Mel Mitchell Torn ACL out for season
 

Well there will be more details soon but preliminary reports say he is done for the year. This is awful not just for Mitchell but for the Saints as well. Our backups at Safety are a problem. Jay I can't tackle anyone Bellamay is terrible and all we have behind him is Steve Gleason ,a special teamer and Hawthorn a newly converted corner, both of whom are injured. We should sign another safety fast. Many in here myself included have been wondering why another saftey was'nt signed already. Victor Green is still avaible I think, I'll check and see who else is out there.



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Saints lose Mitchell in dismal warmup

Safety's injuryovershadows loss to Dolphins


Friday August 29, 2003


By Jeff Duncan
Staff writer


Mercifully, the Saints' forgetful four-game preseason ended in a lifeless 24-10 loss to Miami on Thursday night at the Superdome.

Unfortunately, it lasted three quarters and five minutes too long.


On a night when the Saints might have found a backup running back, they lost a starting safety when Mel Mitchell suffered a season-ending injury to his left knee late in the first quarter.

Mitchell tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee after he was blocked in the back of the leg by backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels on a broken play, a cruel fate for a player on the verge of becoming a full-time starter in his second season.

"It's disappointing, especially on a play that was a botched play," Saints coach Jim Haslett said. "We made a nice play on the reverse, and they messed it up and the quarterback ended up cutting him. It was just one of those things."

Rosenfels was trying to block Mitchell after his reverse handoff to Travis Minor was fumbled in the backfield and recovered by teammate Sam Simmons.

Mitchell grabbed his knee immediately after the play. Several teammates and Haslett showed immediate concern and offered words of encouragement to Mitchell as medical officials treated him on the sideline.

Veteran Jay Bellamy, who started 16 games at free safety last season, will replace Mitchell at strong safety, Haslett said.

"Jay knows the defense better than I do, so we'll be OK," free safety Tebucky Jones said. "The most important thing was to make sure Mel was all right. Now we've jut got to go out and get the job done. Nobody likes preseason because of things like what happened to Mel."

Mitchell's injury leaves Jones and Bellamy as the only healthy safeties on the roster. Veteran reserve Steve Gleason has a minor shoulder injury and did not play against Miami. Michael Hawthorne suffered a sprained left shoulder early in the first quarter and did not return.









[Edited on 8/29/2003 by saint5221]

Mel Mitchell Torn ACL out for season
 

I havent\' seen much of mel mitchell is it going to be a big drop off from mel to jay bellemy???

Mel Mitchell Torn ACL out for season
 

NOW I GOT WORRY!
WWL and the TP reports out for season.
GD-MF-CS-SOB

Why couldn\'t I have been born a 49\'er fan?
WHY?????

Mel Mitchell Torn ACL out for season
 

It\'s a damn shame. I was at the game and he stayed down for a while. All the players were gathered around him when he was down on the field, but when they helped him off the field he looked to be ok. I was surprised when I got home that the injury was that serious. Hopefully his loss will not hurt the defense that bad.

Mel Mitchell Torn ACL out for season
 

Impression I got from the preseason games: Mitchell provided some help against the run and looked - well - mostly out of position against the pass. Growing pains of the new starters in the backfield. I had hoped that Jones would become a vocal leader in the backfield to avoid these situations, but so far he\'s been a disappointment. Back to Mitchell:
Fast (4.4) and of adequate height (6\'1). Bellamy is 5\'11 and certainly quite a bit slower than Mitchell although I can\'t find a 40-time right now. I would guess a 4.8.
Bottom line is: There are some teams that Mitchell wouldn\'t start for, but Bellamy is - as saint5221 puts it - just terrible. There was some talk of just releasing him after last season, but apparently they had spent all the money they wanted to spend on safeties when they made the deal with Jones and decided to keep some relatively cheap back-ups. He\'s just too inconsistent, sometimes takes chances and can\'t get back into position fast enough. Tackling is okay, but sometimes he gets the soapy-hands-disease (the one our linebackers got last year) and gets embarassed.

Reason to worry? Absolutely. Just imagine the Bucs going with Joe Jurevicius (6\'5) as #2 receiver against Thomas (5\'9). Even if Bellamy comes over to help an accurate passer like Brad Johnson should get the ball to his big target. Simply throw it high enough.

[Edited on 29/8/2003 by nocloning]

Mel Mitchell Torn ACL out for season
 

I hope so to Billy but with Bellimay stepping into the starting lineup that is\'nt good. He killed us last year several times with some of the worst tackling on the team. Yes Jared21 bellimay is a huge drop off from ,how did LummOx put it ,\"a monkey playing with a tamborine\", he should\'nt even be on this team. The Saints were talking about Victor Green back in april, what in the hell made them think we were deep enough at safety before Mitchell got hurt to not sign him? Depth at safety has been a concern which lack of attention to has come back to bite us at a time when even if finally addressed there will be no time to incorporate a new player into the system. This is pure hubris by our front office and we have seen it all year. We saw it when the team refused to talk to Randell Godfrey or any free agent LB talent other than Ruff and again now.

Mel Mitchell Torn ACL out for season
 

this sucks but I don\'t know why ya\'ll are so worried now. Venturi said after the game everything will be fine because Bellamy has experience. Don\'t ya\'ll always believe everything the coaches tell ya?

Mel Mitchell Torn ACL out for season
 

LOL Yea, It\'s what Bellamy has experience at that has me worried.

Mel Mitchell Torn ACL out for season
 

Can\'t find much on Victor Green. NFLPLAYERS.COM shows him still with the Patriots. The Patriots website shows him under alumni. So who knows maybe he\'s still available.

[Edited on 29/8/2003 by JOESAM2002]

Mel Mitchell Torn ACL out for season
 

He is still out there, the jets were looking at him and brought him in for a visit earlier this month but he has not signed with anyone yet. I could\'nt find a free agent list remotely current, so I\'m not sure who else is available.