FanHouse EricJohnson

Another NFL draft has come and gone, and it's possible that you spent much of your weekend glued to a television set laughing at the Raiders and screaming for your team to find the next Tom Brady at the bottom of the sixth-round. If you're like me, you live in an area of the country where your only option for draft day coverage is ESPN's wire-to-wire mayhem.

If you happened to miss the draft, or watched it on the NFL Network, here's what you missed.

Peter King drops an intriguing nugget into his Monday Morning Quarterback column today:

I think, Giant beat writers, you might sniff around this one: New Orleans is not through trying to acquire Jeremy Shockey.

Although I would add that Saints beat writers -- not to mention, you know, King himself -- ought to be sniffing around as well, the idea that the Giants will trade Jeremy Shockey and that the Saints are the most likely destination has been around for most of the NFL off-season and is not going away.

For the Giants, it makes sense because they didn't seem to miss Shockey late in the season when he broke his leg and was replaced by rookie Kevin Boss. They did, after all, win the Super Bowl without Shockey and with Boss making some big plays down the stretch. That doesn't mean Boss is as good as Shockey, but it could mean that he will be some day, and he's certainly cheaper.

For the Saints it makes a little bit less sense, seeing as they re-signed both of last year's tight ends, Billy Miller and Eric Johnson. But Shockey provides a big-play threat that Miller and Johnson don't, and if the Saints think he'd be a good fit in their passing game, it would be tempting to trade for him.

My best guess is that Shockey will be a Giant in 2008. But just because the Giants say he's coming back doesn't mean he will.

Kind of a little shocker with the clock ticking towards free agency, but here's an interesting tidbit from Chris Mortensen -- the Saints made a trade offer to the Giants for happy-go-lucky complete team player Jeremy Shockey.

Now let's take all of this with a grain of salt -- standard Mortensenian operating procedure -- but if true, it makes sense. The Saints' offense has lacked a truly dynamic tight end. Billy Miller has played well, but he and Eric Johnson haven't made a real impact on the offense, and both are unrestricted free agents. Paired with Marques Colston, the two could do wonders for the Saints' red-zone offense.

Beyond that, Sean Payton and Shockey are familiar with each other from Payton's days in New York, and Shockey has stated on occasion that Payton was the driving force behind his early development. Re-joining Payton in a change of scenery might make dude a little cheerier. He'll also be free from the most cancerous relationship he has in New York, with Eli Manning.

Shockey won't be able to push around Drew Brees, the team's unquestioned leader and most respected player, like he did Manning, and Brees will get him the ball enough to keep him happy.

If Mortensen is on the ball with this report, that is.

This Sunday's game between the 49ers and Saints in San Francisco will see returner Michael Lewis and tight end Eric Johnson line up against teams for which they played and were beloved. When that happens, there's basically just two attitudes a player can adopt, and each has chosen one.

Lewis wants revenge ...

"When you're playing against your former team, of course I want to bust one on them," Lewis said Wednesday. "I didn't like the way it ended (in New Orleans)."

... while Johnson keeps things diplomatic.

"It was actually a hard decision," Johnson said Wednesday on a conference call with Bay Area reporters. ... "Hopefully, they get things going ... after we play them"

Both teams' replacements have really been sideways steps, and each have performed well with their new teams. No matter what they say, though, I'm sure both are going to be giving a little extra this weekend.

That's the question a lot of pundits are asking today in trying to figure out how the Saints, preseason NFC favorites, are 0-2. But the magic they're referring to is that annoying, mythical "Katrina magic" that people invented last year. That's not what I'm referring to. Last year was based on a lot of really good personnel decisions, good coaching, and inspired play. We know that good coaching and inspired play have so far been nowhere to be found. But what of the personnel decisions?

Last year, the Saints had a magic touch shaping their roster. They got four starters in the draft (Roman Harper, Jahri Evans, Marques Colston, and Reggie Bush), six if you include draft-day trades for Jeff Faine and Hollis Thomas. They also made smart moves in free agency; besides Drew Brees, the team also got outsized contributions from Scott Shanle, Terrance Copper, and Scott Fujita. Almost every move they made turned to gold.

