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New Orleans Saints' Delvin Breaux awaits next receiver on his top-3 list: Calvin Johnson

By Christopher Dabe, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

New Orleans Saints cornerback Delvin Breaux has come a long way since he lost a football in the lights in Week 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Or the two times he slipped on long touchdown passes in Week 7 against the Indianapolis Colts.

In recent weeks, Breaux has been among the best in the NFL. And come Monday, he will go against one of the three receivers the 26-year-old New Orleans native once dreamed about facing.

"Calvin Johnson," Breaux said in reference to the Detroit Lions' five-time Pro Bowl receiver. "He's tremendous. Just watching him all these years, and now I get to get on the field with him. ... I think it's going to be exciting. I can't wait."

Breaux, who played two seasons in the Canadian Football League before he joined the Saints in the offseason, listed the Atlanta Falcons' Julio Jones and Pittsburgh Steelers' Antonio Brown as the other receivers on his top-3 bucket list.

He already has faced Jones once this season, and drew notice for his play in the Saints' Thursday-night win against the Falcons.

His next primetime opportunity will come in the last of three night home games for the Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

"He's a great professional athlete," Breaux said of Johnson. "It's going to be tough to keep him from making his catches."

Johnson has caught at least one pass in each of his 132 career games. That streak nearly ended last week before his catch of a 16-yard pass with less than 3 minutes left in the Lions' 21-14 loss to the St. Louis Rams.

For the Saints to limit Johnson to the first no-catch game of his career is unlikely, especially for a No. 31-ranked defense with 36 touchdown passes allowed and an ugly 114.2 passer rating against.

But what Breaux can do is help the Saints defense continue the apparent improvement under new coordinator Dennis Allen. The Saints allowed season lows in points (17) and net yards (291) last week against the Buccaneers.
Breaux in recent weeks has had his best stretch of the season, having allowed only 1 receiving yard in the three games with Allen at coordinator, according to Pro Football Focus.

"Delvin Breaux is playing amazing football," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "If you really charted his production as a corner the last month, he has been fantastic."

Breaux credited his progress with improved technique.

"That's something I've been working on at practice as far as keeping my hands down and just playing the ball and not the man," he said. "I think that's been a great adjustment throughout this second half."

He also cited changes brought by Allen at coordinator with making him more active.

New Orleans Saints' Delvin Breaux awaits next receiver on his top-3 list: Calvin Johnson | NOLA.com

SloMotion

He's shioting his pants, ... who wouldn't the first time matching up vs Megatron? But he's (Breaux) got the right frame of mind ... respects his opponent, confident in his ability, knows what he's signed up for ... he'll be aight and I'm sure he'll earn Calvin's respect, .

The Lions tried a new game plan last week vs the Rams ... the "let's try & win the game without throwing to Calvin" strategy, . It's based on the assumption defenses are going to focus on Megatron, so why even bother targeting him? "We're gonna' beat you with our other guys" , ... yeah, so how'd that work out for ya', Lions? I hope for the sake of MNF they abandon this line of thinking and go to Calvin early and often.

Pack a lunch, Delvin ... it has the potential to be a long day ... keep your chin up, . Megatron is hobbled a bit by a lingering ankle injury, but he's still dangerous ... like a wounded Lion, .