METAIRIE – Jonathan
Vilma sank into a sofa in the Saints’
training center with a TV remote in his hand and
clicked through a few newscasts before his head
tilted back and he fell asleep.
And why wouldn’t he need a nap?
The Saints’ middle linebacker has been on field
for every defensive play through New Orleans’
first six games and leads the team in tackles with 56.
Then there’s the time he spends in practice and
meetings learning the jobs of his defensive teammates.
“It’s like having a quarterback who knows
what he’s supposed to do on offense,”
Saints defensive tackle Brian Young said of Vilma.
“If you’ve got a guy who’s back there
and basically telling everybody what to do and where to
go, you’ve got confidence, you don’t have
to worry about as much. ... You just go out there and
play, so it makes it a lot easier.”
Vilma even talks like a quarterback sometimes,
crediting the linemen who play in front of him every
time someone asks him about making double-digit tackles
in a game.
“Any time the media thinks I have a good game,
it’s strictly because of what my D-line
does,” Vilma said after making 11 tackles against
Oakland last Sunday.
“The D-line knows I appreciate them very
much.”
In New Orleans, the comparison of Vilma to a
quarterback is fitting in another way.
The Saints took a chance on the former Jets star in
much the same way they did in 2006 with Drew Brees, who
was jettisoned by San Diego following a serious injury
to his throwing shoulder.
Three seasons later, the Saints look pretty smart for
bringing in Brees.
So far, last winter’s trade for Vilma
doesn’t look too bad, either.
Vilma, a first-round draft choice out of Miami in 2004,
was a Pro Bowl linebacker with the Jets in 2005.
Then a switch in defensive schemes, followed by a
serious knee injury, made him expendable in New York.
The Saints were able to get him for a fourth-round
draft choice last spring and a conditional pick next
season, likely in the third round.
The hope was that Vilma, like Brees, would overcome
injury and thrive in a scheme that suited his
strengths.
The Saints play a 4-3 defense (four down linemen and
three linebackers), the same scheme the Jets used when
Vilma was 2004 Defensive Rookie of the Year and a Pro
Bowl selection the next season, when he led the NFL in
tackles with 187.
In 2006, however, the Jets hired coach Eric Mangini,
who replaced a three-linebacker scheme with a
four-linebacker formation that he knew from his time as
an assistant with New England.
The switch required Vilma, who is 6-foot-1, 230-pounds,
to take on blocks from offensive linemen who outweighed
him significantly.
What he lacked in size he sought to make up in
quickness.
Still, he wasn’t the dominant linebacker he had
been when he played behind four down linemen who ate up
more blockers and allowed the linebackers to focus on
pursuing the ball carrier.
Vilma’s knee injury forced him to miss the last
nine weeks of 2007 and required painful surgery
involving a bone graft.
He had muscle atrophy in his leg and had to work
throughout the offseason to rebuild his strength and
quickness.
“The anticipation of whatever play’s coming
and being able to just go sideline to sideline –
that was something I was never going to know until I
actually started playing back in training camp,”
Vilma said. “Now I feel good about where
I’m at. I think I’m able to make those
plays and it’s comforting knowing that my knee
hasn’t been an issue and hopefully it won’t
be.”
(houmatoday.com)