Kristian@wwl.com - The new league year begins on March 12th. However, as far as the Saints are concerned, it’s already underway.
Following several Saints players on Twitter, you can see their excitement and enthusiasm for the upcoming season…Tweeting about their individual work outs, and wishing the season was right around the corner.
The Saints begin their off-season training program in April, and Drew Brees says he can’t wait. "Absolutely. We're all chomping at the bit. Obviously excited to have Coach Payton back, and excited to get back to work. I always look forward to that down time with the family, and I've taken full advantage of it, this last month or so. But I cannot wait to get back to work when the time comes.”
It’s a chance for normalcy, as for the first time in a year New Orleans won’t be talking bounties and appeals. They’ll be talking X’s and O’s. The rest of the league is squarely in the crosshairs of the team. The Saints typically approach every season with urgency, but this one will be interesting to watch from the front row. They’ve had a year to stew on the banishment of their head coach. Sean Payton had a year to sit back and watch from afar and study the game from a different perspective. To me, that spells trouble for the rest of the NFL. I’m not saying the Saints are in the Super Bowl next season, I’m simply saying they won’t go 7 and 9.
Defensive play-makers are high on the priority list for New Orleans this off-season. However, they’re not far off. A few pieces and this defense will be improved. They don’t have to jump from 32nd in the NFL to 1st. If Rob Ryan can get them into the teens, they’re a play off team. It’s that simple folks.
Another missing element of having Ryan in the mix is the competition that will make the offense better. "I really look forward to it. I've got a lot of respect for him and his schemes. I've faced him a number of times...so, he's one of those guys, I like his swagger. It seems like his defenses play extremely hard, and they do a lot of things. They're very multiple in the things they can do defensively. He seems to be very creative, and he's done a great job kind of incorporating the skills and talents of his defensive players into the scheme, wherever he's been,” Drew Brees told WWL’s SportsTalk hosts Bobby Hebert and Deke Bellavia.
