CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — The NFL removed a replacement official from the New Orleans-Carolina game because it discovered he's a Saints fan.The NFL made the decision just hours before kickoff."He was replaced because of the information that surfaced disclosing that he is a Saints fan," league spokesman Michael Signora said.The league will look further into the matter. It received several phone calls and emails about Brian Stropolo, who is from New Orleans and posted several photos of himself in Saints gear tailgating at a preseason game on his Facebook page.
Showing posts with label Saints. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saints. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Saints' Vilma appeals one-year ban
NEW ORLEANS — Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma appealed his season-long suspension under the NFL's bounty investigation, which named him as a ringleader of the cash-for-hits system.In papers filed Monday, Vilma argued that commissioner Roger Goodell should not hear the appeal and asked for a delay in the process until the jurisdictional issue has been settled through NFL Players Association grievances filed last week.Vilma's appeal also said the NFL has failed to presented evidence linking him to a system in which players were paid to injure opponents. It asks the league to provide documentation, including witness statements and the names of those witnesses.Vilma was one of four players given suspensions of various lengths as a result of the NFL's bounty probe.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Saints pummel Lions
NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints are pouring on the points, racking up the wins and rewriting the record books nearly every time they play.
Saints marching on: Saints quarterback Drew Brees throws a pass against the Lions during their NFC wild-card game on Saturday in New Orleans. The Saints won 45-28. APThings sure are rollin' on the river.Brees led an unstoppable offense by throwing for 466 yards and three touchdowns, and New Orleans dominated the second half for a 45-28 NFC wild-card victory over the Detroit Lions on Saturday night.New Orleans broke the postseason mark for total yards with 626, beating the record set 49 years ago."We were pulling out all the stops," Brees said. "We play aggressive. We're not going to apologize for that. That gives guys in the huddle a lot of confidence. We're not going to pull the reins back. It's pedal to the metal."Brees hit on 33 of 43 passes while throwing for the most yards in a regulation playoff game. He highlighted his night with three completions of at least 40 yards."We just focus on winning. We're not focused on yards and records," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "I'm serious when I say that."As usual, the quarterback had plenty of help from an offense that set an NFL record for yards from scrimmage this season (7,474), outgaining Detroit on the ground 167 yards to 32. The Saints (14-3) will travel to San Francisco (13-3) for next Saturday's second-round game.Matthew Stafford threw for 380 yards and three TDs for the Lions (10-7), who simply could not keep pace in their first playoff appearance since the 1999 season. They have lost seven straight postseason games."It's a learning experience for the whole team. We'll get better. We'll be back," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. "Obviously it hurts right now."All-Pro receiver Calvin Johnson had 12 receptions for 211 yards and two touchdowns in his playoff debut for Detroit, but that was not nearly enough as the Saints' defense responded in the fourth quarter with two interceptions by Jabari Greer."We did make the playoffs this year and that's a great accomplishment," Johnson said. "We have some things to work on and we will. We know what we have to do to make the next step."The teams combined for 1,083 yards, tying an NFL playoff record set by Buffalo and Miami on Dec. 30, 1995. The Superdome will likely host a much different contest on Monday night, when defensive stalwarts LSU and Alabama meet for the BCS national title. Fans in the dome cheered wildly for the LSU band as it played before the game and at halftime, then enjoyed a second half that culminated in what they hope will be the first of two Big Easy celebrations in three nights.Pierre Thomas finished with 66 yards and one touchdown rushing, while Sproles added 51 yards, two scores and several other clutch plays.The Lions became only the second visiting team all year to lead at halftime in the Superdome, where the Saints were unbeaten during the regular season."So going into halftime at a deficit, we just realized, 'Listen, just bear down, one play at a time, one drive at a time,' " Brees said, "and I think we scored on every drive in the second half. I guess that's what you hope for."New Orleans has won nine in a row overall and will travel to San Francisco to face the 49ers in the next round.
