New Orleans Saints Review

Move over Atlanta.  You’re still hated by Saints fans, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near the vitriol that is being felt for the Minnesota Vikings.

With the season opener against Minnesota just mere weeks away, Vikings coach Brad Childress threw a big ole iron in the fire with his assertion that the Saints are a dirty team.  Probably more like putting out a fire with a big jug of kerosene.

Now that quarterback/hero Brett Favre has shaken off another supposed retirement and has returned to the Vikings, Childress wants to start crying foul over a game that happened several months ago.

Yes, Brad, I realize that your team was the one people were predicting to go to the Super Bowl.  And perhaps if your team didn’t fumble and stumble so many times in that NFC Championship Game, you could have had your shot at Peyton Manning.

It’s true that the Saints were obviously going after Favre a lot in that game, just as they did against Kurt Warner the week before.  But, what, was Vikings star Jared Allen out there to play touch football?  Childress may not realize this, but when you’re playing for a chance to go to the Super Bowl, your team had better come out ready to physically dominate.

Childress is a fool if he thinks for one moment that anyone believes that his defense wouldn’t have taken similar shots at Drew Brees if given the opportunity.  Trouble is, Brees gets rid of the ball quickly, while Favre is known to scramble and can hold on to the ball for too long.

While I already thought that Childress was an arrogant sort, much like our old friend Mike Martz, this may put his ranking in that category even higher than the former Rams coach.

Get over it, Brad.  Your team is the one who fumbled away chance after chance in that game.  Your aged quarterback was the one who threw an interception at the worst possible moment.

If you want revenge, then bring your fundamentals to the Superdome on September 9.

The Saints have added veteran running back Ladell Betts to the roster.  He’ll replace the injured Lynell Hamilton and should solidify the team’s depth at that position.

Betts is a proven player and had some very solid contributions to the Washington Redskins over the years.  He even had a 1,000 season back in 2006.  But, he’s also coming off reconstructive knee surgery.  He tore both is ACL and MCL last season and is looking to bounce back.

The injury doesn’t sound all that different than the one former Saint Deuce McAllister faced during the 2005 season.  He came back strong the next season.  Hopefully, that bit of history bodes well for Betts.

Betts is not known as a speed back, but as more of a power runner.  So perhaps we don’t need to worry about him having lost a step.

His role with the team also figures to be much lighter than McAllister’s back in 2006.  Deuce, of course, carried the load for the Saints.  Betts will really be counted upon to come in for some short yardage situations and to give Pierre Thomas an occasional breather.

Here’s hoping that Ladell Betts is healthy and able to contribute something positive to the 2010 Saints.

One of the more interesting aspects of the 2010 regular season will be seeing just how the Saints’ opponents will attempt to slow down the defending Super Bowl champs.  Predictably, teams tend to focus a little more when facing a defending champion.  They’ll look to see what exactly made the Saints so special and how to best counter it.

The challenge for the NFC South and the rest of the Saints’ 2010 opponents will start with slowing down the best offense in football.  The trouble is, it’s hard to key on just one weapon.  The Saints are known for spreading the ball around to multiple play-makers.  And, in 2009, the Saints added a whole new dimension to their attack by running the ball more consistently than they ever had before under coach Sean Payton.

Since Payton took over in 2006, it seems the only team that can severely hurt the Saints offense is the Saints themselves.  Penalties, turnovers and dropped balls seemed to plague the team in the non-playoff years of 2007 and 2008.  It was something that the team did a fantastic job of correcting last season, and you saw the result.

To me, that’s the biggest challenge the 2010 edition of the Saints will face.  Maintaining a balanced attack and mental focus will be a huge factor in determining just how far this team will go.  Because, let’s face it, as long as Drew Brees is healthy most teams will have an awful lot of trouble keeping the Saints off of the scoreboard.

But the 2009 Saints weren’t just a one-dimensional team.  Their defense was also instrumental in bringing a championship to New Orleans.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams turned a previously dormant group into a pack of wild dogs who attacked relentlessly.  The result was a unit that pressured the quarterback and caused a slew of key turnovers.  It’s no stretch to say that this team wouldn’t have won either the NFC Championship Game against Minnesota or the Super Bowl against Indianapolis without big plays from the defense.

Williams seems to thrive on making his unit unpredictable.  Exotic blitzes and coverages that wreak havoc on an opposing quarterback’s thought process.

I think that unpredictability will be a major factor in 2010.  As any gambler will tell you – you win some and you lose some.  Teams will be more prepared for what this defense will throw at them this season.  So it’s up to Williams to continue to change things up just enough to throw opponents off.

A large part of continuing to win after you’ve had success in the NFL is about making adjustments.  We know teams will adjust to what the Saints did in 2009.  Sean Payton and company will have to deftly counter with their own set of adjustments.  If they do, another victory parade in the French Quarter may become a reality.