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This is very far-fetched and probably incomprehensible.

But, with every day that quarterback Drew Brees remains unsigned, there’s a growing panic in New Orleans and that’s when we start to think about far-fetched and incomprehensible things.

Let’s get hypothetical here. Let’s say that the New Orleans Saints somehow can’t get a long-term deal with Brees done. Then, they almost certainly would decide to use the franchise tag on him. But what if they think totally outside the box?

What if they somehow used the franchise tag on guard Carl Nicks or wide receiver Marques Colston? What if they somehow decided to let Brees walk?

Again, it’s highly unlikely. But just about every option is on the table at this point.

What would the Saints do if they did decide to explore life without Brees? They’d have to do something dramatic and I only see one thing out there that might be able to console the fan base a little bit.

What if the Saints brought in Peyton Manning? It appears he’s on his way out of Indianapolis. Assuming his neck is healthy, he’s one of the best quarterbacks ever. There’s also this — Manning’s a New Orleans native and his father, Archie, was a former quarterback for the Saints. Brees is the unquestioned King of New Orleans.

But if the King were to leave the throne, the next best thing might be turning to New Orleans royalty.

Take a look at the SportsNation poll to the right and cast your vote on if you’d be satisfied if Manning were to end up replacing Brees. And feel free to back up your vote by sharing your logic in the comments section below.

Archie Manning, perhaps the most prominent New Orleans citizen before the arrival of Drew Brees in 2006, will be featured in the opening of “Monday Night Football.’’

It’s a natural because the Saints are hosting the New York Giants. Manning played quarterback for the Saints and raised two NFL quarterbacks, who grew up in New Orleans.

Youngest son Eli Manning will be the starting quarterback for the Giants. The Saints initially had two games scheduled that would have involved ties to the Mannings. But that didn’t work out. Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning has been out all season with a neck injury. The Saints defeated the Colts at home earlier this season.

There will be two new members inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame this fall. Former safety Sammy Knight and longtime radio and television announcer Bruce Miller have been named as the newest selections.

Each NFC South team has some way of honoring its former players. For instance, the Bucs do it with their Ring of Honor, which, so far, includes only Lee Roy Selmon and John McKay.

We’ll see how long this lockout lasts, but I’m thinking if it drags into the middle of June or later, we might go ahead and do some Call It polls to let you select who belongs in the NFC South Hall of Fame. There’s no such thing right now, but, even if it’s just for fun, it might be a good time to start one.

Here’s a list of past inductees into the Saints Hall of Fame.

• 1988 -- Archie Manning and Danny Abramowicz
• 1989 -- Tommy Myers and Tom Dempsey
• 1990 -- Billy Kilmer
• 1991 -- Tony Galbreath and Derland Moore
• 1992 -- George Rogers, Jake Kupp and John Hill
• 1993 -- Joe Federspiel
• 1994 -- Henry Childs and Jim Finks
• 1995 -- Doug Atkins and Bob Pollard
• 1996 -- Dave Whitsell and Dave Waymer
• 1997 -- Stan Brock and Rickey Jackson
• 1998 -- Dalton Hilliard and Sam Mills
• 1999 -- Bobby Hebert and Eric Martin
• 2000 -- Pat Swilling and Vaughan Johnson
• 2001 -- Jim Wilks and Hoby Brenner
• 2002 -- Jim Mora and Frank Warren
• 2003 -- Jim Dombrowski and Wayne Martin
• 2004 -- Rueben Mayes and Steve Sidwell
• 2006 -- Joel Hilgenberg
• 2007 -- Joe Johnson
• 2008 -- William Roaf
• 2009 -- Morten Andersen
• 2010 -- Joe Horn

What key event significantly changed the fortunes of the Saints -- for better or worse? Give us your take and we’ll give you our definitive moment on May 25.

These events could be positives or negatives. In the case of the Saints, I elected to just stick with the positives because there have been a lot recently. This long-suffering franchise has done all sorts of good things since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

There have been two trips to the NFC Championship Game, a Super Bowl title and a future that still looks very bright, and most of your choices are from the modern era. You can trace all that's right with the Saints these days back to 2006, when coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees, who supposedly had a shoulder injury so bad he might not play again, arrived. For those with longer memories, I even included the arrival of Jim Mora as coach in 1986. That move triggered the first real surge of competitiveness as the "Dome Patrol'' and Bobby Hebert showed it was possible to win in New Orleans.

