-By: Al Walsh – @AdotWalsh
As bad as the New Orleans Saints were last season, they were only a 7-9 team. This included multiple coaches being suspended in the wake of the bounty scandal, most notably head coach Sean Payton who was given a year-long vacation by Roger Goodell. This is going to be bad news for the rest of the NFL as Payton has already vowed to run up the score whenever he gets the chance. The Saints are hungrier than ever this year, and definitely have the make-up of a team that can make it back to the Super Bowl.
OFFENSE
The Saints are led by their all-world quarterback, Drew Brees, and he’ll be looking to top 5,000 yards for the third-straight season.
Coach Sean Payton has insisted that he would like to go to more of a rushing attack this year with his stable of backs in Darren Sproles, Pierre Thomas and Mark Ingram, but don’t think that’ll take away from the individual production of Brees this season. Sproles has been a dynamic threat for this offense in both the running and passing game with his time in New Orleans. In 2011, he had 603 yards rushing with 2 TDs and 86 catches for 710 and 7 TDs. In 2012, his rushing numbers went down significantly to 244 yards and 1 TD, but his receiving stats were still great as he caught 75 balls for 667 and 7 TDs. Pierre Thomas had a nice 2012 in a crowded backfield; 473 yards rushing and 354 receiving and 1 TD on each of those categories. He and Mark Ingram (602 rushing yards and 5 TDs in 2012) will be battling each other all year for touches with Sproles but it’s a healthy competition that they all embrace.
Marques Colston has had lingering foot issues but those still haven’t managed to keep him out for significant time of late. Over the last three seasons, he’s had at least 80 catches/1,000 yards/7 TDs. Many people said Jimmy Graham was slowed down a little bit last season, but 85 catches/982 yards and 9 TDs doesn’t seem “slowed down” in any sense. Everyone’s favorite fantasy football waiver wire pickup, Lance Moore, will no longer be that. Last season he eclipsed the 1,000 mark and was drafted by every fantasy football league with a collective brain.
DEFENSE
Bob Ryan, twin brother of Jets coach Rex, has become the new signal caller for the defense in New Orleans
The team was dealt a major blow losing Will Smith for this season this week. Much like I said in the Atlanta preview with John Abraham, they’re losing the leader of the defense. The difference here is that Smith will still actually be around the team, as opposed to Abraham going elsewhere.
New Orleans used their first-round pick on safety Kenny Vaccaro out of Texas. In late July, he got into a scuffle with Jimmy Graham and you got to love that toughness and “take no bullshit” attitude out of the rookie. He did however, take out fellow teammate Joe Morgan, but once he gets to hit other teams, this is going to be a good thing for the Saints.
The rest of this defense will probably struggle but when have they ever been good in the Brees era? Even in 2009 when they won the Super Bowl, they were the 20th ranked defense in the league. This defense doesn’t have to be great, they just have to not be abysmal.
CONCLUSION
I think this team will rebound from their 7-9 campaign in 2012. We have never seen anything like this before, where a coach was suspended for the entire season and came back the next year. But if anyone knows rebounding from devastation, it’s the New Orleans Saints. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, they had a bad season that started just a few weeks after that all happened and were forced to play their games at LSU’s stadium. That next season they came back, got Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and other pieces and made themselves a run at the NFC Championship that ended in Chicago.
The Saints will rebound and make their opponents feel their pain from last year. Their major part of the schedule comes from Weeks 10-13 (vs. DAL, vs. SF, @ ATL on a Thurs night game, @SEA) … If they can get out of that at 2-2, that would be ideal.
Side note: From 2009-2011, the Saints were a combined 37-11 with Payton as their coach. Payton is ready to get back to work!
PREDICTION: 11-5 (1st in NFC South, NFC Championship game)
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