Falcons CB Robinson is confident in team’s success

The Atlanta Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson recently made his own prediction on his team’s future in 2010 season, and he sound very confident with the improvements already made by the team. As a six year veteran who used to play with the Houston Texans, Robinson thought that his new team is just a much better one than it was before and confidence is important in its success.

"It's all about confidence," he told PFW earlier this offseason. "When you step out on the field, you have to think that no one on the other side of the ball can beat you. You have to feel like you're the best player on the field. That's the kind of confidence you have to play with. That's what I come to practice with, and that's what I line up on Sundays with. It's not something that I'm trying to bring (to the Falcons). I think it's just in me. (And) I think the players are buying into it."

The Falcons ranked 28th following the 2009 season in term of pass defense and they have a high expectation on Robinson after signing him to a six-year contract that is worth $57 million. By so far, the Falcons have been considered to only team to prevent New Orleans Saints from making another NFC appearance, but if the Minnesota Vikings starting quarterback wears back his No.4 Brett Favre jersey for another season, the Falcons is unlikely to have any chance of showing for the Super Bowl XLV game.

Saints OT Stinchcomb confirmed sports hernia surgery

Following a weekend of guessing and speculation, the New Orleans Saints offensive tackle Jon Stinchcomb finally made a public appearance and confirmed that he did have a surgery last Friday to repair a sports hernia. Just as people guessed previously, Stinchcomb said the recovery should take three to four weeks.

"It's disappointing not to be able to work out with the rest of the team, especially heading into these first OTAs (organized team activities). But I'm just hoping for a speedy recovery. And the good news is that it's not the middle of the season, and I'm not gonna miss any games or anything like that."

The Pro Bowl right tackle returned to New Orleans on Saturday morning after having the surgery in Philadelphia on the previous day. As there are as many as 18 different versions of sports hernias, people previously had no idea what Stinchcomb’s problem was. According to the tackle himself, his lower abdominals seemed detached from the pelvic floor and some cartilage was repaired to solve the problem. However, Stinchcomb also told fans not to worry for him as his sports hernia was a typical one and the recovery would take no more than four weeks. So after missing the OTAs, Stinchcomb still has plenty of time to get back in shape before wearing back his New Orleans Saints jersey for the training camp.

Saints’ timeline for signing unrestricted free agents

Many people are still unsure how much time the New Orleans Saints still have to make their final decisions on unrestricted free agents, as they still have six unrestricted free agents remaining unsigned, including quarterback Mark Brunell, tight ends Dan Campbell, Darnell Dinkins and Billy Miller, defensive tackle Kendrick Clancy and defensive end Paul Spicer.

There is indeed a deadline, which is July 22, before which all the unrestricted free agents issues should be set for ready. If an unrestricted free agent remains unsigned by the date of June 1 and their team has not offered a one-year tender worth at least 110 percent of the player’s base salary in last year by then, the free agent will be free in real sense to sign with one of any other teams, including the final eight playoff teams from last season. So the Saints now have less than one month for contract negotiations with their remaining unrestricted free agents. If they fail to reach any agreement by the date, some of the current free agents may take off Saints jerseys to join other teams.

There are still questions about UFAs from other teams. It has been reported that the Saints are interested in unrestricted free agents Patrick Ramsey and Josh McCown, but they may have to wait until the July 22 deadline to have a deal done. They can also choose to sign one of the two before the deadline, but it will require them to lose one of their own restricted free agents to another team. Another condition for Saints to sign restricted free agent is that the free agent is released by his former team.

Saints added CB Robinson with No. 32 draft pick

With confidence that they can still pick a good player with great potentials, the last season’s champions team New Orleans Saints used the 32nd overall pick, also the last pick of the first-round NFL draft, to add a new cornerback to the team’s defensive line.

The rookie to put on the new Saints jersey is Patrick Robinson from the Florida State. His joining is expected to improve the Saints’ pass defense that ranked 26th in the NFL in yards passing allowed per game with 235.6 last season. What’s more, with addition of the rookie cornerback, the Saints now have more choices in moves on defensive line. According to reports, the team has a plan to move second-year cornerback Malcolm Jenkins to safety if free agent safety Darren Sharper eventually chooses not to wear back his Saints jersey.

While playing for the Florida Seminoles, Robinson had totally seven interceptions, with none in last season and one in 2008 season. His best performance was given in his sophomore season in 2007 and all of the six other interceptions were had during that season. The Saints still passed TCU linebacker Daryl Washington to pick Robinson perhaps they saw some other potentials in the cornerback, who started all of the 12 games his college football team played in 2009 and managed to have 52 tackles, 11 passes defended and two forced fumbles as well as 11 returned kickoffs for 218 yards. Generally speaking, the young player is considered to be the luckier one than the team to have a chance of playing for the Super Bowl champion team.

There will Thanksgiving Day game between Saints and Cowboys

As the NFL released schedules for all 32 teams on Tuesday evening, the most expected team schedules are of the New Orleans Saints, who won last season’s Super Bowl XLIV championship by beating the Indianapolis Colts. Well, to make the season attractive enough, Saints are scheduled to open the season against the Minnesota Vikings and play the Thanksgiving Day game at Dallas against the Cowboys.

As this season’s championship defending team, the Saints have only four night games. The first one is on Thursday, Sept. 9 against the Vikings, then a "Monday Night Football" game on Sept. 20 against the San Francisco 49ers, then the Oct.31 home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the last one will be on Dec. 27 at Atlanta against the Falcons.

Talking about the schedule for the new season, Saints starting quarterback Drew Brees is confident that the stadiums will be full of fans in Saints jerseys whenever there is a game played by the champion team. Whether it will be loss or win, people just want to come to see what they can do, better or worse.