May 20th 2008 3:36AM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Panthers, Saints, NFC South, NFL Injuries, Charlotte, New Orleans
New Orleans Saints linebacker Dan Morgan retired on Monday, ending a productive, albeit oft-injured career. Morgan played his entire seven-year career with the Carolina Panthers before signing with the Saints this offseason.”When we signed Dan, he was committed to making a fresh start, and he was making every effort to rehabilitate the leg injury that he suffered last year,” said Coach Sean Payton in a statement. “But it wasn’t responding as well as he had hoped it would. We wish him well in his continued recovery, and he will be remembered for the excellent player he was during his career.”
Indeed. Morgan was one of those guys who was a great leader on the field … but he just couldn’t stay there. He was the Panthers #11 overall choice in the 2001 NFL Draft and quickly became a huge part of the team’s eventual run to Super Bowl XXXVIII. He would become a Pro Bowler in 2004.
But injuries kept him from continuing to perform at a high level. He had an estimated five concussions that sidelined him at various times and nearly ended his career. An partian tear in his Achilles tendon forced him to miss Carolina’s final 13 games last year. He never played a full season … and played in just four games over the past two seasons.
Morgan won the Butkus, Nagurski and Bednarik Awards in college at Miami, becoming the first player to win all three awards during his career (and he did so in just one season).
May 17th 2008 9:12PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Saints, Super Bowl, New Orleans
New Orleans city officials would love to host the Super Bowl. Saints officials would love to see the Super Bowl played in their home stadium. The NFL would love to award a Super Bowl to New Orleans as a gesture toward a downtrodden city. Past Super Bowls in New Orleans have gone over well. Everyone agrees that New Orleans should get a Super Bowl.
So that would seem to indicate that the Super Bowl should go to New Orleans soon. But it won’t until 2013 at the earliest, and even then it’s looking like a long shot, as the Saints’ lease with the Superdome would first need to get worked out. Jimmy Smith of the Times Picayune has the Saints’ explanation:
“New Orleans intends to bid on the 2013 Super Bowl,” Vice President of Communications Greg Bensel wrote in the e-mail. “Per NFL Super Bowl bid policy, there must exist a lease for the host team. We did explore extending our lease with the intent to bid for the 2012 Super Bowl.”
Right now the Saints’ lease with the State of Louisiana, which operates the Superdome, expires in 2010. If a new agreement can’t be reached to extend that lease soon, New Orleans won’t get the Super Bowl, even if everyone thinks it should.
May 8th 2008 2:10PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: Saints, NFC South, NFL Media Watch, NFL Real Talk, New Orleans
Since Hurricane Katrina, the Saints have been rumored to be on the outs from New Orleans. Los Angeles, San Antonio, Berlin in the NFL Europa 2.0 league — most people have been placing the future of the team in cities that aren’t New Orleans (maybe that last one was made up).
Those rumors, in Katrina’s wake, justified — and if insiders are to be believed, Tom Benson’s plan to upheave the Saints to San Antonio was far more reality than rumor. Just google “New Orleans’ crumbling economy can’t meet the financial demands of a pro football team,” and you’ll get plenty of results arguing for relocation.
But those rumors haven’t died even though the NFL, from the waaaay back days of Paul Tagliabue, has committed over and over to keeping the Saints in New Orleans for the long haul. When the specs were unveiled last month for the beautiful new stadium potentially coming to Los Angeles, some media reports had the Saints as potential tenants despite two consecutive season ticket sell-outs.
But the team isn’t going anywhere.Continue Reading
Jul 21st 2008 10:23AM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: Giants, Saints, AFC East, NFC East, NFC South
I didn’t think it was possible, but bless Bill Parcells and the Redskins’ braintrust for this — the trade of Jason Taylor to Washington has managed to disrupt Favremania long enough for people to talk about something that will more-than-hypothetically alter autumn Sundays. Just imagine what we’d be talking about if this went through:
Now, I’d heard some interesting rumors in recent weeks about Taylor. I’d heard a good one last week about a three-way deal between the Giants, Dolphins and Saints, with Taylor going to the Giants to replace Michael StrahanJeremy Shockey going to New Orleans to give Sean Payton the tight-end weapon he so desperately wants, and second- and fifth-round picks going from New Orleans to Miami.
Transaction (three-team deal) rarely, if ever, seen in the NFL? Check. One likely Hall of Famer replacing another? Check. Super Bowl champions? Check. Two of the most-discussed, and divisive, players of the offseason? Check. It would have been the perfect storm of media saturation.
And the deal, actually, makes sense. The compensation seems to match all around, and Payton and Parcells are close. That being said, it just seems too good to be true. And, if there was ever any substance to the rumor in the first place, it too good to be true. All’s not lost, though. Taylor-to-Washington was good enough to stop the BS stench coming from Green Bay for, like, five minutes. And for that we should be grateful.