Prior to that, the highlights I left out were Tom Dempsey’s 63-yard field goal and the days of Archie Manning running for his life, but also throwing some nice passes. Beyond that, there wasn’t much else.

If you vote Other, give us your suggestion in the comments area below.

Breakdown: The Saints not only get the national stage in the season opener at Green Bay, but they get it three more times. Prime time games with the Colts, Giants and Falcons also highlight the schedule of a team that went 11-6 last season and won the Super Bowl the season before that.

You know the storyline on the opener – the past two Super Bowl champions facing off. But the plots for the other prime-time games are just as good. The Oct. 23 game against Indianapolis will bring Peyton Manning back to his hometown and put his father, Archie, in a very tough spot.

The Nov. 28 “Monday Night Football’’ game in the Super Dome also will bring home Peyton Manning’s brother, Eli. That game also has the subplot of Sean Payton facing the New York Giants, the team with which his coaching reputation really took off. Of course, New Orleans’ other home Monday night game might be the biggest of all. That’s Dec. 26 against the Atlanta Falcons. These teams don’t like each other and anytime they play late in the season, it’s likely to have huge implications on the NFC South standings.

Complaint department: Success comes with a price and we’ve known for months the Saints would have to face two very good NFC North teams, Green Bay and Chicago. But, despite the great spotlight that comes with the opener, the league didn’t do the Saints any favors by making their first two games against the Packers and Bears. The Saints also got hit with one of the NFL’s rare three-game road trips. They’ve got to travel to Jacksonville, Carolina and Tampa Bay in consecutive weeks in October.

Monday night madness: The two Monday night games might be a good sign. Since Payton’s arrival in 2006, the Saints are 7-2 on Monday nights and they’ve also won their past five Monday night contests.

Saints Regular-Season Schedule (All times Eastern)
Week 1: Thursday, Sep. 8, at Green Bay, 8:30 PM
Week 2: Sunday, Sep. 18, Chicago, 1:00 PM
Week 3: Sunday, Sep. 25, Houston, 1:00 PM
Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 2, at Jacksonville, 1:00 PM
Week 5: Sunday, Oct. 9, at Carolina, 1:00 PM
Week 6: Sunday, Oct. 16, at Tampa Bay, 4:15 PM
Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 23, Indianapolis, 8:20 PM
Week 8: Sunday, Oct. 30, at St. Louis, 1:00 PM
Week 9: Sunday, Nov. 6, Tampa Bay, 1:00 PM
Week 10: Sunday, Nov. 13, at Atlanta, 1:00 PM
Week 11: BYE
Week 12: Monday, Nov. 28, NY Giants, 8:30 PM
Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 4, Detroit, 1:00 PM
Week 14: Sunday, Dec. 11, at Tennessee, 1:00 PM
Week 15: Sunday, Dec. 18, at Minnesota, 1:00 PM
Week 16: Monday, Dec. 26, Atlanta, 8:30 PM
Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 1, Carolina, 1:00 PM

NEW ORLEANS -- The Saints’ media relations staff just sent out a list of statistical superlatives following a 16-14 win over Carolina. Let’s take a look at some highlights.

• The Saints ran 79 offensive plays and held the ball for 38 minutes, 22 seconds. The time of possession is the third highest total in Sean Payton’s tenure.
• Drew Brees moved past Aaron Brooks into second place on the team’s all-time passing yardage list. Brees now has 19,427 yards since joining the Saints. He trails only Archie Manning (21,734 yards).
• John Carney became just the third player in an NFL game at age 46. The late George Blanda played until he was 48 and former New Orleans kicker Morten Andersen played until he was 47.
• Backup quarterback Chase Daniel got his first NFL playing time. Daniel served as the holder on place kicks, a role previously held by punter Thomas Morstead.
• If you’re looking for a breakout player, it might be defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis. He had a sack and leads the team with three. Ellis also batted down two passes at the line of scrimmage.
• The Saints went more than 37 minutes before their first penalty. That came on a holding call in the third quarter.

We’ll start with the New Orleans Saints as we unveil the results of the voting for the most beloved and disliked figures in the history of each NFC South franchise.

