-3 318 35.96 Michigan Lower Richland (Hopkins, S.C.)

68 Tim Lelito C 6-4 315 25.33 Grand Valley State St. Clair (Mich.)

65 Senio Kelemete OG 6-3 300 24.53 Washington Evergreen (Vancouver, Wash.)

66 Ben Grubbs OG 6-3 310 30.69 Auburn Elmore County (Eclectic, Ala.)

73 Jahri Evans OG 6-4 318 31.24 Bloomsburg Frankford (Philadelphia)

64 Zach Strief OT 6-7 320 31.16 Northwestern Milford (Ohio)

67 Nick Becton OT 6-6 323 24.77 Virginia Tech New Hanover (Wilmington, N.C.)

72 Terron Armstead OT 6-5 304 23.33 Arkansas-Pine Bluff Cahokia (Ill.)

79 Bryce Harris OT 6-6 300 25.84 Fresno State Tulare (Calif.) Union

7 Luke McCown QB 6-4 217 33.36 Louisiana Tech Jacksonville (Texas)

9 Drew Brees QB 6-0 209 35.84 Purdue Westlake (Austin, Texas)

41 Erik Lorig FB 6-4 250 28.01 Stanford Palos Verde Peninsula (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.)

22 Mark Ingram RB 5-9 215 24.91 Alabama Flint Southwestern (Mich.)

23 Pierre Thomas RB 5-11 215 29.92 Illinois Thornton Fractional South (Lansing, Ill.)

29 Khiry Robinson RB 6-0 220 24.89 West Texas A&M Belton (Texas)

39 Travaris Cadet RB 6-1 210 25.80 Appalachian State Miami Central (Fla.)

40 Brian Leonard RB 6-1 225 29.23 Rutgers Central (Gouverneur, N.Y.)

3 Shayne Graham K 6-0 210 36.94 Virginia Tech Pulaski (Dublin, Va.)

47 Justin Drescher LS 6-1 235 26.88 Colorado Carroll (Southlake, Texas)

6 Thomas Morstead P 6-4 235 28.70 Southern Methodist Pearland (Texas)

80 Jimmy Graham TE 6-7 265 27.99 Miami (Fla.) Community Christian (Wilson, N.C.)

82 Benjamin Watson TE 6-3 255 33.92 Georgia Northwestern (Rock Hill, S.C.)

89 Josh Hill TE 6-5 229 24.50 Idaho State Blackfoot (Idaho)

12 Marques Colston WR 6-4 225 31.46 Hofstra Susquehanna Township (Harrisburg, Pa.)

13 Joseph Morgan WR 6-1 184 26.66 Walsh McKinley (Canton, Ohio)

17 Robert Meachem WR 6-2 215 30.14 Tennessee Booker T. Washington (Tulsa, Okla.)

84 Kenny Stills WR 6-0 190 22.58 Oklahoma La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad, Calif.)

88 Nick Toon WR 6-4 218 26.04 Wisconsin Middleton (Wisc.)

 

Active roster as of Nov. 19, 2014. Ages are in exact decimal format. E.g. a player who is 24 years and six months is listed as 24.50

The Saints also added one player to the practice squad to fill the void left by Frederick's promotion. Journeyman linebacker Jerry Franklin essentially takes the spot left by Todd Davis, who was poached last week by the Denver Broncos.

 

An Arkansas native and former Razorback, Franklin has been with five NFL organizations, most recently the Kansas City Chiefs, for whom he played seven games this season.

 

Franklin could be a candidate for a weekend "call-up" to the active roster if injuries ever leave the Saints in a pinch on special teams.

 

Saints practice squad

# Name Pos. Height Wt. Age College High school

62 Lawrence Virgil NT 6-5 290 23.83 Valdosta State Brooks County (Quitman, Ga.)

?? Jerry Franklin LB 6-1 245 26.86 Arkansas Marion (Ark.)

70 DeMarcus Love OT 6-4 315 26.70 Arkansas David Carter (Dallas)

74 Tavon Rooks OT 6-5 300 24.53 Kansas State Woodlawn (Md.)

4 Ryan Griffin QB 6-5 206 25.00 Tulane Chaminade Prep (West Hills, Calif.)

34 Michael Zordich FB 6-1 245 25.06 Penn State Cardinal Mooney (Youngstown, Ohio)

30 Tauren Poole RB 5-10 210 25.08 Tennessee Stephens County (Toccoa, Ga.)

81 Orson Charles TE 6-3 254 23.81 Georgia Henry Plant (Tampa, Fla.)

15 Seantavius Jones WR 6-3 200 22.28 Valdosta State Tucker (Ga.)

16 Brandon Coleman WR 6-6 225 22.41 Rutgers Bishop McNamara (District Heights, Md.)

Practice squad as of Nov. 19, 2014. Ages are in exact decimal format. E.g. a player who is 24 years and six months is listed as 24.50.

