Rating: (0 votes - average)

By SHELDON MICKLES
Advocate sportswriter

METAIRIE — New Orleans Saints nose tackle Remi Ayodele has played on the same team with his brother in an NFL game before, but has never stood across the field from him in a regular-season game.

That’ll change Sunday when the Saints and Miami Dolphins meet in Land Shark Stadium with the brothers Ayodele —Remi and Dolphins linebacker Akin — meeting on the field with 10-to-15 family members watching from the stands.

Their mother, Jessica, will be easy to spot. She’ll be wearing a custom-made jersey that features Saints colors on half of it and Dolphins colors on the other half, rooting equally for her two sons.

Meanwhile, the brothers will be exchanging barbs on the field.

“It’s going to be cool,” Remi Ayodele said with a smile Wednesday. “I thought it was pretty cool when we played on the same team in Dallas, so it’ll be a little different. There’s going to be some trash-talking going on.”

Actually, Remi Ayodele couldn’t wait that long. Akin Ayodele called his older brother after the Saints’ 48-27 pasting of the New York Giants and then buzzed him again Monday.

“He called me right after the game talking a little trash,” Akin Ayodele said. “It’s going to be an exciting game, playing against a potent offense. They’ve got a pretty good defense, too.”

The game will be extra exciting for the entire Ayodele family.

The brothers could start in the same game for the first time. Akin is a starting inside linebacker in the Dolphins’ 3-4 alignment, while Remi has started three of the last four games at nose tackle for the Saints. If the Saints open in a 3-4 instead of their base 4-3, however, Ayodele would not be on the field.

That Remi Ayodele has even started three games for the Saints this season is amazing considering he was cut eight times by five teams since coming out of the University of Oklahoma in 2006.

He was waived four times alone by the Cowboys, his hometown team, before the Saints signed him to their practice squad just before the 2008 season opener.

The 6-foot-2, 318-pound Ayodele eventually joined the active roster for two different stints and played in six games in reserve and had seven tackles.

Ayodele has been a bigger contributor this season, especially since starter Kendrick Clancy injured his right knee in the season opener and missed the next three games. Even though Clancy was healthy for the Giants’ game, Ayodele was active — which could be indicative of his play.

NEXT PAGE » 1 2

2theadvocate.com | Sports | Ayodeles to square off — Baton Rouge, LA

Rugby Saint II

I have a twin brother and we have played Rugby against each other for years. There is some smack talk going on but we don't give each other the smack down. It is always fun to play against each other except that he knows all my tendencies, which stinks because the teams always want us to cover each other and we have a tendency to neutralize the other twin.