Beloved figure: Drew Brees.

Reader comment: " Before the '06 season, this would have been a hard choice for me between Deuce McAllister and Archie Manning, but Drew Brees is the easy choice here. He will always be the man who took us to our first Super Bowl. Not to mention, he is an incredible person who loves the city as much as we love him." ---Tom, New Orleans LA

Runner-up: McAllister. Brees won by more than 40 votes, but McAllister, Manning and Sean Payton all drew some support in this category.

Disliked figure: Aaron Brooks

Reader comment: "I'm a diehard Saints fan, most hated/despised would be Aaron Brooks probably. He just seemed to epitomize the Saints, underachieved and seemed to make the wrong move at the wrong time. Snatch defeat from the jaws of victory kind of stuff. " ---Eric, Jackson, Miss.

Runner-up: Mike Ditka. Brooks and Ditka dominated this category, but former cornerback Jason David also drew a fair amount of votes.

It started as a suggestion from loyal reader Mark H. in Greensboro, N.C., and it quickly has grown into what I think could be one of the more interesting projects we’ve ever attempted on the NFC South blog.

Mark’s basic suggestion was to pick the most disliked person for every NFC South team.

We’ve kicked around parameters for this and you have been phenomenal about providing input to make this work. While on the basketball court, which is where I do some of my best thinking, Sunday afternoon, I thought of a whole other layer for this project. I thought of also including a vote to see who is the most beloved figure for each NFC South franchise and we’re going to do that.

I’ve also settled on the parameters and here they are:

• Send votes for the figure you dislike most from your team and the most beloved figure from your team to my mailbag. Some of you have already voted, but that was before we set the rules or added the beloved category. So those votes won’t count. Fire away with your new ones and specify the team and the disliked and beloved figures clearly.
• By “figure,’’ I mean anyone associated with your favorite team. That means players, coaches, general managers and owners. For the beloved category, I’d even nominate Carolina equipment manager Jackie Miles, a legend in his own right, and Jill Hobbs, who started working as a secretary for the Buccaneers back in 1976 when she was something like 4 years old.
• After a lot of debate, we’re going to open the time frame up on this to the entire history of each franchise. There was some debate about limiting it to current figures or starting the clock when the NFC South officially became a division in 2002. But the narrow consensus was to make it for the entire history of each franchise. In other words, figures such as Hugh Culverhouse, Doug Williams, Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp, Kerry Collins, Sam Mills, George Seifert, Archie Manning, Mike Ditka, Jeff George and Tommy Nobis are as eligible as figures like Drew Brees, the Glazer family, Matt Ryan and Sean Payton are. I’m not implying disliked or beloved for any of those figures. I’m just using their names to illustrate the time frame. Let’s please avoid the votes for guys who only had a cup of coffee in the NFC South – Reggie White, Brett Favre, etc.
• I can’t ask this one strongly enough: Please limit your votes only for your favorite team. If we let Atlanta fans list Brees as a disliked figure or allowed former Carolina punter Todd Sauerbrun to vote for Martin Gramatica, we’d turn this thing into a shouting match and that’s not the goal of this project.
• If you only want to vote for a beloved figure or only want to vote for a disliked figure from your team, that’s fine. Your vote will still count.
• With each of your votes, feel free to include a little of your reasoning. We’ll use some samples when we post the results, so keep them clean and at least try to make the grammar reasonable.
• Carolina fans, I’m going to impose one special rule on you. Do not vote for Rae Carruth. He’s ineligible and any votes for him will not be counted. I understand the venom for Carruth. What he was convicted of was beyond terrible, but it went way beyond the scope of football. So let’s just leave that one alone.
• Other guys who have had off-field troubles for any of the four teams are eligible.
• To ensure the integrity and the accuracy of the voting results, I’ve gone out and hired a prestigious accounting firm to tabulate the votes. Well, wait, I wasn’t able to afford that. But I’ve done something even better. I’ve turned to my alma mater, Saint Leo University, and enlisted the help of Kevin Little, who I’ve been doing some career mentoring with. Kevin is a Sports Business major with a keen interest in the NFL and numbers. Kevin’s agreed to help me tabulate the results.
• I haven’t set an official date for the closing of the polls or when we’ll run separate posts on the winners in both categories for each franchise. We’ll just kind of play that by ear, but I’m hoping to have it ready for sometime right around the start of the regular season.

