This reunion might not have the same pop of the one that would have brought back one of Drew Brees' all-time favorite targets, but - if only because it makes one less former player to serve as a haunting reminder of badly the Saints' defensive coaches failed them in the past - I feel inclined to celebrate it nonetheless. Watching the Eagles' Super Bowl run wasn't just painful because the Saints were merely ten seconds away from having the opportunity to put an abrupt end to it, but also because Malcolm Jenkins and Patrick Robinson - two players who were apparently unfairly maligned in New Orleans - made significant contributions to it. Now, the latter might not have lived up to his draft status the first go around, but the same can be said about an all-too-suspicious amount of players that went onto bigger and better things after making fundamental football look far too hard during similarly tumultuous tenures in 'The Big Easy'. It's arguable that he was on his way to doing so in the black & gold, but what Patrick Robinson has done since leaving the Saints is morphed into one of the best slot/nickel corners in the NFL. So, if going back and watching his game-altering pick six in the NFC Championship Game doesn't wash the bad taste out of your mouth then the fact that he's proved his worth for three separate teams over the last three seasons certainly should. The Saints got much, much better at a position that requires a very specific skill set, and - from an optics standpoint - it doesn't hurt that they retroactively boosted their 2010 draft grade in the process.
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I'm not going to pretend I spent a lot of time watching the New York Jets, never mind giving the eye test to specific members of their defense. That being said, if the eye-popping numbers don't tell Demario Davis' story then I'd hope that the grading of people far more studious than myself would....
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't exactly think you need to do a brain swap with Bill Belichick to come to the conclusion that you don't rack up 135 tackles as the league's 8th most efficient linebacker without having sideline to sideline range in today's NFL. I'm not quite the second coming of Mike Singletary, but 5 sacks and 15 additional close calls seems like a hell of a lot from the second level. Lost in what was a long-belated defensive resurrection was that playing with the lead allowed the Saints to mask a suspect run defense, and Cam Jordan's DPOY-caliber season allowed them to squeak by with a lack of secondary pass rushing options. It appears both of those have been addressed with the addition of a versatile veteran coming off a career year whose attitude looks as though it will be a seamless fit with a young, rambunctious group that only stood to improve even without reliable reinforcements...
If absolutely nothing else, this gives Saints fans their "Jonathan Vilma" when they try to force comparisons between this team and the one that hoisted the Lombardi Trophy nearly a decade ago. To some, the "quality" of reminiscence might be just as important as his ability to bring 3-down stoutness to the middle of a defense whose primary strength is its secondary.
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