Sports Radio Interviews

Mike McKenzie Goes from Free Agent to Starter for the Undefeated Saints

Wow, talk about stepping back in a time machine.  That’s exactly what the New Orleans Saints did about two weeks ago.  After having their secondary ravaged by injuries, the Saints called on two veterans that have been off the sidelines for about a year, Chris McAlister and Mike McKenzie.  Now if this was about half of a decade ago, the Saints would have a very dangerous one-two punch at the cornerback position.  Mike McKenzie and Chris McAlister were brought in off the street and after a week of practice and preparation, they both played incredible and did an amazing job against the high powered New England Passing attack.  Think about that, two guys that have been out of the league up until this point, they have one week of preparation and they have to go against Tom Brady, Randy Moss and Wes Welker.  Not exactly a formula for success, but they both more than held their own and Mike McKenzie changed the complexion of the game with his first half interception.  For one Monday night, in the Big Easy, under the bright lights, it felt like it was the year 2003 all over again when McAlister and McKenzie were both at the top of their game.

I am not sure how long it can continue, but McKenzie and McAlister will get a much easier task this weekend against the Redskins who are not nearly as prolific passing the ball as the Pats.  If the Saints are going to reach the goals they want to reach, they are going to have to rely on two veteran cornerbacks defensively that weren’t even in the league three weeks ago.   Mike McKenzie joined Hardcore Sports Radio to talk about how he ended up in New Orleans, whether or not any other teams called to bring him in for a workout, playing on Monday Night Football against the Patriots in his first game back and the direction of the University of Memphis football team where he played college ball.

On what he saw on the interception in the first half that turned the game:

“Coming into the game, the coaches knew that it was my first week back at it, so I had seen pretty much every play that those guys had run.  The coaches wanted to make sure that I was prepared coming back and it was really just any time (Randy) Moss was in motion, he was one of the top priorities that they were looking for.  Once again, he was in motion, so all our alerts were going, I had an opportunity to make a play, I stepped out in front and grabbed me a nice interception.” 

On playing against New England in his first game back:

“Well I’ll tell you what?  It is a situation for me and Chris, it’s not like we are fresh out of the womb or fresh out of the draft and we’re rookies.  We’re savvy vets, we’ve been around, we’ve faced the Patriots before, and we’ve faced Randy Moss before.  It was a situation where the most important thing for us was to make sure we knew what we were doing and that we were in the right position.”

On the decision to go back to New Orleans:

“Obviously I’m from Miami, so I go back and forth.  I had been here in New Orleans catching a few games and I was constantly seeing guys going down so I just took upon myself and I said ‘hey let me call coach up, let me see what’s going on, I wouldn’t mind being back In New Orleans playing with those guys.’  Sure enough, I called coach up and he was like ‘hey man what took you so long.  Come in Monday and we’re going to work you out.’  As a matter of fact, that same Monday that I was scheduled to work out with them, Green Bay had called that Sunday because Al Harris had gone out with an ACL and they were playing on Thanksgiving.  So Green Bay called and said ‘hey we want to bring you in and have you play on Thanksgiving, what do you think about that?’  I was like uhhhhhhhhh (Host: tough decision man?)  It really was.  But at the end of the day, New Orleans is home for me, I already have a place in New Orleans so it was a fairly simple decision for me.”

On being reunited with Darren Sharper in New Orleans:

“That’s the other thing.  Me and Darren, we have a history.  I played with Darren for five years in Green Bay and I know his style of play.  He made sure that I was going to be in the right positions.  The whole secondary and the defense did a great job of communicating.  It’s been an awesome week for me and we’re looking forward to Washington this upcoming week.”

Listen to Mike McKenzie on Hardcore Sports Radio here

Tags: Chris McAlister, Hardcore Sports Radio, Mike McKenzie, New Orleans Saints, NFL, University of Memphis Football