#rod walker

[nflfanpointii]

Saints look to put finishing touches on year they've found all the right ingredients

The Saints have talked all week long about how hungry they are to win their first division championship in six years.

Here's assuming they go to Tampa, Florida, and handle business and "eat a W", as Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston would say.

If they do, they'd win the NFC South championship for the first time since 2011.

It would be a fitting end to the 2017 calendar year and the regular season.

The past 12 months have been like a cookbook, and the Saints seemed to have mixed all the right ingredients to make the perfect bowl (perhaps a Super one) of success.

On Sunday, they get to write one last chapter in the book of 2017 before flipping the calendar to 2018.

Here's a look back at some key dates of 2017 as Chef Sean and the Saints blended the winning recipe.

Jan. 11: Marshon Lattimore's tweet. It was on this day that Lattimore sent out a 292-word post on Twitter stating he was leaving Ohio State and declaring for the NFL draft. Little did anyone in New Orleans know at the time just how much that tweet would mean to the franchise. Fifteen games into his professional career, and we all know.

March 10: What a day. Through free agency, the Saints signed Ted Ginn Jr., A.J. Klein, and Larry Warford. All have made a huge impact this season.

March 11: This one came as a surprise to most. The Saints traded receiver Brandin Cooks to the Patriots. The news left most of Who Dat nation baffled, especially since coveted Patriots cornerback Malcom Butler wasn't part of the deal. Instead, the Saints got a first- and a third-round draft pick, which we'll get to in a minute.

March 14: The Saints signed defensive lineman Alex Okafor. At the time, Nick Fairley had just re-signed too. Heart issues a few months later derailed Fairlley's season (and most likely his career), but Okafor proved to be a needed addition opposite Cam Jordan upfront before tearing his Achilles heel in Week 11.

April 27: The day the Saints hit the jackpot, better known as the first day of the NFL draft. The Saints, with two first round picks, pick Lattimore and offensive lineman Ryan Ramczyk. Both are starters, and neither has looked the part of rookies.

April 28: Who says lightning doesn't strike twice? The Saints hit the jackpot the second day of the draft, too, showing they'd done their homework. They land Marcus Williams, Alvina Kamara, Alex Anzalone and Trey Hendrickson.

In a 24-hour period, the Saints very well may have drafted the Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year in Kamara and Lattimore.

Sept. 24: The Saints were 0-2 and desperately needed a win at Carolina. Much of the attention centered around the several Saints who kneeled during the national anthem that day. Once the game started, the Saints rolled to a 34-13 victory. It was the turning point of the season as the Saints reeled off eight consecutive wins after that.

Oct. 10: The Saints traded Adrian Peterson after the future Hall of Famer spent less than six months in the Big Easy. Up to that point, the offense was still trying to divvy up the carries between three running backs. He was loved in the locker room, but he just wasn't a good fit. The two-headed monster of Mark Ingram and Kamara was born that day.

Oct. 15: The day Aaron Rodgers injured his shoulder. OK, so you need to catch a break ever now and then. The Saints caught one when the Green Bay quarterback suffered an injury the week before the Saints made the trip to Lambeau Field. The Saints ended up winning a game that most had penciled in as a loss before Rodgers' injury.

Nov. 19: The comeback. This would have been considered a bad loss. But Drew Brees and Company somehow erased a 15-point deficit in the final three minutes to steal a win at home, 34-31 in overtime over the Washington Redskins.

Dec. 24: The Dome was rocking on Christmas Eve as the Saints avenged a loss from earlier in the month. Any win against the Falcons is considered a good win, but when a 23-13 decision secures a playoff berth, it makes it even sweeter.

Dec. 31: Raymond James Stadium has been kind to the Saints. They've won four of the past five times they've played there. A win Sunday would give the Saints their sixth division title in franchise history. Best guess here is they get it done.

Then they can look to 2018 and to the playoffs.

NFLFanpoint: Wonderful recap Mr. Walker has done here. Any true Who Dat can only love this article. It has been a fantastic year for the Saints. I highlighted the Nov 19 game because I actually attended that game.

[nflfanpointii]

Saints diagnosed problem with medical staff, and now they get a chance to fix it

Feel free to get a second opinion on this, but here's mine.

First, the bad news.

