New Orleans Saints: Vilma

The Saints defense is in good hands with a captain like Jonathan Vilma leading the way. Here are the defensive captain and Pro Bowler's recollections of the Saints' Super Bowl XLIV victory:

Q: What does winning the Super Bowl mean to the city of New Orleans? A: The win for us is great and exciting. It truly is. But words can't describe what it means to be a champion for the city of New Orleans. The Saints are Super Bowl champions and the city of New Orleans is a Super Bowl champion. I'm so happy we could bring the championship to the city.

Q: How  about the Saints defense in the game? A: We did a great job. This is what we worked for all year. We went out there and showed we belonged.  It was a great job by our entire defense. I can't thank our coaches enough. They did a great job getting us ready.

Q: What did you think when former Colts coach predicted the Colts would blow out the Saints? A: I didn't watch SportsCenter, NFL Network or any of that. A blowout? That didn't happen..

Q: The defense's reaction to Tracy Porter's interception? A: We wanted to be excited at that point, but we remember watching the New England game. We watched that on film. They were up by two scores with minimal times on the clock and Indy was able to pull it out and win the game. We were happy at first, excited that we got up by two scores, but we realized that we still had to keep the pressure on, especially with Peyton Manning.

Q: How did the defense limit Manning's production? A: That’ what we want to do to all quarterbacks, we try to limit them. We know he is a great quarterback, if not one of the best quarterbacks. We understand that he is ingrate make those plays. He is going to make tight throws and get the ball downfield, but we want to go out and keep the pressure on him.

Q: Did the defense switch schemes in the second half? A: We really didn't switch too  much. We started getting a little more aggressive in the fourth quarter. That is what we did all year, be aggressive and get after the quarterback,  We felt like if we were gong to win the game or lose the game, whichever one happened, we were going to play that way.

Q: Hoe was it having Tracy Porter and Jabari Greer back at the corners? A: With them in the game, we are a better defense. There's no doubt it. With them healthy, we are a great defense. They came out and have been healthy throughout the playoffs and it’s been great for us.

Q: It appeared that the defense got tougher in the last quarter? A: That's what we've been doing. We've always said we wee going to blitz in the fourth quarter.  We want to get in there and play our defense. If they score, so be it, but we are not going to back down to anybody. We're going to play tough defense.

Q: How about the goal line standing fourth quarter? A: The key was really playing to execute. We didn't do anything magical down there, we just executed.

Q: How do you feel about being voted captain of the defense? A: Being captain comes natural. It's what I  do. I'm glad my teammates voted me captain. It comes with q lot of responsibility. I'm responsible for getting the defense into the right checks, making plays to the ball.

Click here to order Jon Vilma’s proCane Rookie Card.



(bayoubuzz.com)