By Larry Holder
Special to CBSSports.com
METAIRIE, La. -- No apologies.
The New Orleans Saints refuse to hide their intention whether you think they're politically correct or afoul. The Saints yearn to pummel Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning into submission. Cart him off. Bring in a timid, scared Curtis Painter.
' (US Presswire) This chatter occurs behind the scenes every week whether it's a defense facing Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady or JaMarcus Russell. Well, maybe it's OK to let Russell roam the pocket untouched since it's easy enough for him to beat himself all alone, but every defense strives to take out the quarterback.
The issue behind all the overblown chatter concerns comments made by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams on a Nashville, Tenn., radio station earlier this week. Williams wants the Saints to lay "remember me" hits on Manning.
Then, gasp!
Williams had the gall to come out publicly and say what every coach who prepares a defense to face Manning every week thinks and vocalizes to his players: Knock out Manning.
"If [a heavy hit on Manning] happens, it happens," Williams said during the radio interview. "And the only thing you'd like for me to say is that if it happens you hope he doesn't get back up and play again."
The Saints happily obliged when they battered, bruised and temporarily benched the Vikings' Brett Favre and the Cardinals' Kurt Warner in their past two playoff wins en route to New Orleans' first trip to the Super Bowl. No price was too steep either as the NFL fined Saints defensive end Bobby McCray $20,000 on Friday for two separate hits against Favre and the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game.
McCray also trucked Warner the week before on a clean hit that knocked Warner temporarily out of the game.
"I didn't know if he was going to get up but he came back," Saints safety Roman Harper said.
Warner came back long enough to realize that was enough for him. Warner joked the hit was one that may alter his decision in whether to come back to the Cardinals in 2010. The hit wound up permanently sidelining Warner as he announced his retirement Friday.
"We always try to make it a nice physical experience, or not so nice physical experience," Saints safety Darren Sharper said. "A lot of times if you wear on someone physically, towards the end you can affect them [mentally]. It goes hand and hand. You might say subconsciously you're not thinking about the hits and the wearing you down. But your body is feeling it.
"Brett [Favre] can attest to that."
Clean or dirty (and yes, the Saints hit Favre dirty more than once), Favre received the same treatment, if not more brutal treatment than Warner. The Saints should have been flagged on the double-barreled shot Favre endured that nearly decapitated him and luckily for him only injured his ankle.
It made "the gunslinger" gun-shy during crunch time. Instead of running on a bum ankle to pick up a couple of yards to set up a potential game-winning field-goal attempt for Ryan Longwell, Favre threw across his body with less than 20 seconds left in regulation, allowing Saints corner Tracy Porter to pick off the pass, eventually leading to a Saints win.
Sharper said it wasn't the sacks that flustered Warner and Favre. The physical pain from the hits led to the mental breakdown for the two passers.
"I think sometimes the hits are more important than the sacks," Sharper said. "A lot of times when a guy gets sacked, he goes with it. But a lot of times when you hit him it's after a throw or they're trying to get away from being sacked. Hits on the quarterback a lot of times affect him later on in the game in more than just sacking him in the early stages."
Sharper and the rest of his defensive teammates don't view their Super Bowl XLIV test against Manning as a mental decathlon. A match of wits would likely end like this:
McCray: "I'll take Captain Obvious for $5,000, Larry."
Holder: "Answer. The team that just toasted you in Super Bowl XLIV."
McCray: "Who are the Indianapolis Colts?"
Jackpot!
If you can't be the nerd, beat up the nerd.
"[Favre's] probably the toughest quarterback to ever play this game," Sharper said. "And Peyton's tough, but I don't know if he's as tough as Brett Favre physically, though."
That's what the Saints are banking on, and an I'm sorry Post-It note doesn't appear to be part of the knockout plan.
"This is the NFL," Saints defensive end Will Smith said. "Everybody gets hit. Everybody after the game, somebody is black and blue. You just don't hear about it as much unless it's the quarterback.
"We're just playing football. My job is as a defensive lineman you get paid to stop the run, sack the quarterback and hit the quarterback. I guess defensively, we're just doing our job. If the guy gets hurt in the process, that's too bad."
Harper added: "It's a violent game. You understand that. I've played quarterback before. I've taken a couple of hits before. I don't feel sorry for anybody. It is part of it. Sometimes you've got to be able to get up and bounce back from it."
Would the Saints mind winning Super Bowl XLIV if it meant knocking Manning out the game clean or dirty?
From the sound of it, I'm not sure the Saints care as long as it means lifting the Lombardi Trophy.
And I don't think they'd care if we liked it or not.
