Saintly Observations

Jeff Duncan of the Times Picayunes gives several observations about the Saints. From tweets, to quotes, to predictions, he covers quite a bit. Chase Daniel likes Seattle coffee, and Jabari Greer is his own toughest critic.

1. Tweet of the week: "Amazed with how much better #Starbucks coffee taste here! Sorta like Dr. Pepper in DFW and Coke in ATL!" - Chase Daniel (@ChaseDaniel), 9:54 a.m., Friday.

2: Quote of the week, Part I: I'm my worst critic ever. You have to be that way as a corner. You have to challenge yourself, you have to expect yourself to make every play, to be counted upon when you're single, when it's just you and another guy. That's what your job is. There has been some adversity that I've had to face. I haven't shied away from it. I made it a point last week (after allowing two touchdown catches against Tampa Bay). I just wanted to get out of there. I didn't want to face you guys (media). But I made it a point. I was like, 'I'm not going to run from it.' I came back in there. I had to face it. In this league, it's really unforgiving. You have to put yourself in that position. You have to put that much pressure on yourself because once you do, when you rise up, the feeling is that much greater, its' that much better." - Saints cornerback Jabari Greer.

3. Quote of the week, Part II: "You can't look down the road on the remaining playoffs because we may be doing exit interviews on Sunday. That's how hard the game is. ... The finality of every play, the finality of every preparation, the finality of every meeting and practice, that's the fun part of it. That's the electric part of playing in the playoffs." - Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

4. Required reading: I'm not familiar with Peter Schrager of Foxsports.com, so I can't speak to his credibility but he's certain to endear himself to Saints fans with his Super Bowl pick. He predicts Super Bowl XLV will feature an historic matchup between the Saints and Ravens, marking the first time in NFL history two wild-card teams make it to the big game.

5. Fact of the week: With his 4-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham last week, Drew Brees became just the seventh player since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 1978 to throw a touchdown pass in every regular season game. New England's Tom Brady also did it this season. Previously, no quarterback had done it since 2004.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2011/01/first-and-10_saints_prepared_t.html

Observation number two stands out to me. Gus Kattengell and I talked a lot on my show Friday about Jabari Greer. The fact that he's battled through multiple injuries all year, yet never once referenced an injury in any interview, shows you that he makes no excuses. Greer has not been as lock down a corner as he was a year ago, but some of that is due to the injuries. Gregg Williams runs a "no excuse" defense, and everyone of his players live by that mantra. Before Williams' arrival in New Orleans, you had breakdowns and excuses in the secondary on a consistent basis. The transformation over two years has been remarkable. Let's hope Williams' doesn't get hired as a head coach this offseason. He's been as valuable to the Saints as anyone in the organization.