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Typically, the best thing about preseason football games is that the losses don’t carry over to the regular season.

The New Orleans Saints aren’t so fortunate.

Although the 27-24 setback against the Tennessee Titans in the exhibition finale on Thursday means nothing today, the foot injury that starting weakside linebacker Jonathan Casillas experienced in that game is of greater consequence, as it will force Casillas to miss the entire season.

On the same day the defending Super Bowl champions revealed their 53-man roster and announced that All-Pro safety Darren Sharper will begin the season on the resrve/physically-unable-to-perform list, the team also placed Casillas on injured reserve.

The move to place Sharper on the PUP list, which will make him inactive for the first six weeks of the season, was expected, but the news of Casillas was a surprise.

The Saints revealed little about his injury, and few knew of the seriousness of the ailment until Casillas’ name was listed among the 22 transactions the team needed to make by 3 p.m. Saturday to reach the NFL-mandated roster limit. To reach that number, the Saints cut 19 players and also placed vetera

via New Orleans Saints announce 53-man roster | NOLA.com.

Join Mark Heim and Lee Shirvanian from 6 to 9 a.m. on Monday.

Guests include:

6:35 a.m. Scott Phelps, coach at Robertsdale

7:20 Erik Stinnett of CrimsonConfidential.com

7:35 Brian Matthews of AuburnUndercover.com

8:05 a.m. Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com

8:20 a.m. Bradley Handwerger of wwltv.com

8:35 a.m. John Rachiatti on golf

To join the show, call  251-694-1055.

We all know life in post-Katrina New Orleans is an oft-maddening good-news, bad-news existence.

The same can be said for preseason football.

For every positive sign, there’s a contrasting negative one.

In the middle of it all, it’s difficult to really tell what you have or where you’re going.

After Friday night’s 36-21 victory against San Diego, the good news for the New Orleans Saints is the positive definitely outweighs the negative.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the Saints’ good and bad, 13 days before the titanic regular-season opener against Minnesota:

Good news. The offense is in midseason form.

After opening the preseason with a pair of three-and-outs against New England, the first-team unit scored five touchdowns and a field goal in its next eight drives. Its seven first-half drives against the Texans and Chargers ended like this: touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown, touchdown, punt and field goal. Oh, and best of all, in 12 preseason series, the first-teamers have committed zero turnovers.

Bad news.%

via Preseason ups and downs continue to play out for New Orleans Saints | NOLA.com.

The New Orleans Saints beat the Houston Texans 38-20 Saturday night, capping their return to the Superdome with a preseason victory on a standout night from backup quarterback Chase Daniel and a workmanlike effort from the team as a whole.

The result pleased the 70,025 clearly delighted simply to be watching the Saints play football in New Orleans again, seven months after they clinched the NFC championship on the same field. The win puts the Saints preseason record at 1-1, and Houston falls to 0-2.

Certainly the performance was much better than the Saints had in dropping their first preseason game at New England on Aug. 12. And yet there remain areas in which the team struggles, most glaringly on kickoff coverage. The Saints drew numerous flags, and for the second consecutive game, the Saints failed to score a touchdown despite having a first-and-goal on the opponent’s 1-yard line.

via Workmanlike New Orleans Saints defeat Houston Texans 38-20 | NOLA.com.

METAIRIE, La. ― Pro Bowl right tackle Jon Stinchcomb sat out practice Thursday morning, resting a dinged shoulder that Head Coach Sean Payton said wasn’t serious.

Payton said he expects Stinchcomb to play in Saturday night’s home preseason game against Houston.

Free safety Usama Young continued rehabbing a groin injury, going through conditioning jogs at the end beginning of practice.

Meanwhile, linebacker Stanley Arnoux (right ankle), fullback Marcus Mailei (leg), and tight end Jimmy Graham (right ankle) also sat out.

The two remaining PUP players – linebacker Clint Ingram (left knee) and safety Darren Sharper (left knee) – continued their stays off the field.

In other news, Payton said the team would have the afternoon off of practice. They will lift weights and have meetings.

via Saints right tackle Stinchcomb sits out morning practice | wwltv.com | WWL Sports.

