” He does not have an ACL. He does not need surgery. I don’t have a timeframe on it, but it’s an MCL and that’s great news,” said head coach Sean Payton Monday morning. “You never know until you have the MRI and we were obviously excited for him. He was down yesterday because he had gone through an injury that had taken him out of last season here and he’s been playing so well. That’s good news. We go from there.”
Several Saints players have suffered MCL sprains this season. Running back Mike Bell, running back Pierre Thomas, defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, and safety Darren Sharper. The injury typically takes 3-5 weeks to heal.
Losing Porter for the season would have been a crushing loss as it would have been the second straight season he would have suffered a season ending injury, Porter suffered a broken wrist last season. While Porter will eventually return to the lineup, for now the Saints secondary is seriously banged up. Safety Darren Sharper, cornerback and Jabari Greer did not play, and when you thrown in the Porter injury, the team is playing without both starting corners and its free safety.
Rookie Malcolm Jenkins is expected to see an increased role while Porter recovers and the former Ohio State Buckeye is ready for the challenge. “I’m excited. This is a good opportunity for me and I’m going to work hard and try to get it going,” Jenkins said Monday of his upcoming chance to see more action on Sundays. “My expectations of myself is to come in and play just as well as he was playing. That’s what we all talk about. We all prepare like we are going to play and you never know when your opportunity will come, and the opportunity is here and I have to take advantage of it.”
Sunday in St. Louis, the backups not just in the secondary but all around, stepped up. ” “I don’t know that we ever get to play 16 weeks with just the first unit. As the season goes on – and we’re not the only team, when you put any game on you’re going to be dealing with a number of players being out. You can look at New England and Indianapolis last night; they were both dealing with injuries. I thought in the second half we did a real good job. I thought in the second half we held up better against the run. We tackled better. We obviously created the big turnover in the first half with Usama (Young)’s interception. What I am looking forward to is that we have a chance of possibly getting Sedrick Ellis back and Jabari Greer back,” said Payton. “But I do think that is ever-changing throughout the season and I think that’s the nature of a 16-game schedule. You’re going to have to all of a sudden have DeMario Pressley being involved and playing; and all of a sudden Jermon Bushrod is going to be playing; and Kyle Eckel who was living in Philadelphia three weeks ago, is now playing 14 snaps and playing in the kicking game. That is the nature of the game. So we work to improve the cohesiveness and get those guys up to speed because I don’t think you’re going to have your same 22. You’d like to and you hope that the injuries are to a minimum and yet you realize that other guys are going to have to step up and play.”
TURNOVERS CONCERNING
The Saints are 9-0. At the end of the day the final score and more specifically your record is all that matters. Winning pretty or ugly may add to local sports talk or blogging but a win is a win. That said, for four straight games the Saints have been far from sharp.
The glaring problem is turnovers. 13 in the last four games, four against Miami and Atlanta, two against the Panthers, and three against the Rams. ” “It is concerning. I have to do a better job and offensively we have to do a better job of not just preaching it, but spending more time on it, says Payton. “When you turn the ball over, obviously it’s going to reduce the number of snaps you have, so I think it’s something we can correct. It’s something that we were better at earlier in the year. We’re going to have to be better at it here as we play in November, December and so forth.”
The good news is that the Saints have been able to overcome the turnovers and it has yet to cost the team a game. That said, it’s something that’s weighing on coaches and players. ” “It says that you haven’t played your best football yet. I think I said this a little bit, when we came into the locker room after the game…It’s hard to win in our league on the road. Guys certainly appreciate winning the game and yet, overall, I think the feeling in that locker room, many of you were there, was that we have to be better than this. A feeling that we didn’t do our best job, players, coaches, all of us, starting with me, and we have to do better,” Payton said. “So, obviously to learn those lessons or to go back and revisit those lessons, it’s always easier when you’re coming off a win when you’re not sitting there and saying finally this bit us in the butt.”
“That’s something we can’t ignore, because that’s a problem and that’s something that we have to fix. If we don’t then we’re going to find ourselves losing here pretty soon,” says running back Reggie Bush. “Turnovers to all of us is the number one reason teams lose games. If you don’t turn the ball over it doesn’t guarantee you a win, but it at least gives you a chance. When you turn the ball over as much as we have in these past few games, for the most part you end up losing those games. Fortunately enough we’ve been able to make plays when needed.”
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