Saints’ Patten took a giant step in Week 6

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, October 18, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

New Orleans Saints
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Maybe there are times when David Patten wishes he was still playing for the New England Patriots.

Certainly, he and the Patriots had a productive relationship for a few years. In 2002, Patten caught 61 passes for 824 yards. Two seasons later, he snagged seven of Tom Brady's touchdown passes. Now, the Patriots are the Roman Empire of the NFL.

But eventually, New England and Patten parted company, and he was tossed aside by the Washington Redskins two years later. The Saints scooped him up last April.

It could have been worse. Patten could have signed with Atlanta, or Kansas City, or one of any number of NFL teams with serious quarterback outages. Instead, he got Drew Brees.

And last Sunday night in Seattle is when that relationship finally bore fruit. After five weeks of watching Marques Colston and Devery Henderson drop passes, the Saints' coaches finally decided to include Patten in their game plan. His numbers prior to that were five catches, 33 yards.

Given that, it's questionable whether Patten was discussed much in the Seahawks' chalk talk. He's up in years (33) for someone at his position, he's smaller (5-foot-10, 190) than the prototype WR these days, and he had been seldom used in 2007.

So last Sunday, Brees used him. And used him, and used him -- eight catches for 113 yards.

"It was great to get him (Patten) involved," Brees said to reporters. "Obviously, he's a big weapon."

Maybe, but it was a weapon the Saints chose to ignore through much of the early season. Patten had two catches in each of the first two games, one in the third, zero in the fourth.

Against Seattle, however, Brees worked the sidelines with him and hit him down the middle.

After five weeks on the bench, Patten had arrived.

Not a problem. He was used to waiting. After a solid, if not spectacular, career at Western Carolina (not exactly a magnet for NFL scouts), Patten went undrafted and had jobs as a landscaper, an electrician, and then a galley worker hauling around 75 pounds of coffee beans. Then he hooked on with the Albany Firebirds of the Arena League -- a style of play that fit his hyperactive on-field persona. The rest is history.

As for the Saints, now 1-4, perhaps Patten has been able to infuse a little bit of the New England attitude.
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