Sean Payton still is going to go by what he sees.

As much as any NFL coach, that much has been proven. The New Orleans Saints have unexpected standouts dotting the roster — Jahri Evans, Marques Colston, Pierre Thomas, Anthony Hargrove — because as low draft picks, undrafted rookies and castoffs they showed up, played well and were rewarded by a staff that was willing to overlook pedigree in exchange for performance.

But at running back, Payton wants to see more right now beyond Thomas and Reggie Bush.

Specifically, P.J. Hill and Chris Ivory, who stand to gain from the unfortunate injury to Lynell Hamilton — who had the lead as the Saints’ short-yardage, fourth-quarter sledgehammer back before tearing his ACL in a non-contact drill last week — won’t be competing for the job by themselves for long.

“I think we’re currently looking, ” Payton said. “It’s not something we’ve decided we’re going to wait on.”

via New Orleans Saints likely to dig deep for depth at running back | NOLA.com.

LOS ANGELES — Reggie Bush apologized to new Southern California athletics director Pat Haden and expressed tremendous regret for his actions that landed the school on NCAA probation.

Haden says that in a 15-minute phone conversation the two men had last week, Bush, the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner who was found to have received illicit cash and benefits from a would-be sports marketer while starring for USC, wishes he could make amends to the school.

“He’s really contrite,” Haden says of Bush, who plays for the New Orleans Saints. “He knows he made a series of mistakes. It wasn’t just one mistake. It was a series of mistakes.

“He told me, ‘If I could turn the clock back, I would. If I could give the Heisman Trophy back, I would.’ ”

The Saints were in Massachusetts to play the New England Patriots. Bush was unavailable to comment.

Every Heisman award generates two trophies, one for the player and one for the school. USC has removed Bush’s Heisman from display and plans to return it to the Heisman Trust, which has not said whether it will strip Bush of his award.

Bush’s violations were the major ones found by the NCAA, which banned the Trojans from bowl games for two years and stripped them of 30 scholarships.

via USC AD Pat Haden gets apology from Reggie Bush – USATODAY.com.

The New Orleans Saints’ late-summer visit to New England was fairly forgettable.

It wasn’t as disastrous as, say, the Griswolds’ trip to Wally World, but it wasn’t exactly “Little Miss Sunshine” either.

In their four-day road trip to the great Northeast, here’s what the Saints managed to lose: a football game, a running back, a punter – at least temporarily – and perhaps a touch of their Super Bowl swagger.

Whatever championship aura the Saints carried with them over the offseason disintegrated in the discouraging opening minutes of their 27-24 exhibition loss to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

Here’s how the game started: a 1-yard run by Reggie Bush; an incompletion; an 11-yard sack; and a 40-yard punt return by Julian Edelman in which punter Thomas Morstead injured his left shoulder while making the touchdown-saving tackle at his own 10-yard line.

Before the Saints’ first-team offense mustered its first first down, the Patriots led 10-0.

via New Orleans Saints get a wakeup call in preseason loss to New England Patriots | NOLA.com.

Join Mark Heim and Lee Shirvanian from 6 to 9 a.m. on 105.5 FM WNSP.

Gil Brandt of the NFL Network joins the guys at 8:05 to discuss Nick Saban’s decision to limit NFL scout’s access to his Crimson Tide. 

Derek Ponamsky of BayouBengalInsider.com will talk LSU at 7:20 a.m.

South Alabama coach Joey Jones talks Jags football at 6:15 a.m.

Also on the show:

Tommy Praytor on NASCAR at 6:35 a.m.

Mary Montgomery high school football coach Brad Lowell at 6:45 a.m.

Rico Brogna of the BayBears to talk baseball at 8:20 a.m.

To join the show, call 251-694-1055.

Join Mark Heim and Lee Shirvanian on Thursday from 6 to 9 a.m.

Bradley Handwerger of WWLTV.com talks Saints from New England at 7:35 a.m.

Evan Woodbery of the Press-Register on Auburn at 8:05.

Phil Savage of the Crimson Tide Radio Network joins the guys at 8:35 a.m.

To join the show, call 251-694-1055.