Attracting Attention Just for Being Good

Saints No Longer Defined by Disaster

NEW ORLEANS -- The last time the New Orleans Saints had the attention of the general football-watching public, they were far more than just a good NFL team. They represented much bigger things. They prompted social commentary. They were an inspiration, a catalyst for people to laugh and cry all at once.

It was three years ago and New Orleans was in the initial stages of rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. The Saints marched to the NFC title game behind a rookie coach, Sean Payton, and a newcomer quarterback, Drew Brees, and their players mostly were asked about the previous season, which they spent as nomads after being displaced from New Orleans by Katrina, or about being symbols of their city's rebirth. Rarely did the conversation that surrounded them concern topics as mundane as their running game or their pass rush.

It's different now. It's not that Katrina is forgotten here. It's not that the revitalization of New Orleans no longer matters to those who wear Brees jerseys and Mardi Gras beads to the Superdome to back their beloved Saints, or that those in the organization care any less about the recovery and well-being of the city. It's just that the visible reminders of Katrina are less evident to visitors and a sense of normalcy has returned, at least when it comes to the football team.

The Saints are back on the national NFL stage after a victory over the New York Jets on Sunday gave them a 4-0 record. They have secured a mention among the league's most pleasant early-season surprises, after posting records of 7-9 in 2007 and 8-8 last season, and the debate can begin about whether the Saints, the New York Giants or the Minnesota Vikings are the early leaders in the race for NFC supremacy.

The Saints today are no longer a cause. They're just a solid team with intriguing possibilities for the remainder of the season. When defensive end Will Smith was asked Sunday evening to compare this Saints club to the version from the 2006 season that lost the NFC championship game in Chicago, his answer never went beyond the field and the locker room.

"It's a lot different," Smith said. "I think we have a lot of older guys, a lot of guys that have been in big games [and] have experienced a lot of things through the course of their career, where I think three years ago we were a younger team. Guys kind of weren't used to this success. Everybody had kind of gotten bounced around from place to place and we just started off and jelled together so early. We played well.

"But this team is totally different because we have a lot smarter guys and we know . . . we're not going to win the Super Bowl next week or the week after that."

Brees and Payton are the mainstays of those former days. They were fresh faces in 2006, with Payton having been hired that year to replace the fired Jim Haslett after a draining '05 season that included only three victories, a "home" opener against the Giants at Giants Stadium and time split between San Antonio and Baton Rouge. Brees was signed as a free agent from the San Diego Chargers, and together they immediately made the Saints a contender. Payton dialed up the plays and Brees made them work, and Brees entered this season as the NFL's leader in passing attempts, completions and passing yards since 2006.

This season also started out being the Brees show. He totaled nine touchdown passes in the Saints' first two games while they amassed 93 points in wins over the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles. It seemed that comparisons to the New England Patriots' record-setting offense from two years ago might be in order. Brees was playing the part of Tom Brady.

Still, the Saints weren't winners last season even while Brees had only the second 5,000-yard passing season in NFL history. So clearly something else was needed and, indeed, in the early stages of this season the Saints have added some true grit to the flash that they already possessed.

They have persevered after losing two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jammal Brown, who was placed on the season-ending injured reserve list after undergoing surgeries for a sports hernia and a hip injury. The Saints have been able to run the ball when needed and they've beaten the Buffalo Bills and the Jets the past two weeks without Brees throwing a touchdown pass. In fact, Brees's most noteworthy contributions to the 24-10 victory over the Jets were blue-collar maneuvers: a block that he threw on a cutback run by Reggie Bush and a key fumble recovery on the touchdown drive that sealed the outcome.

The Saints won the Jets game on defense, with touchdowns on a fumble recovery and a 99-yard interception return by Darren Sharper. The veteran safety was signed as a free agent in the offseason and has been a perfect fit for the defensive system of new coordinator Gregg Williams, the former Washington Redskins defensive boss who was hired after spending last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"With Gregg Williams's style and aggressiveness and pressure, it really allows Sharper to do what he does best," Brees said. "And that's sit back and be the quarterback of the defense."

The Saints also have 10 sacks in four games and seven have come from Smith and fellow defensive end Charles Grant, who have remained eligible to play only because the NFL decided against enforcing their four-game suspensions after being blocked in court from suspending Vikings defensive tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams. All four players tested positive last year for a banned diuretic.

"The fact that the last two games we haven't thrown a touchdown pass . . . I think the balance, playing that complementary type of offense with the run and the pass, it's good for the offense," Brees said Sunday. "It's good for the players. It's winning football games. In the end, it doesn't matter how we get it done. It's that we get it done."