MIAMI -- How far have the New Orleans Saints come as an organization?

From their first season in 1967 to the paper-sack-wearing Aints days, the franchise has endured a lot to win their first NFC championship and finally reach the Super Bowl.

"It didn't take us but 43 years to figure it out," said Archie Manning, a local icon who quarterbacked the Aints and still resides in New Orleans.

To get an idea of how much pride Saints alumni are feeling in the days leading up to Super Bowl XLIV, I asked Danny Abramowicz, Conrad Dobler, Henry Childs, Bobby Hebert and Manning to share their memories of some not-so-pleasant days.

Abramowicz (an original Saint -- drafted in the 17th round -- and Pro Bowl receiver and later a Saints broadcaster): "I can remember running out on the field the first day, opening game at Tulane Stadium in front of 85,000 people. We ran the kickoff back for a touchdown, and it went downhill."

Hebert (a Baton Rouge, La., native and Saints quarterback from 1985 through 1992): "It was always 'Wait 'til next year.' They didn't have a winning record their first 20 years."

Abramowicz: "We were involved with one of the biggest fights of all time [Oct. 8, 1967 against the New York Giants at Yankee Stadium]. All the fans were pouring out onto the field. We had a guy on our team named Doug Atkins, who really was a freak of size. The last pass to me in the game against the Giants was a Hail Mary-type thing, and it was incomplete. I look up the field, and they had Doug pinned down and were beating him with helmets.

“I thought 'Well, I better get out of there.'

“In Yankee Stadium, you had to go through dugouts. I looked back one last time to see what was going on and missed the top step. My head hit the top of the dugout. I had to go back to the locker room and sit down in a chair. Guys were coming in with their shirts torn, and they were bleeding. A lot of silly stuff happened in those times."

Manning: "You never get used to losing. The Saints can tell you, the Colts can tell you, when you win those games, the next Sunday comes around too quick. It's such a great feeling. The atmosphere is so good. But when you lose, that next Sunday almost won't get there."

Abramowicz: "People came to our games for the halftime shows. We had Al Hirt, Pete Fountain. There were some great times, but an awful lot of bad times, a lot of butt-whippings."

Abramowicz: "The lowest time in the franchise for me was in 1973. We opened the season, and everyone's fired up. Everyone thinks we're going to the Super Bowl on opening day. If you don't feel that way, then get the hell out of the game.

“We opened against the Atlanta Falcons, and that was our big rivalry at the time. They beat us that opening game, 62-7, just whipping the you-know-what out of us. This wasn't the Dallas Cowboys. This was the Atlanta Falcons. That was, in my time, the lowest.”

(Read full post)

DAVIE, Fla. -- Drew Brees stood under a Miami Dolphins logo Monday and talked about playing in the Super Bowl.

Funny, but that's exactly how it was supposed to be just about four years ago. It's funny, but just about everything about Brees and Super Bowl XLIV is soaked in irony several times over.

It was totally by accident that Brees wound up talking in the auditorium at the Dolphins' practice facility Monday evening. The Saints arrived at Miami International Airport near noontime and were supposed to have a practice at the University of Miami.

But heavy rains ruined that and left the league and the Saints scrambling for alternatives. They wound up calling on the Dolphins, who have a practice bubble at their complex.

"That bubble wasn't here when I was here, but everything else brought back memories of that free agency period and 2006,'' Brees said.

Brees almost landed with the Dolphins, instead of the Saints. History might have been altered on many levels when Brees made that decision back in 2006. Had it gone the other way, maybe Nick Saban still would be coaching the Dolphins, maybe the Saints still would have Aaron Brooks and a losing record and nothing else going for them.

Truth be told, the Dolphins were very much in the mix for Brees when he was a free agent coming out of San Diego. The Chargers had turned Brees loose because he had surgery on his throwing shoulder and they already had Philip Rivers waiting to take over.

There's a story that's been told for years about how Saban called Brees at 12:01 a.m. on the day free agency started. Turns out that's not true.

"He probably called me before that,'' Brees said with a laugh.

Saban's free and clear from a rules violation because he's back coaching in college after a disappointing tenure with the Dolphins.

