ROUSES_Fall2023_Magazine

Defensive Player of the Year. “There were so many highs,” he says. “We played some team football, and it was a wonderful feeling to be part of a group that enjoyed playing together. Look, don’t get me wrong: We were full of ourselves — but we were full of ourselves for the team!” He went down the list. Rickey Jackson, he says, was “one of the toughest and best all-around football players that I’ve ever seen. Truly the most valuable player on anybody’s team. He taught me so much about the nuances of the game.” Vaughan Johnson, he says, “was six-foot-three, 275 pounds, and truly one of the greatest inside linebackers to ever play, truly a Hall of Famer — and had one of the biggest heads I’ve ever seen in my life! It would knock the daylights out of you.” He describes Sam Mills as a “consummate pro, and he was the glue that held us together. Rickey and I were the flamboyant guys on the outside, that everyone talked about and who made all the plays. But Sam and Vaughan did all the dirty work.” Swilling credits Jim Mora, then the Saints head coach, for bringing out a lot of the team’s greatness. “He had a military background and, hey man, you’d better bring yourself to work every day, do your job, and go home. And if you didn’t bring it every day, he was on you.” The name “Dome Patrol” came from a poster made by the four linebackers. After taking the photo, there was a lot of discussion about what they would caption it. As Swilling recalls: “Someone said ‘We’re standing in front of the Dome in the picture. It looks like we’re guarding it, like a police department. We’re the Dome Patrol.’ That’s where it started.” But that’s not where it ended, says Swilling. “Any time I go to a game, all I hear is people still saying, ‘Dome Patrol! Dome Patrol!” Swilling, Jackson, Mills and Johnson have each been inducted into the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame. Between the four of them, they’ve been to the Pro Bowl 20 times. Jackson and Mills are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Today, Swilling’s son Tre plays for the 49ers. Mills’s son was, until last year, defensive line coach of the Washington Commanders. Sam Mills died in 2005 of intestinal cancer. Vaughan Johnson died in 2019 of kidney disease. Recalling their time together, Jackson tells me, “You know, everybody did what they did best. When we got in the weight room, when we practiced, when we played, we always brought our best. Sam was on my side

and Vaughan was on Pat’s side, and it was exciting to see who would do what every week as far as their side and our side. Everyone was always showing off all that they could do.” Fangio explains that it would be hard for any team to build something like the Dome Patrol ever again. First, he says, it was the sheer talent of the four players. In addition, they played before the dawn of the free agency era of the NFL. “So, we had all four of them for seven straight years, 16 games a year,” he says. “So obviously, in the same defensive system, there would be a lot of synergy between the four of them. They knew exactly how each other would play and how they would react to certain plays.” And though a lot has changed in football over the years, not that much has changed that they would not dominate the field yet again if you turned the clock back. “It would still work,” says Fangio. “If those four guys could be in their mid-20s today, they would still be great players in today’s NFL.” They certainly set a standard, and if, like Fangio, you started out in the NFL with such a group, it would be a double-edged sword. He says, “I consider myself to be very lucky to have been around those guys that early in my career.” It wasn’t just that they were good players, however. “What it did for me is set a high standard of what a good linebacker should look like. At times, some people around the league have thought I wanted too much, but the Dome Patrol standard was set very early in my career in the NFL, and I’ve always tried to maintain that standard.” He continues, “These guys were highly talented and very, very coachable. And when you have that combination, things are going to be good — and they were really good. And they undoubtedly were the best group of linebackers on one team for an extended period that’s ever played, and likely will ever play, in the National Football League.”

Photo by Otto Greule Jr. /Allsport

ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT Avé Tequila is a relatively new entry to the tequila world. Though it is made in the Altos de Jalisco region of Arandas Jalisco, Mexico, it has a local connec tion as well. Pat Swilling, the famed former New Orleans Saints player and member of the Dome Patrol, is one of the men behind the product, which is available at Rouses Markets in New Orleans. Avé Tequila is made of 100% Blue Weber agave, which comes through in its aroma of sweet agave with just a hint of citrus. The agave is grown across years at an altitude of three miles on thousands of acres of red, sandy soil that is noted for its miner ality. Once harvested, the agave piñas are cooked for 60 hours before beginning a three-day fermenta tion. All told, it takes about five years to craft a bottle of Avé Tequila. The bottles look like they were carved from pure ice, but it’s the flavor that’s truly special. “You don’t have to drink it with anything,” Swilling says. “It’s pure and smooth and perfect served neat or over ice.”

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