Saints' Brown to be out longer than expected
September, 10, 2009
Sep 10
5:28
PM ET
Posted by ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas
The New Orleans Saints, who spent much of their preseason preparing for early issues on their defensive line, have a more immediate problem on the offensive line.
Mike Triplett reports that left tackle Jammal Brown will have hip surgery and be out for about six weeks. We already knew Brown was going to miss some time because of earlier surgery on a sports hernia, but he was expected to miss perhaps a couple of games. The potential of Brown being out about six weeks is much more dramatic.
Is it devastating?
Well, you never want to be without a Pro Bowl left tackle and backup Jermon Bushrod isn’t going to scare a lot of defensive ends. But Bushrod’s gotten a lot of work in the preseason and, the way the Saints run their offense, it’s not as critical as it might be for some teams to have a top-notch blocker at this position. Quarterback Drew Brees doesn’t take a lot of deep drops and he gets rid of the ball very quickly. The Saints can endure this one.
But they do still have to worry about the possibility of suspensions for defensive ends Will Smith and Charles Grant.
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Pat Yasinskas
Yasinskas joined ESPN.com in January 2008 after covering the Carolina Panthers for The Charlotte Observer for nine seasons. He began his journalism career with The Tampa Tribune in 1990.