The injured reserve, listed below, is growing more crowded, although not all of the injured players will be a part of the Saints' plans in 2015.

 

Saints injured reserve list

# Name Pos. Height Wt. Age College High school

14 Andy Tanner WR 6-0 183 26.51 Midwestern State Rockwall (Texas)

20 A.J. Davis CB 6-0 183 25.37 Jacksonville State Clay-Chalkville (Pinson, Ala.)

49 Ty Zimmerman S 6-1 204 24.41 Kansas State Junction City (Kan.)

31 Jairus Byrd S 5-10 203 28.12 Oregon Clayton (Mo.)

97 Glenn Foster DE 6-4 285 24.47 Illinois Mt. Carmel (Ill.)

35 Austin Johnson FB 6-2 240 25.43 Tennessee Hickory (N.C.)

10 Brandin Cooks WR 5-10 189 21.15 Oregon State Lincoln (Stockton, Calif.)

25 Rafael Bush S 5-11 200 27.52 South Carolina State Williston Elko (S.C.)

43 Vinnie Sunseri S 6-0 210 21.14 Alabama Northridge (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

99 Cheta Ozougwu OLB 6-2 255 26.00 Rice Alief Taylor (Houston)

I think we're definitely going to see 10 in a row with these additions.

:hail:

[treeduck]

Drew Brees is 0-for-Baltimore, Ravens don’t want to hear it

 

Posted by Darin Gantt on November 21, 2014, 10:25 AM EST

 

http://nbcprofootballtalk.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/baa4c8dc954d9d0b5b1b144684d49746.jpeg?w=250

Drew Brees has done a lot of amazing things on the football field.

 

But he’s never beaten the Ravens.

 

Granted, he’s only played them three times, but has lost all three, once with the Chargers and twice with the Saints.

 

“I am aware. I played them in ’03, ’06 and ’10. Thanks for reminding me,” Brees said, via Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. Every time I step on the field, I want to win. But certainly, you want to say that you’ve beaten every team.”

 

Likewise, Saints coach Sean Payton hasn’t checked the Ravens off his list yet, but Ravens players don’t want us discussing it.

“Didn’t I tell you all about the no-hitter?” outside linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “You guys are the worst. I don’t even know to answer that.”

 

While the small sample size skews the data, he has completed just 59.6 percent of his passes against the Ravens, his second-lowest of any opponent. He has six touchdowns and seven interceptions against them, far beyond his normal ratio.

 

Of course, he’s nearly 10 points off his passer rating from last year as well (from 104.7 to 95.9), in part because he’s not getting the big chunk plays he has in the past. Losing Brandin Cooks for the season isn’t going to help that, or necessarily help against a team with a vulnerable secondary.

 

 

[liquidcrystalcompass]

The Saints are going down this weekend.

[treeduck]

The Saints are going down this weekend.

This weekend? What about the last two?

[laughedatbytime]

It would be kind of funny to see the Falcons win the division at 6-10 and no out of division wins.

 

Keep the dream alive!

[treeduck]

It would be kind of funny to see the Falcons win the division at 6-10 and no out of division wins.

 

Keep the dream alive!

 

:no: :no:

 

It's never funny when the Falcons win anything.

[Turbine Freight]

The Stains are annoying the f**k out of me this year. I just don't get what's happening down there at all. OK, Fatboy Rex is a liability but they still should've won far more games than they have thus far. They're putting a real dent in my wallet. The bookies love 'em!

[liquidcrystalcompass]

The Stains are annoying the f**k out of me this year. I just don't get what's happening down there at all. OK, Fatboy Rex is a liability but they still should've won far more games than they have thus far. They're putting a real dent in my wallet. The bookies love 'em!

I think the offense is playing under a lot of stress. Forcing things perhaps. I think they feel pressed to succeed on every possession because the defense can't be trusted.

[treeduck]

Drew Brees aims to cross Baltimore Ravens off his bucket list

November, 20, 2014

NOV 20

8:25

PM ET

By Mike Triplett | ESPN.com

 

METAIRIE, La. – Unlike Terrell Suggs, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is well aware that the Baltimore Ravens are the only NFL team he has yet to beat in his 14-year NFL career.

 

“Just this one,” Brees said, almost interrupting a reporter when the question was asked Thursday.

 

 

Brees

Anyone familiar with Brees’ encyclopedic knowledge of pretty much every game he’s played shouldn’t be surprised at that.

 

“I can tell you each game too. It was really just three, ‘03 in San Diego, ‘06 here, ‘10 there,” Brees said.

 

Then when asked if that adds a little extra motivation heading into the Saints’ Monday night matchup against Baltimore, Brees said, “Maybe a little bit.”

 

That also shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s familiar with Brees’ ultra-competitive nature.

 

But Brees doesn’t exactly need any extra motivation this week, considering the Saints are 4-6 and coming off of one of their most lackluster offensive performances in his nine-year tenure in New Orleans. The Saints lost 27-10 at home to the Cincinnati Bengals, their lowest point total at home since 2006.

