Vilma's resurgence sitting well with Saints

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)