Saints marching on: Saints quarterback Drew Brees throws a pass against the Lions during their NFC wild-card game on Saturday in New Orleans. The Saints won 45-28. APThings sure are rollin' on the river.Brees led an unstoppable offense by throwing for 466 yards and three touchdowns, and New Orleans dominated the second half for a 45-28 NFC wild-card victory over the Detroit Lions on Saturday night.New Orleans broke the postseason mark for total yards with 626, beating the record set 49 years ago."We were pulling out all the stops," Brees said. "We play aggressive. We're not going to apologize for that. That gives guys in the huddle a lot of confidence. We're not going to pull the reins back. It's pedal to the metal."Brees hit on 33 of 43 passes while throwing for the most yards in a regulation playoff game. He highlighted his night with three completions of at least 40 yards."We just focus on winning. We're not focused on yards and records," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "I'm serious when I say that."As usual, the quarterback had plenty of help from an offense that set an NFL record for yards from scrimmage this season (7,474), outgaining Detroit on the ground 167 yards to 32. The Saints (14-3) will travel to San Francisco (13-3) for next Saturday's second-round game.Matthew Stafford threw for 380 yards and three TDs for the Lions (10-7), who simply could not keep pace in their first playoff appearance since the 1999 season. They have lost seven straight postseason games."It's a learning experience for the whole team. We'll get better. We'll be back," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. "Obviously it hurts right now."All-Pro receiver Calvin Johnson had 12 receptions for 211 yards and two touchdowns in his playoff debut for Detroit, but that was not nearly enough as the Saints' defense responded in the fourth quarter with two interceptions by Jabari Greer."We did make the playoffs this year and that's a great accomplishment," Johnson said. "We have some things to work on and we will. We know what we have to do to make the next step."The teams combined for 1,083 yards, tying an NFL playoff record set by Buffalo and Miami on Dec. 30, 1995. The Superdome will likely host a much different contest on Monday night, when defensive stalwarts LSU and Alabama meet for the BCS national title. Fans in the dome cheered wildly for the LSU band as it played before the game and at halftime, then enjoyed a second half that culminated in what they hope will be the first of two Big Easy celebrations in three nights.Pierre Thomas finished with 66 yards and one touchdown rushing, while Sproles added 51 yards, two scores and several other clutch plays.The Lions became only the second visiting team all year to lead at halftime in the Superdome, where the Saints were unbeaten during the regular season."So going into halftime at a deficit, we just realized, 'Listen, just bear down, one play at a time, one drive at a time,' " Brees said, "and I think we scored on every drive in the second half. I guess that's what you hope for."New Orleans has won nine in a row overall and will travel to San Francisco to face the 49ers in the next round.Saturday, January 7, 2012
Lions, Saints prep offenses
NEW ORLEANS — Sean Payton cautioned against assuming that a game featuring prolific quarterbacks Drew Brees and Matt Stafford would escalate into a shootout.If Payton really believes that, it is only because coaches must consider wide-ranging possibilities and show respect to players on both sides of the ball.Odds makers have different priorities, and they've set the over-under at 59 for Saturday night's first-round playoff game between the Detroit Lions (10-6) and New Orleans Saints (13-3). That is the highest ever for an NFL playoff game — likely because no game has ever involved two quarterbacks coming off seasons quite so good.Brees set single-season NFL records for yards passing (5,476) and completion percentage (71.2) this season, while Stafford joined Brees among two of only four quarterbacks ever to pass for more than 5,000 yards in a season. Moreover, Brees and Stafford will be in ideal passing conditions inside the Superdome.Brees said he could understand why an offensive feast could be expected when the Lions return to the Crescent City for the second time this season, but he also agreed with his coach that assuming how a game will play out can be risky."Obviously I know how explosive Detroit is offensively," Brees said. "I also know that I think we feel like we're playing (good) football as a team and as an offense. But you know, it seems like, typically, when you get weeks like this where everybody's hyping up one side of the ball . . . and kind of predicting it to be a shootout or whatever, the defenses are off kind of quietly in the corner making sure they come out with their best performance."The previous high over-under was 57 when Brees' Saints hosted Arizona in the 2009-10 divisional round, and it was the over that hit by 2 when the Saints rolled to a 45-14 victory. The record for points scored in a playoff game is 96 — a 51-45 Arizona victory over Green Bay, in the 2009-10 season.Statistically, there are plenty of reasons to anticipate the Saints and Lions racking up loads of yards, if not points. When these two quarterbacks last shared the field in a Sunday night game on Dec. 4, Stafford completed 31 of 41 passes for 408 yards, while Brees connected on 26 of 36 for 342 yards. New Orleans won 31-17, but Detroit might have scored more if not for a rash of penalties, including several offensive pass interference calls and a personal foul."We can't shoot ourselves in the foot. We can't hurt ourselves in penalties," Stafford said. "We had over 100 yards of offense called back. Those yards would have led to points. . . . We did some things that were really unfortunate. You do that against another team that is playing good football, it's going to be tough to win."Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said the team will use every tool within increasingly stringent rules regarding helmet hits to plant the threat of pain in the minds of a talented receiving corps led by Calvin Johnson."We do play very physical and one of the things that we do is, guys that are 6-5 (196 cm) end up being 5-5 (165 cm) when they get flipped over on their head," Williams said. "They didn't say the rule says that the ground couldn't hurt their head, so we've got to find ways to make the ground be a part of it."Detroit's defense allowed Green Bay backup Matt Flynn to throw for 480 yards and six TDs in a 45-41 loss last Sunday. Still, Detroit has some feared defensive playmakers, and some of them, including defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and cornerback Chris Houston, did not play in the first trip to New Orleans."There's no telling what's going to happen," Lions cornerback Eric Wright said. "They've got the ability to put up as many points as you can imagine, but every week is different. . . . I'm just glad we've got some guys back that we didn't have the last time we were down there. I always like our chances to avoid a shootout because we have a good defense. You can't let one game make you forget how you look at yourself."
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