New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - NOLA.com New Orleans Saints center Brian de la Puente still hungry after success

Brian de la Puente doesn't dare kick back and exhale, doesn't pretend he lives on easy street or even knows the zip code for such a place. The man who's responsible for snapping the football to New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has been hungry for so long, it's all he knows.

So even after starting 12 of the final 13 regular-season games and both playoff games last season for New Orleans' record-setting offense - after free agent signee Olin Kreutz walked away from the team and the sport Oct. 21 - de la Puente kicks away the laurel he could rest on as if his goal is hang time and distance, to boot the concept as far away from him as possible.

"For me, you can't get complacent," he said. "My mentality is, I am competing for that starting spot and I am battling every day to keep it. I am not going to give it up easy. That is what I am doing.

"I am the starter. I set the huddle, I set the tempo. That is what I can control."

Certainly, the Saints have to feel they're in good hands.

Full story.