Welcome to another edition of MTV Cribs CSC's Saints News. Make the jump for the latest on DT Brian Young and see what one writer had to say about the Atlanta Falcons upcoming 2008 season.
Later today, the second half of my interview with Adam, possibly the most serious NFL fan out there.
The El Paso Times had a piece about UTEP graduate and now Saints DT Brian Young. Brian had a tough season last year, missing a good amount of time. This article is a great read for anyone wanting to know a little more about our starting DT.
"I had six surgeries; I forgot about the foot," Young said. "That was the first time ever like that. Up until last year, I'd never missed anything.
"My wife (Noelle) didn't like me being at home that much. I wasn't a nice person to be around."
The surgery that ended his 2007 campaign a month early resulted in the removal of a liter of fluid from his infected lung -- and at one point led to him making out a will.
"It happened quick," Young said. "In the fourth quarter of a (Monday night) game (against Atlanta) I couldn't breathe at all; I thought I had a cracked rib.
"I was in the hospital two days. The first day, they ran some tests and said they'd keep me overnight. I didn't sleep at all. My wife had to push on my back as hard as she could to help me breathe. The next morning a specialist said he was taking me to surgery right now.
"It was rough. I almost bought the farm. I made a will and everything. It's funny because football was the last thing on my mind. I was worried for my family."
There was plenty to be worried about.
"I dropped 30 pounds in five or six days," Young said. "I lost so much strength I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs."
I really didn't know it was that serious.
"The year before last was unbelievable," Young said of a season that began with some question about the team's future in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans and ended with the Saints in the NFC Championship game. "That season came out of the woodwork. We surprised everybody.
"Last year, the expectations were so high ... we had so many injuries, we couldn't match the season we had before. Now we have a better team than we had two years ago. We picked up some key guys for crucial situations. Now we're back under the radar and that's good for everybody."
Glad to know he is back on track and ready to get back to '06 form.
Tom Pellissero from PackersNews.com gave us 32 points about next season, one for each team. Here is what he said about the Saints.
12. The New Orleans Saints have too much offensive talent to go 7-9 again.
I agree. But it's the Saints so we will see. It seemed like he put the teams in order from who he thought would be the best to who he thought would be the worst, hence New England at 1 and Atlanta at 32. Saints were 12, so take that for what it's worth.
This is the part every Saints fan should love. The Falcons were all the way at the bottom of the list at the final 32 spot. This is all he could say.
32. The Atlanta Falcons … uh … well …