Will the Saints have a remedy for the Super Bowl hangover?
By the time they were 13-0 last season, some fans had begun to take notice of the New Orleans Saints, thinking that maybe the Saints would win the Super Bowl. Not of a lot of those people though foresaw the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl at the beginning of last year's season. Probably even fewer would have thought Drew Brees would be the one under centre reviving his career and the team's fortunes at the same time.
Slowly but surely though, all that came to pass and the Saints' doubters were mostly silenced. Yet there are still those who refuse to jump on the Saints’ bandwagon with claims that they are not the best team in the NFL. But everybody’s goal here is to win the Super Bowl. So, are coach Sean Peyton’s Saints the real deal or will they fade to black like credits in a bad movie?
Not much to improve on
Up to this point, there isn’t much more that the team can do except get better during training camp and try to duplicate last season’s winning ways.
But there are no guarantees that racking up more wins will suffice. These are no longer the necessary credentials to put you on the top of everyone’s list.
The Saints will have to successfully defend their title as champions and avoid falling victim of “Super Bowl hangover”, a term given to teams that had either won or lost in the Super Bowl, but who have not made it to the playoffs the following year.
These teams include the New York Giants (2001), St. Louis Rams (2002), Oakland Raiders (2003), Carolina Panthers (2004), Philadelphia Eagles (2005), and Chicago Bears (2007) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (2009).
Peyton’s men are not getting the same recognition and respect that the Patriots commanded during their championship seasons. The difference: no Tom Brady, no Randy Moss no individual superstars. It's a group effort that took them to football's greatest prize.
On the offensive side of the ball, the New Orleans Saints had arguably the offence in the league averaging 31.9 points per game. Brees completed 70.6% of his passes, threw for 4,490 yards and 34 TD’s while only throwing 12 interceptions.
Those numbers are simply incredible considering the immense level of talent that defences across the league possess.
With a solid front seven, the secondary’s Darren Sharper was able to sit back and keep receivers in front of him and did an excellent job jumping routes. This gave him 9 interceptions on the year and 376 return yards including 3 interceptions returned for touchdowns.
Similar to Sharper’s season performance, the Saints defence was opportunistic and produced turnovers all season long.
The Saints defence gave up 341 points or 21.3 per game, and that was good enough for the 20th best 2009 NFL defence. That total is a little high, and had they not had such a high power offence it would be a real concern.
Because of their defence, the Saints get the ball more times than they should have during games and with a high octane offence led by Brees, New Orleans will surely be a top contender once again.
The only difference this time around, is that the Saints is the team to beat and teams will be gunning for them. This additional pressure might affect their play.
Surely New Orleans fans would argue that Peyton’s and his Saints are the defending Super Bowl champions last time they checked and they should be number one. But that was last year. At the moment, a new season is upon us and the rankings at the end of the season will determine who is number one.
Altough it might be a bit premature to throw the Saints in the same category as great teams that have had back to back Super Bowl victories, they have the players and coaches in place to do great things in the 2010.
Tags: