Tag: Sam Mills

Watch: Pat Swilling welcomes Saints draft pick Zack Baun to New Orleans

New Orleans Saints rookie linebacker Zack Baun interviewed with Pat Swilling, a ‘Dome Patrol’ legend and one of the best to ever do it.

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It’s one thing to get drafted by an NFL team. It’s something else entirely to land with the New Orleans Saints, earning a call loaded with career advice from “Dome Patrol” defense legend Pat Swilling. That’s what Wisconsin Badgers alum Zack Baun learned when he joined Swilling for a chat after the team traded up acquire him in the third round of this year’s draft.

One of the most important lessons Swilling stressed to the rookie was the value in scouting his opponents ahead of time, and putting together a file on each team he’s scheduled to play. That way Baun can quickly refer back to each blocker’s strengths and weaknesses before putting together his plan of attack.

Swilling said, “When you don’t know what you’re doing, you play slow, but when you know what you’re doing, you play fast.”

Of course, Swilling and Baun talked about more than football. They touched on topics like must-see sights and traditions when Baun visits New Orleans for the first time, and something entirely foreign and highly critical to making the most of his new home: peeling crawfish.

Baun clearly took the suggestions to heart. Check out the interview where we’ve embedded it below, or at this link:

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Sam Mills overlooked in Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020

Former New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers linebacker Sam Mills was not voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020.

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The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its Modern-Era Class of 2020 on Saturday, and unfortunately, late New Orleans Saints linebacker Sam Mills was left on the outside looking in. The 48-strong selection committee had a tough task with so many highly-qualified finalists, but ultimately, just five players were able to make the cut. The Hall of Fame made those inductees official in a statement:

The Modern-Era players for the Class of 2020 were just announced on stage during taping of NFL Honors, a two-hour primetime awards special that will air nationally tonight at 8 p.m. (ET and PT) on FOX. They include safety STEVE ATWATER, wide receiver ISAAC BRUCE, guard STEVE HUTCHINSON, running back EDGERRIN JAMES, and safety TROY POLAMALU. The five newest Hall of Famers were joined on stage by the living members from the Centennial Slate.

It’s a tough break for Mills’ family, friends, and supporters. His candidacy had never reached the finalist stage before, having stalled out as a semifinalist three times over the last two decades. Mills died of cancer in 2005, so others have had to carry his torch in pursuit of recognition in the Hall of Fame. He was an early face of the expansion-franchise Carolina Panthers, and a bronze statue in his image guards Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte to this day.

However, it won’t get any easier next year. Big names like Peyton Manning and Charles Woodson will become eligible for the first time in 2021, and they’re both shoo-ins as first-ballot Hall of Famers. Here’s hoping Mills’ legacy will get the respect it deserves — it’s a shame that there isn’t a gold bust next to his old “Dome Patrol” teammate Rickey Jackson, who was inducted in 2010. At least Mills’ memory endures among his fans and those close to him.

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Famed ‘Dome Patrol’ Saints LB Sam Mills named Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist

Former New Orleans Saints Saints linebacker Sam Mills, of ‘Dome Patrol’ fame, was named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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Former New Orleans Saints linebacker Sam Mills was announced as a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020. This is huge news considering Mills has been named a semifinalist three times since becoming eligible to enter the Hall of Fame, most recently in Nov. 2019, but this is the first time his candidacy has advanced to the next stage of voting.

Mills spent nine years in New Orleans, starring in the famous “Dome Patrol” defense alongside linebackers Vaughan Johnson, Pat Swilling, and Rickey Jackson, who was voted into the Hall of Fame back in 2010. Mills finished his career with the expansion-team Carolina Panthers, joining their coaching staff after his playing days were over. He died in Charlotte in 2005 of intestinal cancer, and a bronze statue stands in his memory outside the Panthers’ Bank of America Stadium to this day.

Mills’ career stats and impact to both teams he played with speaks for itself. His five Pro Bowl appearances (four with the Saints) also help, as well as his past inductions to the Saints Hall of Fame in 1998 and Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. He’ll have his case heard before the Hall of Fame selection committee on Feb. 1, the day before Super Bowl LIV, as part of the 15-strong group of finalists. Only five will make the final cut, and his credentials are as strong as any.

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Ranking the 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists

Touchdown Wire ranks the 15 modern-era finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced 15 finalists for the Class of 2020 on Thursday night. All of them are worthy, but only five will make it this year.

I’ve been in the room as an alternate voter three times and it’s a fascinating process. The voters take their responsibility very seriously, as they should. They want it to be the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Very Good.

As a veteran writer explained to me the first time I was in the room, anyone that made the finalist list deserved to get in – at some point. But only the best are to get in during a given year. The rest should wait until the right time and their time will come.

That veteran also told me to keep one question in mind when voting – could the history of the game be written without a player. It was all great advice and I always tried to keep those parameters in mind.

I’m not voting this year, but I’ll still keep that advice in mind as I rank this year’s finalists from No. 15 to No. 1. Here we go.

15. Richard Seymour, DL – 2001-08 New England Patriots, 2009-2012 Oakland Raiders

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Seymour split his career between defensive end and tackle. That works against him. His 57.5 career sacks aren’t nearly enough for the Hall of Fame.

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Saints mourn death of famed ‘Dome Patrol’ linebacker Vaughan Johnson

Former New Orleans Saints LB Vaughan Johnson passed away Thursday, leaving a legacy filled with ‘Dome Patrol’ memories and four Pro Bowls.

The New Orleans Saints lost a great member of the black and gold this week, after former linebacker Vaughan Johnson passed away after battling kidney disease. He was 57, and is survived by his wife and children.

Johnson was a key piece of the famous “Dome Patrol” Saints defenses of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, having played alongside Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Rickey Jackson, Pat Swilling, and the late Sam Mills. Johnson represented the Saints in four Pro Bowl appearances, including the 1992 Pro Bowl in which all four linebackers were invited — the only time it’s happened in the history of the NFL’s all-star game.

Having starred at North Carolina State in college, Johnson was initially drafted not by the NFL, but by the then-competitor United States Football Legaue, joining the Jacksonville Bulls in 1984. The Saints claimed his rights in the NFL’s supplemental draft of USFL and Canadian Football League players, and he signed with New Orleans after the USFL folded in 1986.

While Jackson was the unquestioned star of the group and Swilling the most athletically-gifted, Mills and Johnson were the glue and no-nonsense pros who kept the group together. Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio was the Saints’ linebackers coach during the “Dome Patrol” era, and he described Johnson to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen as, “He was a great teammate, loved by everyone. He was a ferocious hitter and great all around ILB. And feared by the RBs in the league when he played. Ask Roger Craig.”

Johnson was remembered by other peers like Hall of Fame kicker Morten Andersen, who praised the linebacker’s kind nature off the field and ferocity during games in equal measure. Andersen bid his old teammate farewell and asked that Johnson greet Mills, who died in 2005, when they meet again.

It’s a sad day for the Who Dat Nation. But it doesn’t have to be. Johnson created many memories for long-time Saints fans, and it’s past time for the Saints to recognize their contributions. Late owner Tom Benson and living legend Steve Gleason have bronze statues in their likeness outside the Superdome, and an effigy of Mills guards the Carolina Panthers’ stadium (his second team) to this day. Renovations are already planned for the Superdome, set to begin in 2020; wouldn’t it be great if statues of Johnson, Mills, Swilling, and Jackson joined them to greet fans someday, sooner rather than later?

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