Chicks in the Huddle

I promised it, you asked for it, and thanks to a mid-week energy boost courtesy of the Hornets, here it is. Below is “part deux” of my interview with Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma.  It’s all the delicious goodness of a real sports interview, without all the trans fatty f-bombs of a Chris Berman temper tantrum.

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C’mon Hornets fans and fellow fairweathers.
Make that Duncan Crybaby pay!

As if drafting Sedrick Ellis and releasing Olindo Mare weren’t enough, Sean Payton’s given us yet another reason to put that whole “double reverse debacle” in the Tampa Bay game behind us.
On Monday, the Saints head coach held a news conference in New Orleans to announce his newly formed foundation: “Play it Forward.” Think of it as “Oprah’s Big Give” meets the NFL meets “K-ville,” minus the gumbo party of course. Read more »

Being a football player is cool. Being a football player who seems to be over the whole “Willy Beamon” ego trip of playing in the NFL is even cooler. That’s what made talking to Jonathan Vilma feel like I was talking to the Jake Ryan of football. (That’s right, an Any Given Sunday and a Sixteen Candles reference in the same post. Deal with it.) Unlike the T.O.s, Chad Johnsons, and Jeremy Shockeys of the world, Jon Vilma knows he’s not bigger than the game.

A good 20 minutes worth of peak-time cell phone chatting with the Saints’ new linebacker left me breathing a sigh of relief about what’s to come in 2008 for my team. You see regardless of whether he’s willing to admit it, Jonathan Vilma will be an impact player in the Saints’ defense; if not on the field, than certainly in the locker room. Maybe it’s because he’s got a sense of purpose that goes beyond just winning games. Jonathan Vilma’s got something to prove.

We’ll get to the stuff he said about helping people in the community, knocking players on their asses and drinking in a moment, but first: the football talk. Here’s what’s clear; Jonathan Vilma is ready to make you believe that he’s the same guy who went 12th in the draft in 2004 to the Jets, won NFL defensive player of the year, and went to the 2006 Pro Bowl. His career was flying high until Jets Coach Eric Mangini made changes on the defense, shifting from Vilma’s favorable 4-3 to a 3-4 formation.

Things went from bad to worse in 2007 when Vilma suffered a season ending knee injury in week 7. That means this guy hasn’t played football since October. To say that he’s a “little bit anxious” to get back on the field again would be like saying you get just a “little bit anxious” when Olindo Mare takes the field. This dude is so hungry to silence his critics and overcome his injury he’s almost salivating at the mouth.

“I know what I was able to do the first two years in the NFL and I hope to get back to that level of playing. I want to get back to that level,” Vilma says.

When asked about his injury, his words reminded me of another resiliant player, Deuce McAllister.

 “So far so good. I haven’t had any setbacks. I’m not 100% but I hope to be close to it by the start of the season.”

When asked about whether he’s ready to take a leadership role in the Saints defense, Vilma played it coy.

“I’m the new guy. I just want to find my way. I don’t want to get there and mess up anything.

(They’re ranked 26th in the NFL Jon. You can’t mess anything up.)

Alright, enough of my football banter. Time for your questions.

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Two years ago, having Deuce McAllister, Reggie Bush, and Shaun Alexander all in the same jersey would sound like an offensive coordinator’s wet dream.  Now it’s actually a possibility for the Saints.  Alexander is said to be visiting with the team this week for a possible tailback position.

Of course, the implications of him joining the squad are in no way as overwhelming as they would have been back in 2006.  Deuce is coming off his second knee surgery and rehabbing to get back to at least an operable point, hardly the beast he was before the season ending injury.  Reggie Bush is struggling to find himself as an offensive weapon in the NFL.  And Shaun Alexander, who got his walking papers from Seattle this offseason, seems more like a shell of his former MVP self. 

Just two years after signing an 8-year $62 million deal with the Seahawks, the tailback found out first hand what it’s like to be at the “tail” end of the NFL spotlight.  During week one in 2007, Alexander suffered a fractured left wrist.  In week 9, he twisted both his knee and ankle.    The man who set the single season touchdown record just two years prior ended 2007 with only 4 touchdowns in ten games and a total of 716 yards.  He only logged 20 yards on 9 carries and scored in Seattle’s playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers.  Ouch.

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So you knew it was coming…or did you?  LSU has given quarterback and occassional game day hero/train wreck Ryan Perrilloux the Louisiana-shaped boot.  And I gotta say, it makes me sad.   

Maybe not so much as an LSU fan, but as a foe of people with talent who can’t help but get in their own way.  For me, Ryan Perrilloux symbolizes so many talented athletes out there who get the shot of a lifetime and have no idea what to do with it.  (Yes Michael Vick, I am most certainly picturing you while I write this…and you too Pacman Jones…and you too Bengals roster.) 

Perrilloux’s been accused in a club fight, of using a fake id to get into a casino, of skipping classes and he’s been linked to some sort of counterfeiting scheme.  Why would one of the most sought after high school quarterbacks in the state go out of his way to act a damn fool once in college?  It just doesn’t make sense.

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The Saints just signed a whole boatload of college Free Agents…16 to be exact.  We’re talking wide receivers, offensive lineman, defensive lineman, and more.  Could the next Marques Colston be in that number and if so, will he be as adorably hot as the original?  Here’s hoping! 

One player whose name we oddly recognized is a UNLV defensive end by the name of Jeremy Geathers.  If just reading the name makes you “jumpy” it’s because you probably had flashbacks of Jeremy’s dad, former Saints star lineman Jumpy Geathers.  Jumpy was famous for his “forklift rush” where he would pick up his blocker and carry him to the quarterback.  Nice… Here’s hoping the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. 

For a full list of the free agent newbies, click here.

BCS Commissioners a.k.a. the money-grubbing whores who make the decisions in college football, have rejected a proposal for a four game playoff system, thereby guaranteeing Ohio State will have another opportunity to get its ass whooped in prime time.  The decision was made as the whores prepare to renegotiate television contracts for Bowl games. 

Under the proposal, the top four ranked teams would take part in two semifinal games.  The winners of those games would then play for the national title.  But the commissioners say they think a playoff system in college football would be complicated and yucky (see: less profitable) so they’ve opted to stick with the current format.  The biggest resistance came from the big dopes in the Big 12.  Shocking.

But what do you think.   Does the current BCS system boil down to little more than a Big Crappy Suckfest or do you think a playoff system would eliminate the competitive nature of college football?  Go ahead, let it out…

Sure draft day had about as many surprises as the end of a Jennifer Lopez movie, but what mattered at the end of the day was that just like J. Lo, the Saints got their man. Sedrick Ellis of USC will join the squad as the hotshot defensive tackle that could finally solve the Saints’ pass rush problems. He’s got the versatility, speed, and strength needed to create some pressure up front while taking some heat off the secondary (a.k.a. saving Jason David’s sad ass from a public flogging.)

And it seems the Jason David nightmare could be over for another reason. That’s because the Saints also drafted a corner from Indiana in the second round, Tracy Porter. The former Hoosier had six interceptions and four pass breakups last season and is considered a playmaker in man coverage situations. If he can actually make a play on the ball without wasting time peeking into the backfield, he’s instantly got my vote for a starting gig.

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