This year? Meh. Only four picks (Usama Young, Jermon Bushrod, Andy Alleman, and Robert Meachem) have made the team, all but Young have been deactivated for both games, and he only plays sparingly. Their dabble in free agency has been worse. Eric Johnson has been average at tight end, but at least he's doing something; it goes downhill from there. Kendrick Clancy won a starting job at defensive tackle but has been blah. Jason David's exploits are well documented. Kevin Kaesviharn has looked lost at nickel safety. And linebacker Brian Simmons can't beat out Mark Simoneau, who couldn't shed a block by Holly Mangold.

There's a lot of problems that need to be fixed with this team, and it's unfair to attack the new guys when so many of the holdovers have been so, so awful. Still, the Saints added a lot of players in the offseason, and counted on those players to improve the team. They haven't.

To get you ready for week 1, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the New Orleans Saints/Indianapolis Colts preview.

"Since you've been gone, I can breathe for the first time."

In picking the entertaining for tonight's season opener, the NFL was surely thoughtful of their target audience -- nothing says football like Kelly Clarkson (save, perhaps, the names Pink and Faith Hill). At least, nothing describes the end of a torturously long offseason like the chorus of one of Clarkson's biggest hits. Football is back. The summer is gone. The offseason is gone. And I feel like I can breathe for the first time.

If you're looking for entertaining offense, an intricate web of storylines, or marquee players, tonight's game shouldn't disappoint. This will not be another Pittsburgh v. Miami; this is not Roethlisberger v. Culpepper. There will be points. There will be big plays. There won't be much punting.

That being said, this offensive masterpiece will showcase the two ringleaders, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning. Manning has all of the accolades, and it's going to be tough to knock off the champs, running on the celebratory afterglow of their Super Bowl championship. But think back to 2005, when Brees and his Chargers ended the 13-0 Colts' hopes of a perfect season. That game was in the RCA Dome too.

No matter the outcome, the NFL won't be disappointed they chose to highlight this game to open a new season. Take that first breath again, football fans. The wait is over.

To get you ready for the season, FanHouse is previewing all 32 NFL teams. Here's New Orleans' outlook.

2006 record: 10-6

2006 Offense: The #1 offense in the league. Drew Brees. Reggie Bush. Deuce McAllister. Marques Colston. Devery Henderson. All led by Sean Payton, who has proved to be one of the most innovative offensive coaches in the NFL after but one year. Yeah, it was pretty good.

2006 Defense: The Saints ran an unusual defense last year -- the break but don't bend variety (yes, you read that correctly). Their job primarily was just to get the ball back to the offense, either by forcing an early three-and-out or by quickly giving up the big score. And they succeeded one way or the other. They still finished with the 11th overall defense, but causing turnovers was a major problem.

2006 Special Teams: Between Lance Moore, Michael Lewis, and Bush, the team did well enough returning the ball. Kickoffs were a problem though, so much so that the team had to waste a roster spot on Billy Cundiff, a kickoff specialist who still couldn't boom touchbacks into the endzone. John Carney retained his accuracy, but lost even more distance on his field goals. From the blocked punt that sparked the Superdome reopening, to Bush's first NFL touchdown (a game-winning punt return against Tampa), this unit produced some of the most memorable plays of the season.

Pwn - "to own, have ownage over, and/or soundly defeat an opponent. It is sometimes used for taunting of an in-game enemy and gloating over victories. It can also be used, especially by non-gamers, in the context of getting 'pwned' by The Man."

If you watched PTI on Friday, you know where Michael Wilbon stands -- he thinks (or his producers told him to think) that Drew Brees will win the MVP this year. I've removed my black-and-gold glasses, conferenced with my Buddhist mentor, took a long hard look in the mirror and thought objectively. And I agree. As long as he stays healthy.

After throwing for 4,418 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2006, the only reason Brees didn't win the award is because LaDainian Tomlinson had to go and have his record-breaking season the same year (though if you really want to consider who is "most valuable," I don't see how LDT means more to the Chargers, but whatevs). All the signs are pointing to a bigger year in 2007 for Brees.