A Story That Epitomizes The Saints Season: Erik Harris Tears ACL Picking Off Drew Brees In Practice

#Saints S/ST Erik Harris had surgery today for a torn ACL & meniscus suffered while picking off Drew Brees in practice Monday, source said.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 12, 2016

Injuries in the secondary have been insane. But this is also a big hit on special teams, and the Saints have had issues there all season.

— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) October 12, 2016

And there you have it. Only a quarter of the way through the Saints season and we already have a story that serves as the microcosm of it. Are you a defensive back that has an ability to make plays and create turnovers? Better stay the fuck out of New Orleans. Seriously, it's almost like something as simple as defending a pass serves as a pin in a player's proverbial VooDoo doll. At first I thought it was just comically depressing irony that every promising talent in the secondary went down to injury just when it seemed like they were about to take their game to the next level. Not anymore. It's like the football gods are getting more and more aggressive in letting the Saints know that they DO NOT want them to be able to stop anyone's air attack. Erik Harris bangs skulls with kamikaze-like special teamers all day, but it's not until he shows an ability to contribute on defense that he INSTANTLY tears his ACL?

I would be much more at liberty to consider that an unfortunate coincidence if Delvin Breaux's development into a shutdown corner didn't get beat into submission by a broken fibula before he even had a chance to flash the dominance he displayed in the offseason. I might be willing to admit it was simply happenstance if P.J. Williams wasn't getting carted off the field immobilized as soon as he looked like he could potentially do an admirable job replacing his fallen teammate. Even Kenny Vaccaro's heath has been determined by how he performed in the previous game. He's available...as long as he throws in enough plays where he looks completely incompetent. Start looking like a versatile safety that teams have to be weary of and that injury bug will get more aggressive than the Zika virus. If this was simply an "every team is banged up" situation then Jairus Byrd's fragile ass would have never gotten up after Devonta Freeman put his ankles in a blender. Just wait, the second he stops playing 47 yards off the ball and remembers that he's actually getting paid to be around it he'll be on the IR. Probably a good thing Ken Crawley let that game winning pass to Victor Cruz go right through his hands or his development would have inevitably been slowed by a random fracture of some sort. 

Potential is blasphemous. Optimism and excitement are damned. You will not create a turnover from the backend of the Saints defense and tell the tale from anywhere but the trainer's table.