The Saints' decision to fire two team doctors because of a misdiagnosis of cornerback Delvin Breaux's leg injury should be a bit concerning for sports fans in New Orleans.

The good news is the Saints saw a problem and decided to do something about it.

This could be good news for Saints fans as well as Pelicans fans.

Deryk Jones and Misty Suri were the doctors dismissed by the Saints. Suri, also the head physician for the Pelicans, will keep his role with that team.

If you have kept up with either team in recent years, you know the medical history. There have been health issues that you wish had been caught sooner. And there have been injuries that have lingered longer than you'd expect. (To be fair, doctors can't prevent injuries, but a bad diagnosis can cause them to be prolonged or recur.)

The latest, of course, is Breaux's injury. Breaux has missed most of training camp with what was diagnosed as a leg contusion. Turns out it was a broken fibula, which he is scheduled to have surgery for Thursday.

The misdiagnosis almost cost Breaux his job. The Advocate reported Monday that Breaux could be traded because of what seemed at the time like nagging health issues that had kept him out of practice. Turns out, Breaux got a second opinion, and the injury was more serious than first believed.

"It's definitely a little bit concerning," Saints defensive lineman Tyeler Davison said. "But l feel like it would be like that if it was anybody's doctor and they had misdiagnosed somebody. We trust Sean (Payton) to put somebody who's good at their job in that position to help us."

There have been other incidents involving key players in recent years.

In June, fans couldn't help but wonder why Nick Fairley's heart condition wasn't caught sooner. Fairley, whose enlarged heart was originally discovered before he was drafted, had played five years in the NFL with the Lions and Rams before joining the Saints last season. A doctor in Boston recommended the veteran defensive tackle retire. But unfortunately for the Saints, that decision came after the team signed him to a four-year, $28 million deal.

Should it have been discovered sooner? Who knows?

And going back further, there was Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday, acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers in a trade in 2013. Holiday is healthy now, but the Pelicans got him without knowing he had stress fractures in his right leg. The 76ers ended up having to compensate the Pelicans for not disclosing that information, but you'd think the Pelicans medical staff would have checked for that at some point.

Former Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis thinks it's a problem the team has dealt with for years.

"If this was the first incident, they wouldn't have fired him," Lewis said Wednesday. "This has been going on. I was one of the guys it happened to. It bothers me that I'm still dealing with health problems and busting my butt to get back and play."

Lewis was released by the Saints last season. According to Lewis, team doctors told him he was dealing with issues from scar tissue stemming from hip surgery. It was an injury that would require about two weeks of rest, but he was unable to return and eventually was let go.

He visited the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team he played with before the Saints, and was told by the Steelers that the surgery he had almost six months earlier was a "failed surgery," and more than just an issue with scar tissue.

Former Saints linebacker Chris Chamberlain responded to news of the firings on Twitter.

"Not the first time this has happened," he tweeted. "Shocked they actually admitted the mistake and (Saints general manager Mickey) Loomis isn't blaming the player like he did me."

But here's the good news.

Payton and/or Loomis diagnosed the problem and are trying to fix it. And Payton said Breaux's misdiagnosis was an isolated incident.

"For years, those guys have done a great job," Payton said. "But there was a point we felt as an organization that change was going to be necessary for us."

Fittingly, Payton was standing in front of a banner with the Saints and Ochsner logos on it. The team and Ochsner are partners, and the Saints/Pelicans practice facility now bears the group's name.

"Our tie to Ochsner is fantastic," Payton emphasized.

But the next team doctors may not be from Ochsner. He said the team will go through as many qualified candidates as it can to fill the positions.

"When this happens with a player, the decision is made, and the club moves on," Payton said. "When it happens with the head coach, the same thing applies. Certainly that umbrella of confidence level in other areas applies as well. It's a competitive business and part of the NFL."

Payton addressed the change in medical staff with his team Tuesday night.

"He did a great job of basically promising the team that they are going to have people here in every area of the building, including the medical staff, that players feel like have their best interest at heart," punter Thomas Morstead said. "It's always a concern with players. A good organization is going to make sure the players trust every part of the organization as best as possible. That's important, whether it's trusting you have the best coaches, the best scouting departments, the best trainers or the best doctors."

The bad news is the Saints had a problem.

The good news is they diagnosed it, and now they can try to fix it.

[anxtrom]

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