WhoDat!656

Just before the 2015 season, Michael Mauti was a Minnesota Viking. ESPN staff writer Ben Goessling filed a story on Mauti from Vikings camp:

The Minnesota Vikings linebacker was starting his sophomore year at Mandeville High School in August 2005, as a promising player on a team that wasn’t expected to be very good. He’d played in the school’s Jamboree game in Chalmette, Louisiana, on the southeast shore of Lake Pontchartrain on Aug. 26 of that year. His teammates were buzzing over the possibility that a hurricane might cancel school the next Monday.

“We were all celebrating,” Mauti said. “And we came to find out that stadium we played in was under 15 feet of water.”

Goessling lets Mauti finish the story:

“I got out of practice for that Monday night game, and that was the loudest I’ve ever heard any stadium,” he said. “I get goose bumps just thinking about it. That was the most moving football moment I’ve ever witnessed — and I’ve been a part of a lot. People were crying before the game. That was one moment I’ll never forget. For a couple hours, people forgot about the fact they didn’t have houses to go back to. They just wanted to get their minds off of it. And that’s what the Saints brought them that year. Besides them winning the Super Bowl, that was the best moment I think I’ll ever witness.”

And the Vikings cut him, and the Saints signed him, and at the precise moment when, thanks to the trade rumors and apparent lack of talent and the meltdown in Philly, Sean Payton seemed ready to run out the clock on New Orleans, this kid does that?

Maybe it’s nothing, but you don’t believe it’s nothing and neither do I, at least here today in the afterglow. Delvin Breaux has gone from meme to shutdown cornerback in a month. Drew Brees has a shoulder again. A defense full of untested children battered one of the NFL’s best offenses only days after being ripped apart. On the sideline, Sean Payton smirks knowingly.

Steve Gleason’s blocked punt against Atlanta symbolized the survival of a city and region. Maybe — just maybe — Michael Mauti’s symbolizes the survival of a football team.

Survival: What Michael Mauti's Blocked Punt Means for the Saints | B&G

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

vpheughan

There should be 3 more statues: Brian Milne's recovery of "Hakim drops the ball!" Hartley's kick to put the Saints in the Super Bowl and Mike Mauti's block!

WhoDat!656

2 statues with a failclowns connection is one too many!

captainshawn

Tracy Porters pick 6 of Manning...

RailBoss

I agree the Mauti blocked punt was a monumental game changer. Just like the Steve Gleason block brought a ton of emotion on to the field. Not
to mention the irony of having a similar play at the Dome against the Dirty Birds and Steve watching it unfold in front of him.

jnormand

All I know is this: The team was emotional. CHARGED UP. That's what I want to see this season.

I don't expect a playoff game or a winning record. I just want to see fighters!

vpheughan

After last seasons zombie like effort any emotion is a welcome change.

halloween 65

There was nothing other than winning the Super Bowl that electrified the air more than Gleason blocking that kick. You could feel the change right then and there.. Not taking away from the other guy but it is no comparison.

SloMotion

It means that regardless of how the season plays out, you hold your head up because your most hated rival came into your house, undefeated, and you punched them in the nuts ... an epic victory that can be recounted & remembered for seasons to come, .

Rugby Saint II

This is what I saw happen to the Failcons.