 

Brees was efficient, completing 33 of 41 passes for 255 yards without a turnover. But he didn’t complete a pass longer than 17 yards as the Saints’ long drives stalled repeatedly.

 

Brees said he thinks the extra day off this week leading up to a Monday game was helpful for guys, “especially maybe coming off that game, just to kind of get realigned and really focused on the task.”

 

But he added that he didn’t want to dwell too much on the Cincinnati game since it’s now “in the past.”

 

“I think you walk away from that saying, ‘Gosh we didn’t feel like we had a whole lot of opportunities offensively, and we weren’t really efficient with the ones we did have. We sustained drives, we did some things, but obviously not near enough,” Brees said. “So in some ways you just say, ‘We’ve gotta find ways to be more efficient, take the things that we’re doing well, continue to master those, and then the things that we need to work on, let’s really fine-tune.’

 

“Because when you get out there, you want to be able to simplify the game as much as possible. And you want to play fast and confident.”

 

There’s no better opportunity for the Saints’ offense to do that than at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in prime time. They’ve won 14 straight primetime home games, including the playoffs, by nearly 20 points per game.

 

“It’s primetime ‘Monday Night Football.’ We’ve had a lot of these games here. Our fans always seem to rise to the occasion. I think our team always seems to rise to the occasion,” Brees said. “And we need it more than ever right now.”

[liquidcrystalcompass]

Drew Brees aims to cross Baltimore Ravens off his bucket list

November, 20, 2014

NOV 20

8:25

PM ET

By Mike Triplett | ESPN.com

 

METAIRIE, La. – Unlike Terrell Suggs, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is well aware that the Baltimore Ravens are the only NFL team he has yet to beat in his 14-year NFL career.

 

“Just this one,” Brees said, almost interrupting a reporter when the question was asked Thursday.

 

 

Brees

Anyone familiar with Brees’ encyclopedic knowledge of pretty much every game he’s played shouldn’t be surprised at that.

 

“I can tell you each game too. It was really just three, ‘03 in San Diego, ‘06 here, ‘10 there,” Brees said.

 

Then when asked if that adds a little extra motivation heading into the Saints’ Monday night matchup against Baltimore, Brees said, “Maybe a little bit.”

 

That also shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s familiar with Brees’ ultra-competitive nature.

 

But Brees doesn’t exactly need any extra motivation this week, considering the Saints are 4-6 and coming off of one of their most lackluster offensive performances in his nine-year tenure in New Orleans. The Saints lost 27-10 at home to the Cincinnati Bengals, their lowest point total at home since 2006.

 

Brees was efficient, completing 33 of 41 passes for 255 yards without a turnover. But he didn’t complete a pass longer than 17 yards as the Saints’ long drives stalled repeatedly.

 

Brees said he thinks the extra day off this week leading up to a Monday game was helpful for guys, “especially maybe coming off that game, just to kind of get realigned and really focused on the task.”

 

But he added that he didn’t want to dwell too much on the Cincinnati game since it’s now “in the past.”

 

“I think you walk away from that saying, ‘Gosh we didn’t feel like we had a whole lot of opportunities offensively, and we weren’t really efficient with the ones we did have. We sustained drives, we did some things, but obviously not near enough,” Brees said. “So in some ways you just say, ‘We’ve gotta find ways to be more efficient, take the things that we’re doing well, continue to master those, and then the things that we need to work on, let’s really fine-tune.’

 

“Because when you get out there, you want to be able to simplify the game as much as possible. And you want to play fast and confident.”

 

There’s no better opportunity for the Saints’ offense to do that than at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in prime time. They’ve won 14 straight primetime home games, including the playoffs, by nearly 20 points per game.

 

“It’s primetime ‘Monday Night Football.’ We’ve had a lot of these games here. Our fans always seem to rise to the occasion. I think our team always seems to rise to the occasion,” Brees said. “And we need it more than ever right now.”

Brees has played 14 seasons? God I'm getting old.

[Turbine Freight]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzhAExdDemk

 

Typical Stains fan!

[treeduck]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzhAExdDemk

 

Typical Stains fan!

No just a random asshole!

[treeduck]

SAINTS :madra: :madra: :madra: :madra:

[liquidcrystalcompass]

And you're still in first place............................

[laughedatbytime]

I want to see a 5-11 team host a 12-4 team in the playoffs!

 

:dweez: :dweez: :dweez: :dweez: :dweez: :dweez:

[treeduck]

And you're still in first place............................

Not quite the Falcons have the tiebreak on us, but then they have to play the Cardinals, Packers and Steelers next.

[troutman]

And you're still in first place............................

Not quite the Falcons have the tiebreak on us, but then they have to play the Cardinals, Packers and Steelers next.

 

Gees dude,

 

4-7. Your right up there with the Raiders. :P