Louisiana Love

New Orleans is "bout to Explo-o-o-Ode," as Mary J. once sang. This Saturday night, the SuperDome will be rockin' as the Saints take on the dangerous Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs. But Saints are getting ready for war. It'll bring former Saints wideout Donte Lamar Stallworth back to the Big Easy in a big way. Joe Horn has gone on record to bring the love.
"That's my little bro," Horn said of Stallworth. "All I tell Donte is, 'Do your job as a professional. Be a professional because there's a lot of people watching.' He's grown up. I just hate that when he was here, he didn't take advantage of the opportunity that he had. Now he's taking advantage of it — and change is good."
Yada, yada, yada, Stallworth didn't catch the ball nearly enough when he was in New Orleans. Of course, his quarterback, Aaron Brooks, regressed in a big way and that hurt them both.
Stallworth, a first-round pick in 2002, had 70 receptions for 945 yards and seven touchdowns last season. He and first-year coach Sean Payton didn't see eye-to-eye after Stallworth violated team rules at practices.
"There is one little personal situation I would have liked to have handled," Stallworth said, speaking about Payton. "I felt I was prejudged. All that's behind me. I don't care about that anymore. I'm doing my thing here. They're having a pretty good year."


Speaking of a good year, there's already a buzz to remove Payton if he stumbles this weekend.
Anyway, Payton is focused. "Our players understand the significance of a home playoff game to this town and what it means," Payton said. "It's the same approach we've tried to take all season. ... Our plan is to put together a good work week of practice and focus on all of the little things, like we have done in all of the games we've played so far."