Peter Finney, Times-Picayune

The story begins, “How about a two-dat?”

The New Orleans Saints Super Bowl win was almost universally liked.

It’s a preview on the 2010 New Orleans Saints that caught my eye, one in which Bruce Marshall, a Las Vegas-based NFL pundit, tells us he could not recall “a more refreshing sporting development” than the storybook journey Sean Payton’s football team traveled last season.

Marshall said it was accompanied by “a joie de vivre rarely seen in the button-down world of today’s NFL, where teams often look and play alike and title winners are frequently rewarded for ruthless and often colorless efficiency.”

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Jeff Duncan

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton said reserve quarterback Patrick Ramsey would take over the offense after starter Drew Brees leaves the exhibition game against the San Diego Chargers on Friday night.

The Saints employed the same strategy with Chase Daniel against the Texans last week. Daniel entered the game in the second quarter and played the rest of the game.

Daniel was 15 of 21 for 182 yards and three touchdowns against the Texans. He also had a 9-yard run on third-and-3.

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Jeff Duncan
The New Orleans Saints capitalized on a dominating rushing attack and two early Houston Texans turnovers to take a relatively easy 38-20 victory Saturday night before a soldout crowd at the Superdome. The Saints ran for 198 yards, held the ball for 38 minutes, 37 seconds and ran 75 offensive plays.

MICHAEL DeMOCKER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE Jeremy Shockey leaps over Bernard Pollard in the first quarter during the preseason game between the New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans at the Superdome on Saturday, August 21, 2010.

Running back Reggie Bush was sharp early and scored the team’s first touchdown on a 9-yard run. He finished the game with 49 yards on seven carries. Quarterback Drew Brees didn’t have a great statistical night – 5 of 10 for 36 yards and one rushing touchdown – but he provided one of the game’s signature plays when he completed a 10-yard pass to Marques Colston while falling to his right.

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Nakia Hogan

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and the receivers stayed after practice nearly 30 minutes on a sweltering summer day Thursday, working extra to prepare for tonight’s preseason game against the Houston Texans at the Superdome.

That extra work is to be expected from Brees, the Super Bowl MVP and team leader.

But on one of the team’s side fields, away from the adoring fans waiting for autographs, linebacker after linebacker took turns attacking a tackling sled, trying to perfect the fundamentals that were lacking in last week’s 27-24 preseason loss to the New England Patriots when the Saints missed countless tackles.

“That’s definitely something extra,” outside linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar said of the post-practice drills. “You’ve got to do the work. You see Drew out there working. If Drew’s out there working, you had better be working.”

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New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton predicted after practice Monday the team would make a roster move at running back, “sooner rather than later,” and hours later the team came to terms with Ladell Betts, according to Saints officials.

The contract has not yet been signed, according to the team.

Betts had come in for a workout even before Lynell Hamilton, the Saints third running back, was lost for the season with a fluke knee injury during a non-contact drill at New England last week. At that time, however, the team did not offer him a contract.

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BY TONY GICAS

CLIFTON — They may be the nation’s gladiators capable of performing awe-inspiring feats and sustaining violent collisions but a group of thankful NFL players have teamed up with a Clifton priest to inspire people facing tall odds and sobering hardships.

The Insightful Player program employs current and former NFL athletes who have endured life’s tragedies such as drug addiction, alcoholism, gang involvement, reckless personal behavior, divorce, suicidal thoughts, poverty, life-threatening illness, physical limitations and low self-esteem.

Read about Billy Miller… HERE.

By SHELDON MICKLES

After entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2008, New Orleans Saints linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar was happy just to be a part of the team the past two seasons.

Known mostly for his crushing special-teams hits, it was a bonus when Dunbar was called on to start five games — three of them last season — when strongside linebacker Scott Fujita was sidelined by injuries.

But something happened in early March that dramatically changed Dunbar’s outlook on the future. When Fujita signed with the Cleveland Browns as an unrestricted free agent, Dunbar suddenly became a candidate to be a starter in Gregg Williams’ attacking, multifaceted defense.

While he’s got a long way to go before he can claim the job, Dunbar has to prove himself beginning with the team’s exhibition opener at 6:30 p.m. today against the New England Patriots in Gillette Stadium.

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from the TP

David F. Dixon, the driving force behind the concept and construction of the Louisiana Superdome and the father of professional football in New Orleans, died this morning, his son David Frank Dixon Jr. said.

Working with Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, Mr. Dixon also founded World Championship Tennis, the linchpin of the open tennis format which ignited the high popularity of the sport. He also founded the United States Football League, which has since gone out of business.

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By Jeff Duncan

It was 40 minutes after the New Orleans Saints’ Black and Gold scrimmage. The crowd had long since retreated to the comfort of their air-conditioned cars. Inside, Saints players were sprawled across the locker room, giddily anticipating their first time off since the start of training camp eight days ago.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees put in extra work at Saturday’s Black and Gold scrimmage.

But Drew Brees hadn’t had enough.

While the media congregated around linebacker Jon Vilma, Brees quietly ran wind sprints across the practice field by himself.

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