Quarterback hurries, pressures, hits or whatever you want to call them are not an official NFL statistic.

But I was browsing through the “season-in-review’’ packages of all four NFC South teams last night and noticed each team had something in, or close to, this category. Again, it’s not official and these numbers are calculated by assistant coaches after watching film.

Take the numbers for what they’re worth because, in my experience, they’re very subjective. I’ve seen some assistant coaches be very fair with this type of thing (tackle totals are done the same way) and I’ve also seen some inflate the numbers a bit to make themselves and their players look good.

New Orleans. The Saints call them quarterback hurries and their coaching staff tabulated 98 of them. Predictably, Will Smith led the Saints with 23. Bobby McCray, who was a backup, was second with 13. End/tackle Anthony Hargrove had 11. Starter Charles Grant had 10. But Grant has been released by the Saints. What stands out most about the Saints in this category is that, although only four guys reached double figures, they had a bunch of other players with a fair amount of hurries. That’s a symptom of the aggressive Gregg Williams defense. New Orleans can bring pressure from anywhere. Safety Roman Harper had eight hurries and middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma had seven.

Read the entire story here.

By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

March 11, 2010, 5:05PM

I spoke with New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton about the Saints’ first week of free agency and their upcoming visit with quarterback Jake Delhomme, who is scheduled to arrive Friday.

Payton said he goes back with Delhomme, not only having competed against him in the NFC South, but that he spent a lot of quality time with him when Delhomme took a free agent visit to Dallas in 2003. Obviously, several Saints executives also know Delhomme well from his time in New Orleans from 1997-2002.

“He’s someone we certainly have a lot of respect for, having competed against him,” Payton said. “In his mind, I’m sure he’s looking through his options, looking for place he might be able to start, if that exists. And if that doesn’t exist, there could be a lot of reasons for him to come back here.”

Read the rest of the story here.

By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

March 10, 2010, 1:38PM

I just checked in with New Orleans Saints free agent safety Darren Sharper, who said he expects to be ready to hit the road for some potential visits with other teams within a week or so, as soon as he’s recovered enough from his recent minor knee surgery to move around on it and fly.

Sharper hasn’t ruled out a return to the Saints, but he did admit that if the Saints had shown him enough love with their early contract offers, he wouldn’t be a free agent right now.

Read the rest of the story here.

By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

March 09, 2010, 6:47AM

Darren Sharper walked the red carpet on a pair of crutches before the Super Bowl XLIV Champions DVD premiere screening Monday night at the Prytania Theatre, offering a clue as to why the New Orleans Saints’ free agent safety hasn’t taken any trips yet to visit any prospective new NFL employers.

Sharper said he had a minor “clean-up” procedure performed on his left knee last week by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., which shouldn’t keep him off his feet long. But it has kept him from boarding any planes.

League sources indicated that Sharper has postponed at least two free agent visits over the past few days, which could drag out his courtship process by a week or two.

Read the rest of the story here.

By James Varney, The Times-Picayune

March 07, 2010, 5:00PM

Saints linebacker Scott Fujita, a key member of the team’s defense since the arrival of head coach Sean Payton, has reportedly signed a mutli-year contract with the Cleveland Browns.

Read the rest of the story here.

By Dave Walker, The Times-Picayune

March 07, 2010, 10:29AM

It’s still hard, isn’t it, to think about anything but hittin’ that fleur-de-lis?

In so many words, those words were Sean Payton’s final instructions to Garrett Hartley before the New Orleans Saints kicker won the NFC Championship game and A) sent his team to the Super Bowl and B) the team’s city into a state of weeks-long bliss.

Payton was referring to an iconic emblem on a Superdome wall, high and dead-center behind the goalposts.

A NFL Films microphone captured a moment both salty (Payton slips an attention-focusing profanity between de and lis, neatly excised from the online versions of the clip) and heartwarming.

“Just hit your kick though, son,” Payton says as he sends Hartley onto the field. “Here’s why: You deserve to be here.”

Rest of the story here.

By Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune

March 07, 2010, 6:25AM

Here’s another reason why New Orleans Saints fans should love Drew Brees: He’s even a positive factor during free agency.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune

Not only does nearly every player in the league want to play with the Saints’ Super Bowl MVP quarterback, but his brilliance also keeps rival teams from raiding the Saints’ roster for free agents.

How so?

NFL scouts will tell you that Saints offensive players are among the most difficult in the league to evaluate.

It’s tough to gauge their abilities because the Saints’ offense is so prolific with Brees under center it’s hard to determine just how good the players are running it.

Read the rest of the story here.

By James Varney, The Times-Picayune

March 07, 2010, 7:56AM

When the NFL owners gather in Orlando, Fla., next week for their annual meeting, the biggest topic of discussion is arguably what will happen next year.

The league’s collective bargaining agreement is slated to expire one year from now. As is common early in labor negotiations, both sides - owners and players - are taking hard-line stances couched in placating tones. But with talks typically not beginning in earnest until the 11th hour on these sort of mammoth deals, experts said each side needs to get its fallback positions in order soon lest professional football vanish for some time in 2011.

Read the rest of the story here.

By Bob Marshall, The Times-Picayune

March 07, 2010, 5:34AM

This column was going to be about why Scott Fujita, New Orleans Saints linebacker, is a great role model for local football fans. But upon further review, I had to change that call.

Now it’s: Scott Fujita, New Orleans resident, is a great role model for all New Orleanians.

The reason I’m putting him on a pedestal is not because of his work on the football field, but because of what he has chosen to do as a citizen with the rewards of that labor.

Fujita has decided to donate half of his $82,000 in NFL playoff earnings to two causes, one of which is coastal restoration.

Read the rest of the story here.