34-year old center Olin Kreutz has walked away from the New Orleans Saints.  He has been placed on the Left Team List and he will be eventually released.  He said that he lost his passion for the game.  Kreutz played in 4 games (all starts) for the Saints this year.  He has played in 195 games (187 starts) in his first fifteen years in the NFL.  26-year old Brian De La Puente will now be the starting center for the Saints.  He has played in 6 games (2 starts) so far this year for the Saints.  This should help the Saints running game as Kreutz was a little light in the shoes weight wise.

21-year old rookie first round pick (RB) Mark Ingram needs to step up soon or he’s going to start losing carries.  Ingram has played in all four games for the Saints so far this year and he has carried the ball 53 times for 184 yards (3.5 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He also has caught 4 passes for 0 yards (0.0 avg) so far in 2011.  If Ingram doesn’t pick up the pace soon, he could start losing carries to Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles, who have each outplayed him so far this year.  Thomas has played in all four games for the Saints so far this year and he has carried the ball 27 times for 136 yards (5.0 ypc).  Thomas has also caught 11 passes for 109 yards (9.9 avg) so far in 2011.  Thomas has carried the load as the main back for the Saints in the past, so he is the most serious threat to Ingram’s carries.  Darren Sproles has made a huge impact for the Saints both offensively and on special teams so far this year.  Sproles has played in all four games for the Saints so far this year and he has carried the ball 15 times for 134 yards (8.9 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 26 passes for 224 yards (8.6 avg) with 1 TD grab so far this year.  The bottom line is that Mark Ingram needs to step up or aside for the Saints.

With Marques Colston out of action for the next 4 weeks due to injury, they need 29-year old WR Devery Henderson to step up.  He played well in the season opener against the Packers as he caught 6 passes for 100 yards (16.7 avg).  Henderson has the speed to get down the field, but the Saints are also going to need him to catch shorter passes and take some hits which isn’t his strong point.  Henderson is in line to top his career highs of 51 catches, 804 yards and 5 TD grabs as long as he can stay healthy.

With Pierre Thomas & Chris Ivory out for the post season, the Saints are going to need someone to step up for the playoffs.  Julius Jones & Reggie Bush are likely to get the first shot this weekend.  30-year old Julius Jones played in 10 games for the Saints this year and he carried the ball 48 times for 193 yards (4.0 ypc).  Jones also caught 17 passes for 59 yards (3.5 avg) this year.  Jones will likely do the heavy lifting between the tackles with Reggie Bush getting the outside runs.  25-year old Reggie Bush only played in 8 games for the Saints this year and he carried the ball 36 times for 150 yards (4.2 ypc).  He also caught 34 passes for 208 yards (6.1 avg) with 1 TD grab this year.  The Saints will likely lean more on the pass than usual during the playoffs but that shouldn’t be a problem with Drew Brees under center.

The Saints have placed kickoff returned Courtney Roby on the Injured Reserve List due to a concussion which will cause him to miss the rest of the year.  Roby played in 13 games for the Saints this season and he returned 33 kickoffs for 785 yards (23.8 avg) and he had 10 tackles.  The Saints will replace Roby on kickoff returns with RB Pierre Thomas.  Thomas has returned 7 kickoffs for 154 yards (22.0 avg) so far this year.  He has now returned 75 kickoffs for 1,831 yards (24.4 avg) so far in his NFL career.  Thomas is sure handed but he’s not as explosive as Roby is on returns.

The Saints are only averaging 84.8 yards rushing and 3.6 yards per carry so it’s up to 31-year old QB Drew Brees to carry the offense right now.  Brees has started all 8 games for the Saints so far this year and he has completed 234 of 331 passes (70.7%) for 2,334 yards with 16 TD passes and 11 INTs (92.6 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 12 times for -5 yards (-0.4 ypc) so far this year.  With Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush out of action the Saints have had trouble running the ball putting a lot of pressure on Brees and he came through big time last weekend against the Steelers.  They need his great play to continue against the Panthers this Sunday as they only beat them 16-14 earlier this year at home.

The Saints have lost starting cornerback Tracy Porter for the next 3-4 weeks due to a partially torn ACL.  Porter has played in 4 games for the Saints so far this year and he has 17 tackles, 3 passes defensed and 1 INT.  Randall Gay will likely move into the starting lineup while rookie first round pick Patrick Robinson will likely serve as the nickel back while Porter is out of action.  Gay has played in 3 games this year for the Saints and he has 5 tackles.  Robinson has played in 3 games for the Saints also this year and he has 7 tackles and 1 pass defensed.  Porter’s injury could really hurt the Saints moving forward.

The Saints are going to start 39-year old Mark Brunell at QB tomorrow with undrafted rookie Chase Daniel serving as the back-up.  Drew Brees will the the #3 QB.  Brunell has thrown 1 incomplete pass this season for the Saints and tomorrow will be his first start since the 2006 season with the Redskins.  Brunell has played in 172 games in his NFL career and he has completed 2,738 of 4,595 (59.6%) for 31,826 yards with 182 TD passes and 106 INTs (84.2 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 513 times for 2,421 yards (4.7 ypc) with 15 TD runs.  Brunell has enough tricks up his sleeve to play a good game tomorrow for the Saints so don’t count them out.  But, this was the right move as there was no need to play Brees.