It's almost laughable now, but the Dolphins and the Saints really were the only teams showing any interest in Brees back then. Brees has talked before about how the Dolphins told him their medical personnel thought there was only a 25-percent chance of his shoulder being healthy enough to play in the NFL again.

He didn't go through that story on Monday and had nothing but nice things to say about the Dolphins, in addition to the Saints.

"I have great respect for both organizations,'' Brees said. "In the end, I felt New Orleans was my calling, not only to play football but to help that whole region rebuild. It goes way beyond football.''

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NEW ORLEANS -- If you weren’t in the Superdome on Sunday night, and a lot of New Orleans Saints fans are going to claim that honor for years, let’s make you feel as if you were.

Let’s turn it over to Jerry Romig, the official public address announcer in the Louisiana Superdome. If you’ve been to a Saints game, you’ve heard the voice because Romig has been here for a long time. Here’s the microphone, Jerry:

“Ain’t this beautiful?” Romig said over the speakers a couple of minutes after the Saints defeated the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 in overtime in the NFC Championship Game. “The Saints are going to the Super Bowl.’’

There, you heard the official word -- and isn’t it kind of ironic that Romig used the word "ain’t"? Yes, the team that once was called the Aints and had fans wearing bags over their heads, is going to the Super Bowl. They’ll play the Indianapolis Colts -- and New Orleans native Peyton Manning -- in Super Bowl XLIV in Miami on Feb. 7.

It’s over now, but what a strange path the Saints took to get there -- both Sunday night and throughout their history.

“Anybody want a rejuvenated ulcer?’’ an elevator operator in the Superdome press box asked a few minutes after the game.

“I’m just trying to congest all this,’’ a fan said as she walked down a Superdome tunnel.

Congest it, ingest it, digest it or whatever, but enjoy it. This was about more than one of the best postseason games in NFL history. This was about the city of New Orleans, really the whole Gulf region. From Bogalusa to Lake Charles, La., from Biloxi, Miss., to Mobile, Ala., and even into parts of extreme northwest Florida, they’re celebrating more than the first Super Bowl trip in franchise history.

They’re celebrating a way of life -- a way of life that’s helped this region come back from one of the worst natural disasters in history.

“Brett Favre is a great story,’’ New Orleans linebacker Scott Fujita said. “But the New Orleans Saints are a better story.’’

Fujita’s right. What happened Sunday night was about history and legacies, but not about Favre. Sure, the stage was set for another legendary Favre moment. You know, something like the old gunslinger comes home (he grew up just up the road in Kiln, Miss.), takes an incredible beating, spends most of the game limping around and, in the end, makes a play to take his team to the Super Bowl.

Another chapter in the storybook. And all of it except the very last part came true. On a night when Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin were bouncing balls off the Superdome floor, Favre almost overcame them.

But you want to talk about overcoming things? Let’s go back to the Saints and the community around them.

“This is for everybody in this city," coach Sean Payton said as he raised the George S. Halas Trophy over his head. “This stadium used to have holes in it and be wet. It’s not wet anymore."

No, it’s not. Looking out at the Superdome floor afterward, all you could see was confetti. Lots and lots of it. You also could see Payton dressed in a suit, throwing passes to his son and a few of his friends.

It’s playtime for the Paytons and party time for Saints fans everywhere. The days of rooting for lovable losers are over. The misery is over. At least for one night, what happened a little over four years ago is a distant memory, kind of like Archie Manning and Tom Dempsey.

What happened was the world changed for New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina hit. The city and the region were devastated.

“The city is on its way to recovery and in a lot of ways it’s come back better than ever," New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees said.

The Saints have come back better than ever, after temporarily seeking shelter in San Antonio, and that has done a lot to boost morale. But this moment is, without a doubt, the highest point yet.

“We said we were going to keep fighting until they kick us off the field and go home,’’ New Orleans linebacker Jonathan Vilma said.

That’s exactly what the Saints did Sunday night and, really, what their fans have been doing since the hurricane. The Saints beat the heck out of Favre, repeatedly stripped the ball from the hands of Peterson and Harvin and won the turnover battle five to one.

Still, in the end, they needed Favre to try to throw a cross-field pass that turned into an interception near the end of regulation, and a 40-yard field goal by 23-year-old kicker Garrett Hartley to win it nearly five minutes into overtime.

