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The NFL has suspended 23-year old place kicker Garrett Hartley. Hartley played in 8 games as a rookie for the Saints last season and he connected on all 13 of his field goal attempts and all 13 of his extra points. Hartley scored 67 points as a rookie last season for a average of 8.4 points per game. The Saints like Hartley so they won’t give up on him just because he got suspended.
The Saints have released 27-year old CB Jason David. David played in 14 games (6 starts) for the Saints last season and he made 23 tackles, defensed 10 passes and he had 5 interceptions. In his two years with the Saints, David played in 27 games (18 starts) in which he made 74 tackles, defensed 21 passes and had 8 interceptions. Don’t let his solid numbers cover the fact that he got burned so often that he almost got put on I.R. because of third degree burns.
The Saints looked good throwing the football in this game but the running game appears to need some work. Drew Brees was solid as usual completing 6 of 9 passes for 88 yards with a TD pass. Old timer Mark Brunell was even better than Brees completing 9 of 13 passes for 128 yards with 1 TD pass. Joey Harrington finished up the game completing 1 of 3 passes for 14 yards. Lynell Hamilton led the Saints in rushing in this game with 48 yards on 15 carries (3.2 ypc). WR Robert Meachem (3 rec, 77 yards) and TE Jeremy Shockey (3 rec, 61 yards) each caught a TD pass. The Saints finished up with 316 total yards on offense but they only averaged 2.9 yards per carry in the running game.
The Saints’ defense was in bend but don’t break mode as they allowed 379 total yards to the Bengals but only 7 points. Linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar led the way for the Saints in this game with 8 tackles. Safety Pierson Prioleau pitched in with six tackles. The bottom line in this game is that the Saints won the game.
The Saints have placed 33-year old TE Dan Campbell on the Injured Reserve List due to a knee injury ending his season. Campbell played in 1 game for the Lions last season and he caught 1 pass for 21 yards. He has played nine years in the NFL covering 102 games in which he has caught 91 passes for 934 yards (10.3 avg) with 11 TD grabs. This is not much of a loss for the Saints as Campbell wasn’t projected to have a big role on the offense this season.