LSU ready to roar, despite inexperienced offense
August 21, 2014
Fournette has all the attention as a true freshman
August 21, 2014
The 2013-14 version of the New Orleans Saints finished three wins short of the Super Bowl title – a season that ended with a thud on the cold, damp turf in Seattle, Washington at the hands of the Seahawks.
After an offseason to polish its roster and stew over that loss to the eventual champion, New Orleans is back for another shot at its second-ever Lombardi Trophy.
And their odds of taking home the title just might be as good as any.
Indeed, the Saints appear loaded on paper – a talented roster that could conceivably have a Pro Bowl player at nearly every position.
That talent, combined with the bitter taste of last season’s playoff defeat, has everyone circling down the Saints as one of the top teams to beat in the NFL this year as training camps come to an end across the NFL landscape.
But for New Orleans, it’s just business as usual, as the team looks to progress past those expectations and blossom into a roster that meets its full potential.
“I don’t pay a lot of attention to (expectations) because no one said that in 2009 when we won the Super Bowl (that we’d make a deep run),” Saints’ General Manager Mickey Loomis said. “They weren’t saying then that we had the best roster, and yet in my mind, that was the best result the Saints have ever had. … I don’t pay a lot of attention to that. You still have to come together as a team, you need to have the right chemistry and you need to have the right things happen to your club.
“But we like our team, we like the guys we have in our locker room and we love our coaching staff. I feel like we’ve got a great chance to compete.”
One of the biggest reasons for the optimism in New Orleans is that always high-octane offense – a group that just might be better in 2014-15 than it’s ever been in the Sean Payton Era.
And that’s saying a lot.
Of course, New Orleans has back quarterback Drew Brees for another season. The always-dominant veteran quarterback completed 446-of-650 passes last season for 5,162 yards, 39 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions.
Brees said he’s had one of the best offseasons he’s ever had – a set of workouts so good that he even joked that he could play 10 more seasons if he chose to do so.
Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but one should absolutely expect Brees to be sharp and on point again in 2014.
“I don’t want to just be the same level each year,” Brees said. “I want to consistently get a little bit better. And I still feel like I’m at that point where each and every year, I can get a little bit better. I’m not in the decline. In my mind, I’m not in my mid-30s, I’m 25 years old.”
Of course, it’s easy to feel so young when surrounded by a plethora of dominant weapons.
Flanking Brees in the Saints’ offense will be a talented group of receives led by tight end Jimmy Graham and veteran stalwart receiver Marques Colston – a one-two punch that combined for more than 2,100 yards and 21 touchdowns last season.
Joining the fireworks show this year will be rookie first-round draft pick Brandin Cooks, who has taken training camp by storm.
A lot of that athleticism was on display in New Orleans’ first preseason game when Cooks took a short pass, broke a few tackles and found his way into the end zone for a touchdown.
“He makes people miss,” New Orleans backup quarterback Ryan Griffin said. “He can cut on a dime, and he’s got great hands and great speed. He’s a special player.”
While New Orleans’ lethal offense hangs crooked numbers on opponents, its defense will be hungry in its quest to force more turnovers in the new season.
Last year, the Saints’ defense performed a near-miracle act under first-year defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, progressing from the worst defense in NFL history to a unit that was in the top-half of the NFL in virtually every statistical category.
With that progress made, the Saints will now look to take the ball away from opponents more frequently after forcing just 19 takeaways a year ago.
To do that, New Orleans made a big splash on the free agent market this offseason, signing Pro Bowl safety Jairus Byrd from the Buffalo Bulls.
Byrd is a ball-hawking safety that has 22 interceptions in his six-year NFL career.
His presence should aid pass rushers like Cam Jordan and Junior Galette in New Orleans’ quest to force more turnovers like they did in the 2009 Super Bowl season where the team was a takeaway machine.
Having guys like Kenny Vaccaro, Keenan Lewis and Champ Bailey doesn’t hurt, either.
“I think this can be a very big year for us,” Lewis said. “I think last year, we were learning and we spent a lot of camp installing and working on new things that we hadn’t seen or gotten accustomed to yet. But this year, I think we’re just polishing what we already know. I think that will allow us to really take a giant leap forward to establish ourselves as one of the top groups in the NFL.”
If New Orleans can do that, this year’s team will be scary good, maybe the most well-rounded team in the history of the franchise.
Who knows? Maybe this year the Saints can win enough regular season games to force the Seahawks to have to make a trip to New Orleans for that headline playoff game.
On paper, it certainly looks like New Orleans has the talent to hurdle just about everything in its path.
Now, it’s just time to get to work and chase that Lombardi Trophy.
“We like where we stand,” Brees said. “I think we have a good mix of young players and veterans. I think we have a good group that’s willing to put in the hard work to get past all of the necessary steps along the way. All of the expectations are premature, but I think we understand that we can do some pretty special things if everything falls into place.”
New Orleans Saints wide receiver Nick Toon catches a pass and makes a turn up the field during a mini-camp session this offseason. After losing in the Divisional Round of the NFC Playoffs last season, the Saints retooled their roster in an effort to try and be a top-flight NFC power. With a roster glittered with Pro Bowl players, New Orleans expects to contend for a Super Bowl.
