He’s never at a loss for words; he is the player in the locker room who has an unusual way of defusing things, and his calming effect is one that Dr. Phil himself would probably not understand.
Saints Defensive End Charles Grant met with the media after the Saints loss to the Texans and basically told reporters not to worry as it was just a pre-season game. “Its preseason so don’t overreact. You just go look at the game film; get in shape; practice, and then that way when Tampa comes to town, you don’t have those mental errors that hurt the football team. If you’re a fan you can’t harp over it; I mean you just bounce back like anything in life; you have to bounce back,” said Sir Charles.
Grant, who signed a fat seven-year contract extension in April of 2007, is a hard working spiritual player, who has seen his numbers drop off drastically since he had breakout seasons in 2003 and 2004 under then Coach Jim Haslett.
In his first three seasons with the Black & Gold, the former UGA Bulldog standout averaged 9.2 sacks per season including a career high 10.5 sacks in 2004. Since then Grant has fallen off the map as far as sacking the QB is concerned.
In his last three seasons #94 has averaged 3.7 sacks per season including just two and a half sacks in 2005 and two and a half sacks again in 2007. So, should we heed the word from a player who has had a sever drop off in production?
Grant says he does not blame Saints fans for wanting him to play better and produce more sacks. “They should want a dominant factor. You’ve got two guys (Will Smith and Grant) that are getting paid one hundred and thirty-million dollars - why not,” Grant said.
Grant once said the same thing in August of 2005, when the Saints were coming off a 34-15 preseason game loss to the Seahawks, when fans reacted strongly to the Saints lack luster performance. Here is the exact quote from Grant back in August of 2005.
“Remember when Tupac said don’t judge me? Don’t judge us, until it’s time to play Carolina in the opening game. When we go to Carolina that’s when it really counts. If we get to Carolina and they smash us for 150-yards and whip our behinds, then you tell me we ain’t ready. But, I think we really are ready. Only thing we’ve got to do is get our mental mentality! Everybody on this team has got to be willing to bust somebody’s head. That’s it. It don’t get no better than that baby,” said Charles.
And Grant was right - the Saints played their best game of the year right after Hurricane Katrina with an inspiring 23-20 win over the Panthers. However, the Black & Gold went on to lose thirteen of their next fifteen games, but I think we all agree that the 2005 season was one that was difficult for a lot of people in more ways than one.
So is the preseason just a mirage? “We have to step our game up and when Tampa comes in that Superdome believe me, Coach Payton will have us ready. Coach Orgeron will have us ready,” Grant said.
Grant went on to say that last year the defense’s main problem was giving up too many big plays, and he and his defensive teammates have made a conscious effort in correcting those mistakes in 2008. “What hurt us last year on defense? Big plays, right! Some mental errors hurt us and that is what is important to us. The little stuff is what’s important,” proclaimed Charles.
And even though the Saints finished the season with the 26th ranked defense, including 30th against the pass, Big Charles likes what he sees from his unit. “We’ve got a great defense, a great defense! I’ll put our defense against anybody’s. We just have to show it. The guys that are great don’t have a lot of mental breakdowns.”
So, are you worried about the Saints Defense right now, or are you chalking it up to being the preseason? Weather you’re concerned or not is irrelevant at this point, because at the end of the day the four pre-season games are just officiated scrimmages as far I’m concerned. What we should be concerned about is whether or not we can truly trust one of the worst defenses in football to turn it on, when they say they will.
Don’t miss what Bobby Hebert, Hokie Gajan & Deke Bellavia have to say about today’s practice on SportsTalk starting at 4pm. Catch Training Camp reports twice an hour and all the Saints news, sound & photos you can stand on WWL.com.
Who Dat Nation - get ready for Friday’s 3rd pre-season game, when the Saints battle the Begals in Cincinnati! Coverage starts at 3; game time 6:30pm; and Bobby Hebert will roll with the Point After til 1am on SAINTSradio WWL-AM-FM-and WWL.com!
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