 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
EVENTS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |
Experience necessary Saints to count on playoff-savvy players in postseason
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The last time the New Orleans Saints went to the playoffs quarterback Aaron Brooks was 16 years old, tackle William Roaf was a senior at Louisiana Tech, and head coach Jim Haslett was the defensive coordinator of the Sacramento Surge of the World League. That doesn't mean the current team has no playoff experience. "There's a reason we brought players like Darrin Smith in here," Haslett said. "They've been to the dance. They've been to the NFC championship, the AFC championship. They've got Super Bowl rings. These guys understand what it's all about." When Haslett and general manager Randy Mueller were building the team, adding some postseason experience was important. The Saints last made the playoffs in 1992. Of the players who have been on the roster in several years, even the oldest members, like Roaf, have no playoff experience. When New Orleans takes on the St. Louis Rams on Saturday, 19 members of the roster will have played in a postseason game, all but four of them brought in by Mueller and Haslett. Smith and kicker Doug Brien have Super Bowl rings. Smith has two of them, won with the Dallas Cowboys during the 1993 and 1995 seasons. Brien won his in 1994 with the San Francisco 49ers. The 19 players have a combined 93 playoff games among them. "The guys that have been to the playoffs and the Super Bowls, and the AFC and NFC championships, they know what it takes," Haslett said. "They know how fast the tempo is. They know what home-field advantage does for you. It is to be hoped that they can tell some of these younger guys what it's all about." Certainly, they know how to motivate. Smith, now a starting linebacker for the Saints, wore both of his rings to camp last week. "Everybody wanted to see them and try them on," Smith said. "I wanted them to see them. Those rings are what everyone wants. They're more important than money or getting to be a big star. Even guys with Hall of Fame rings would trade them for a Super Bowl ring. I wanted these guys to know that." First order of business in pursuit of those rings is the rubber match against the Rams on Saturday. New Orleans beat the Rams in the first meeting, and lost 26-21 to them in the season finale Sunday, in what Haslett described as the worst game the Saints played this year. "The main thing is to stay focused on your job and not get all caught up in all the things going on and the hype," said wide receiver Jake Reed, who was in the playoffs with the Minnesota Vikings six times between 1992 and 1999. "You have to approach each game with a sense of urgency, though. Those are the things we're trying to teach the young guys. I think they'll feed off how we act and how we handle things." Haslett understands that the calming, business as usual attitude that his playoff veterans bring to Saturday's game will be invaluable on a team that has an inexperienced quarterback and nine rookies on the roster. "I played on a playoff team where in the first half the punter came out without his helmet on," Haslett said. "We were yelling at him, and he ran back and got his helmet, and we got the snap and got the punt off in time.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