Hartley’s kick replaces Dempsey’s 63-yard field goal as the most famous kick, and probably the most famous play, in New Orleans history.

But you want one play to define this moment and the history of the Saints and New Orleans? Turn back to just before the end of the first half, with the score tied 14-14 and Reggie Bush standing near his own end zone waiting to field a punt.

Bush failed to catch the ball and the Vikings recovered at the New Orleans 10-yard line with 1:13 left in the first half.

"That’s a gut-wrenching feeling," Bush said.

Bush could have been the goat to top all goats in Saints’ history had the Vikings punched in a quick touchdown and gone on to win. Thing is, this time, it didn’t happen.

Two plays later, Favre and Peterson messed up an exchange on a handoff and Fujita recovered. Payton made it a point to have Brees hand the ball to Bush on the next two plays as the Saints ran out the clock.

That was about keeping confidence and a shot at redemption. We’re not just talking about Bush’s confidence or about Bush’s redemption, although he did score the final New Orleans touchdown. We’re talking about redemption for a franchise, a city and an entire region. Bush just happened to sum it all up perfectly in what he did on the field and what he said after the game.

“For anybody who thinks we didn’t deserve to win, they weren’t watching the same game we were," Bush said.

NEW ORLEANS -- Three things to know about the Super Bowl matchup between the Saints and Colts.

1. You are going to hear the word “Manning’’ more in the next two weeks than you’ve heard in a lifetime. Peyton Manning is the quarterback of the Colts. He’s also a New Orleans native and son of Archie Manning, one of the few legends in Saints history. But this game, at least from a New Orleans standpoint, isn’t about Archie or Peyton. It’s about Drew Brees. His name has been floated around the last few years as an elite quarterback, like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, but the counterpoint to that always comes back to, “Yeah, but what’s he ever won?" Brees now has a chance to win the Super Bowl.

2. Gregg Williams’ defense is going to get its biggest test yet. Ever since the Saints hired Williams as their defensive coordinator in the offseason, they’ve been talking about a different attitude or culture. That’s not just lip service. The major difference between the very ordinary Saints of last season and the very good ones of this season has been the defense. These guys don’t really shut down offenses, but they’re extremely good at coming up with turnovers. Now, they’ve got to find a way to do that against Manning and the Indianapolis offensive machine.

3. If you’re looking for a portion of the Saints that hasn’t received enough praise, try the linebackers. Yes, Jonathan Vilma was selected for the Pro Bowl, which he now won’t have to play in because he’ll be getting ready for the Super Bowl, but Scott Fujita and Scott Shanle don’t get nearly the credit they deserve. Vilma, Shanle and Fujita combined for 19 tackles, an interception, a quarterback hurry, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries against the Vikings. They’ll need to be even better against the Colts.

It could happen this Sunday and I’m guessing it won’t linger beyond next week, but Drew Brees will become the Saints’ all-time leader in touchdown passes.

That means New Orleans fans can cross off another memory of Aaron Brooks, who never came close to fulfilling his potential. Brooks still is the franchise’s all-time leader with 120 touchdown passes. But Brees has 117.

Heck, Brees is capable of tying or breaking that record in a quarter. For the record, Archie Manning is third with 115 touchdown passes.

Posted by ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas

NEW ORLEANS -- Some halftime observations on the game between the Saints and Giants.

Are the Saints the best team in the NFC? In the NFL? I’m going to hold off on saying that until this one’s over. That’s just because I remember last year’s loss to Minnesota so well. But I think this New Orleans team is very different than last year. In other words, I don’t see them blowing this lead.

• Can’t wait to hear Jeremy Shockey after the game. If this game keeps going like this for Shockey and the Saints, I’m sure he’ll have some very interesting things to say about his former team.
• The more I see of Jermon Bushrod at left tackle, the more I’m amazed at how well this guy is doing with Pro Bowler Jammal Brown out for the year. Saints might have found a true sleeper in Bushrod.
• Darren Sharper has been drawing a lot of accolades in the New Orleans secondary. No doubt, they are well deserved. But I’ve been real impressed with cornerback Jabari Greer in the first half. I think signing him in free agency was a very good move.
• Linebacker Scott Fujita suffered a lower-leg injury in the first half. Saw him on sidelines with the leg heavily wrapped. If this is anything serious, let’s start the rumblings -- again -- about signing Derrick Brooks.
• Drew Brees now has 100 touchdown passes since he’s been with the Saints. Only Aaron Brooks (120) and Archie Manning (115) have thrown more for New Orleans. Heck, at the rate Brees is going, he might pass those guys in the second half.
• Anybody else think it might be time to start mentioning Marques Colston as a top-five receiver?

