SmashMouth

With, a short flight to Dallas last Saturday, the New Orleans Saints had the luxury of bringing almost everybody on their charter plane.

That meant the Saints traveled practically the entire team--from practice squad players such as quarterback Ryan Griffin, to injured players such running back Mark Ingram, to Khairi Fortt, who is on short-term injured reserve.

The one player who didn't travel? Nose tackle John Jenkins, who has slid down the depth chart this season behind Brandon Deaderick.

Jenkins has been a healthy inactive three times this season--a fall from grace from last year, when he started in place of an injured Brodrick Bunkley.

Jenkins spent much of the summer getting himself back in shape after having pectoral surgery. For such a big player (he's listed at 359 pounds), that presents a problem of getting in shape. However, Jenkins said at training camp that he was in his target weight range.

"The biggest thing with John is that he missed all of that time (in training camp) due to injuries," defensive coordinator Rob Ryan said last week. "When you're a big guy missing that kind of time, it's hard to get back. It's hard to make the sweating in training camp and all of the hard knocking and all of that. It takes a while for a defensive lineman."



But if that's the reason the Saints didn't travel Jenkins to Dallas, they aren't saying.

"That's our deal," said Saints coach Sean Payton on Friday.

Jenkins was just as quiet about the issue.

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