Special to CBSSports.com
METAIRIE, La. -- No apologies.
The New Orleans Saints refuse to hide their intention whether you think they're politically correct or afoul. The Saints yearn to pummel Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning into submission. Cart him off. Bring in a timid, scared Curtis Painter.
' (US Presswire) This chatter occurs behind the scenes every week whether it's a defense facing Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady or JaMarcus Russell. Well, maybe it's OK to let Russell roam the pocket untouched since it's easy enough for him to beat himself all alone, but every defense strives to take out the quarterback.
The issue behind all the overblown chatter concerns comments made by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams on a Nashville, Tenn., radio station earlier this week. Williams wants the Saints to lay "remember me" hits on Manning.
Then, gasp!
Williams had the gall to come out publicly and say what every coach who prepares a defense to face Manning every week thinks and vocalizes to his players: Knock out Manning.
"If [a heavy hit on Manning] happens, it happens," Williams said during the radio interview. "And the only thing you'd like for me to say is that if it happens you hope he doesn't get back up and play again."
The Saints happily obliged when they battered, bruised and temporarily benched the Vikings' Brett Favre and the Cardinals' Kurt Warner in their past two playoff wins en route to New Orleans' first trip to the Super Bowl. No price was too steep either as the NFL fined Saints defensive end Bobby McCray $20,000 on Friday for two separate hits against Favre and the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game.
McCray also trucked Warner the week before on a clean hit that knocked Warner temporarily out of the game.
"I didn't know if he was going to get up but he came back," Saints safety Roman Harper said.
Warner came back long enough to realize that was enough for him. Warner joked the hit was one that may alter his decision in whether to come back to the Cardinals in 2010. The hit wound up permanently sidelining Warner as he announced his retirement Friday.
"We always try to make it a nice physical experience, or not so nice physical experience," Saints safety Darren Sharper said. "A lot of times if you wear on someone physically, towards the end you can affect them [mentally]. It goes hand and hand. You might say subconsciously you're not thinking about the hits and the wearing you down. But your body is feeling it.
"Brett [Favre] can attest to that."
Clean or dirty (and yes, the Saints hit Favre dirty more than once), Favre received the same treatment, if not more brutal treatment than Warner. The Saints should have been flagged on the double-barreled shot Favre endured that nearly decapitated him and luckily for him only injured his ankle.
It made "the gunslinger" gun-shy during crunch time. Instead of running on a bum ankle to pick up a couple of yards to set up a potential game-winning field-goal attempt for Ryan Longwell, Favre threw across his body with less than 20 seconds left in regulation, allowing Saints corner Tracy Porter to pick off the pass, eventually leading to a Saints win.
Sharper said it wasn't the sacks that flustered Warner and Favre. The physical pain from the hits led to the mental breakdown for the two passers.
"I think sometimes the hits are more important than the sacks," Sharper said. "A lot of times when a guy gets sacked, he goes with it. But a lot of times when you hit him it's after a throw or they're trying to get away from being sacked. Hits on the quarterback a lot of times affect him later on in the game in more than just sacking him in the early stages."
Sharper and the rest of his defensive teammates don't view their Super Bowl XLIV test against Manning as a mental decathlon. A match of wits would likely end like this:
McCray: "I'll take Captain Obvious for $5,000, Larry."
Holder: "Answer. The team that just toasted you in Super Bowl XLIV."
McCray: "Who are the Indianapolis Colts?"
Jackpot!
If you can't be the nerd, beat up the nerd.
"[Favre's] probably the toughest quarterback to ever play this game," Sharper said. "And Peyton's tough, but I don't know if he's as tough as Brett Favre physically, though."
That's what the Saints are banking on, and an I'm sorry Post-It note doesn't appear to be part of the knockout plan.
"This is the NFL," Saints defensive end Will Smith said. "Everybody gets hit. Everybody after the game, somebody is black and blue. You just don't hear about it as much unless it's the quarterback.
"We're just playing football. My job is as a defensive lineman you get paid to stop the run, sack the quarterback and hit the quarterback. I guess defensively, we're just doing our job. If the guy gets hurt in the process, that's too bad."
Harper added: "It's a violent game. You understand that. I've played quarterback before. I've taken a couple of hits before. I don't feel sorry for anybody. It is part of it. Sometimes you've got to be able to get up and bounce back from it."
Would the Saints mind winning Super Bowl XLIV if it meant knocking Manning out the game clean or dirty?
From the sound of it, I'm not sure the Saints care as long as it means lifting the Lombardi Trophy.
And I don't think they'd care if we liked it or not.
