Steve Sidwell died Wednesday evening. For New Orleans Saints fans of a certain age, he was one of the first members of the team whose name they remembered — for good reasons. He was the Saints defensive coordinator from 1986 to 1994, also coaching the team’s linebackers at times, and he was one of the people most responsible for building, developing, and maintaining the greatest defense in franchise history.
Now he’s gone. So are two of his former linebackers who helped make up the “Dome Patrol” defense: Pro Football Hall of Famer Sam Mills (who died far too young, back in 2005) and fan-favorite linebacker Vaughan Johnson (who passed more recently in 2019). Rickey Jackson, also a Hall of Fame inductee, is still with us as is Pat Swilling.
