Metairie, La. - The old saying in football is a true one: "It's what's up front that counts."
The Saints would not have forged the most prolific offense in all of football last season were it not for the play of the offensive line.
It all starts with the group's position coach, Aaron Kromer, who thinks his guys won't skip a beat this season despite the departure of all-pro guard Carl Nicks.
"I think that it's the next guy up," says Kromer. "It's the unit as a whole. They work well together, they communicate together, they teach each other in the classroom, we work together and I think that's why we can gel as a line. I think we're going to have a good year."
Nicks' replacement, Ben Grubbs, is also a pro-bowler and earns his keep on this championship-caliber unit.
"It is different, the whole me being in New Orleans is different," says Grubbs. "It's a change of scenery, change of the locker room and coaches but everybody embraced me and made my transition a little bit easier."
His right side counterpart, Jahri Evans, has been impressed so far.
"Ben is doing a good job, he's picking up things quickly," says Evans. "We're doing a lot of talking, communicating the thoughts that we have and he's picking things up very fast."
Last season it was Brian de la Puente who had to fill in for a pro-bowler when center Olin Kreutz retired midseason. That experience has reminded de la Puente to stay even-keeled.
"It's all really about keeping your head down and like [Sean Payton's poster] says, 'Do your job,'" says de la Puente. "That's my number one focus is to do my job and if I do my job, I know my guards are in the right place and it really just goes from there. My main priority is just doing the right thing at the right time in the right place."
Offensive linemen are known as humble and hard-working and this group certainly exemplifies those values.
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