Monday Feb. 8, 2010

Augusta, Ga--The Saints wouldn't have reached the super bowl without first beating the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL Championship, a game that rookie linebacker and former Thomson Bulldog Jasper Brinkley was right in the middle of.

Brinkley returned to Augusta this past weekend after finishing up his first season in the NFL. It was a good one too for the rookie. After the Vikings starting middle linebacker went out due to injury, Brinkley stepped up, starting the final six games, including their two playoff games. And while he would call the season a success, nothing hurt more than losing that game to Saints two weeks ago.

"It was definitely devastating." said Jasper Brinkley "We had seven turnovers and still had an opportunity to win the game. Things just didn't go the way we planned them to go and definitely the Saints came out and wanted it more then we did and they took care of business."

Brinkley finished the season with 40 tackles which was 12th on the Vikings in his rookie campaign.