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WhoDat!656 06-26-2013 07:46 PM

New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
The New Orleans Saints have plenty of superstars in the spotlight at all times thanks to guys like Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham. New Orleans also has some characters such as Marques Colston who is quietly one of the best players in the league.

Then you have a guy like center Brian de la Puente.

The man is an unheralded superstar in the utmost sense and a big part of the reason Brees has been able to stay relatively healthy over the past couple of seasons.

After taking over at the start of the 2011 season de la Puente has not missed a game and has used a combination of an extremely high football I.Q. with excellent athleticism to help Brees guide the Saints’ aerial attack.

Only one organization seems to give de la Puente the praise he deserves. Said organization would be the good folks over at Pro Football Focus, a site that breaks down every snap of every player each year and provides detailed feedback even used bu some NFL teams.

According to the guys at Pro Football Focus (subscription required), de la Puente was the No. 2 center overall in the NFL last year. In 2011 he was No. 12 overall in essentially what amounted to his rookie season in the league after bouncing around with a few teams on futures contracts.

You sure don’t hear any of that in the media.

The fact of the matter is, Brees helps de la Puente as much as he helps his quarterback. Brees has one of the fastest released in the NFL and within the confines of the offense he gets rid of the ball well before defenses have a chance to put pressure on him consistently.

Still, you won’t see a highlight video for de la Puente and most places only grade him as an average player. His play on the field speaks for itself.

Believe it or not the Saints have a superstar on the offensive line not named Carl Nicks or Ben Grubbs. His name is Brian de la Puente.

New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente - Who Dat Dish - A New Orleans Saints Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

Danno 06-26-2013 09:48 PM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
Superstar?

Really?

hagan714 06-26-2013 10:51 PM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
he has done a good job. last year he got exposed a bit. stunt adjustments are not his game. i hope he worked on his adjustments and quickness this year to fix that area of his game. he has too

Jack Vegas 06-26-2013 11:09 PM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
Sure got lucky finding this guy, after losing Goodwin and then the Kreutz fiasco the center position could've ended up being a nightmare. Instead it's become a strength.

Yeah, you could argue that playing center between Nicks/Grubbs and Evans makes things a little easier, but Faine and Kreutz both got ragdolled around playing between those same guys. DLP more than holds his own.

jeanpierre 06-27-2013 05:34 AM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
Having Evans and Grubbs (Nicks the year before) flanking you doesn't hurt either...

...and there's that guy that gets rid of the ball really fast...

Crusader 06-27-2013 06:24 AM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
What it really tells me is that we have had a O-line coach that knew how to develop players. No high draft picks on our line the last couple of years, still one of the best offences in the leauge.

SmashMouth 06-27-2013 07:33 AM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusader (Post 509619)
What it really tells me is that we have had a O-line coach that knew how to develop players. No high draft picks on our line the last couple of years, still one of the best offences in the leauge.

We'll see what changes portends for this year. Aaron Kromer was our OLine coach. He's now in Chitown. Hopefully the FNG will do even better.


Luda34 06-27-2013 08:46 AM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
He's a good player but show want label him a superstar.

foreverfan 06-27-2013 08:56 AM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 

FinSaint 06-27-2013 11:46 AM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
Hmmm... DLP is a good center, but I'd never call him a superstar nor a regular star either.

Still, he was a good find and I do hope he keeps improving his game.

rezburna 06-27-2013 12:44 PM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
We have superstar guards. Everybody else is serviceable. You see how good they really are when we want to run the ball and there's no hole for Ingram.

TheOak 06-27-2013 02:11 PM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
A part of the reason for our lack of production running between the tackles.

Rugby Saint II 06-30-2013 07:27 PM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
He did look like he was pushed around a little more toward the end of the year.

TheOak 07-01-2013 06:55 AM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
This is where it helps to have played or understand how the game is played.

If a CB gets burnt it looks bad for that CB but those that have more familiarity would be able to see he was supposed to have help on that coverage and it was someone else being out of position that allowed that.

A DLman gets past an Olineman and sacks the QB, while that looks fairly obvious as to whos fault it is, someone that has played that position might see that that particular lineman had his block but someone didn't pull and pick up the D-lineman, or a call for a double team was missed.

We tend to blame the obvious and forget that its a synergy thing on the line, its not one man always...

Euphoria 07-01-2013 09:28 AM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
Goodwin wasn't that great... and was not worth the money we were paying him.

jeanpierre 07-02-2013 06:47 AM

Re: New Orleans Saints Unheralded Superstar is C Brian de la Puente
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by foreverfan (Post 509633)

FFan, you crack me up...


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