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

A couple of weeks ago, I asked you to help me in making the argument why Rickey Jackson belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Saints' fans bombed my mailbag with answers and I read every one of them. I also talked to some people around the league who were around when Jackson was in his prime. All that helped me prepare to write my argument for Jackson, which will appear on this blog later Wednesday.

Thanks for all your help. It gave me a sense of what the people who watched most closely thought of Jackson.

My editors suggested we limit the Jackson argument to around 100 words so we could mix in the cases for some other candidates. I went over the 100 words, but I still didn't come close to using all the passionate information you gave me.

With that in mind, I decided to run some of your letters here.

Roger in New Orleans writes: From a personal perspective. I'm 61. I've been a Saints fan from the beginning. Maybe lunch pail doesn't count for much these days - I don't know. I do know that Rickey Jackson came to work every day. He loved football and he was very good at it. He played on some really awful teams and a few fair-to-decent teams in NO. It didn't matter - his excellent production as a player was consistent throughout his career. If this guy had played in most other NFL cities, he would already be in the HoF. I've read that Ricky is behind in his child support payments - I don't know that for a fact. I don't recall any off-field issues while he was a Saint. I really loved this guy playing for my team - I sure wish we had him now.

Sam in New Orleans writes: Rickey Jackson is one of the most under rated player in NFL history. Ricky was the Saints for many years. When you start talking best Saints player ever, Ricky is right there with Archie Manning as the #1 guy. Ricky was the leader of quite possibly the best linebacker corp to ever be assembled ( The Dome Patrol) with Sam Mills ( also should be in the HOF), Pat Swilling, and Vaughn Johnson. Jackson was the fuel that made this unit run. Rickey Jackson was not blessed with superior atheletic ability, he just out worked everyone he faced on every play no matter what! Ricky had heart and pride and made everyone else around him better. To me the first question you have to ask when talking about the HOF is how did the guy change the game. Rickey did!! I feel Rickey Jackson is exactly what the HOF should be about.

Alex in Pensacola writes: Besides City Champ's (RJ's nickname in NOLA) stats that speak for themselves, check out NO's defense stats from 1992: (also the yr all 4 Saint linebackers started the Pro Bowl, no other team has had all of their LB's start at the same time at the Pro Bowl)1992 NO Defense: Allowed 202 points (12.6/g), 1st.

Scott in Slidell, La., writes: Rickey was an elite linebacker in the LT era. he finished his career with 4.5 less sacks than taylor on a team that was not even close to the caliber as the giants. in fact, the saints made four playoff appearances thanks in large part to jackson, mills, johnson and swilling...THE DOME PATROL. his career stats are far better than andre tippet, who made the hall recently. this is a joke, man!!! first, tippet does not measure up to THE CITY CHAMP statistically...second, tippet never won a super bowl...jackson started in super bowl xxix for the 49ers and got his ring...he has 29 career fumble recoveries, 128.5 sacks and would have easily made more than six pro bowls if the league would not have been reluctant to take all saints LBs to hawaii until 1992. it is really a joke that he isn't in already....i can go on and on...he was as tough a leader as i have ever seen. his record speaks for itself.

Robert in Jefferson, Ga., writes: Rickey Jackson deserves to be in the Hall of Fame because he was the heart of the greatest linebacking unit of all time. Besides the fact that his statistics are right there with Lawrence Taylor he was definatly one of the best of all time. Jackson had heart like no other and pushed the entire team with his will. It would be a shame that such a great player would not make the hall of fame.

George in Westwood, Mass., writes: Missed 13 games in a 16 year career, finishing his career with 6 straight, full seasons -Has a super bowl ring-Played in every game as a rookie-2nd most fumble recoveries as an LB-28 sacks ahead of HOF'er Andre Tippett-The best linebacker of the best linebacking corp of all time.