Rebirth on the Bayou

This decade ends in 12 days. There’s little doubt who the team of this decade is, the Patriots own that title. And yet, even before the end of this one, I think we already have an idea who the team of the next decade will be. What made the Patriots, and the Steelers and Colts for that matter, the elite teams of this decade? Well for one they all have a stud quarterback, and I mean a complete stud. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger are three of the best QB’s of this generation, and two of them are two of the best ever. And that is exactly what the Saints have.

Drew Brees is perhaps the best passing quarterback in the league since Dan Marino. He barely missed the single season passing record last year and leads fourth quarter comebacks like few people ever have. Numbers wise he doesn’t, in any way, seem anything less than elite. Lets start with time span. Brees will turn 31 on January 15th, if your judging by Brett Favre years (like dog years in reverse), then Brees will still be this good in 2019. He also has the experience factor. He has 9 years experience, it’s not like teams haven’t seen him before. Of those 9 years he has played 16 games in 6 of them. And he doesn’t have down years, he consistently hovers around 65 percent completion. His yards have actually been increasing year on year and his passer rating has only been below 90.0 four times, and two of those years he had 89.2 and 89.4. He is also the defining factor in the offence. Like Peyton Manning he is the leader of the team, you are confident in him in any situation and he is clearly having fun in New Orleans.

There are other reasons that the Saints offence has been so successful. The first is the run game. It’s a new aspect that has never really existed in New Orleans before. The desperate attempts to make Reggie Bush the player that most people thought and hoped he would be has made sure of that. This year both Mike Bell and Pierre Thomas have well over double the carries Bush has. Bush has instead become a really successful all-purpose back. He has 62 rushing attempts for 310 yards and 39 catches for 281 yards. So in total Bush has contributed 591 yards to the Saints offence. That is the kind of yardage the team would have been hoping for from him as a running back. The rushing game on it’s own is the fifth best in the country, averaging 138.9 yards per game. This is how Brees has been freed to play as well as he is. When you have backs who are averaging 4 or 5 yards per attempt the opposition defence has other things to worry about.
The receivers are all having great years as well as the backs. As the saying goes; Brees’ favorite receiver is the open one. Seven players have over twenty receptions this year. Twelve in total have caught a ball for the Saints. You have to remember that for a team to have a successful passing game they need good receivers. The 287.2 yards averaged by the aerial offence is as much a tribute to the receiving core as much as it is Drew Brees. Playing against this Shaun Payton offensive plan gives defensive coordinators all kinds of nightmares, and everyone plays a part.

However New Orleans having offence is nothing new. New Orleans having defence is something nobody really expected. This is also where the Saints show the kind of mentality that makes great teams great. It’s a Tony Dungy idea which, by default, makes it a good one, the “next man up” idea has been displayed by the New Orleans secondary all year long. Chris McAlister’s two weeks in Louisiana demonstrates exactly how this works. McAlister does his job for a couple of games, the Saints think that they’ve had the best out of him, cut him, sign Mike McCauley. It’s getting to the perfect point where, regardless of who is on the Saints depth chart, they will do their job, or a good enough job. The addition of Darren Sharper is perhaps the best signing made by any team. He leads the Saints in interceptions (8), intercepted return yards (355) and passes defended. He also has the fourth most tackles (54). Whilst the other secondary pieces keep changing he has remained the consistent that has improved this defence so much. They average 21.1 points per game, 18th in the NFL, while the offence averages 35.8 points per game. Whilst the D isn’t the dominant force that the Steelers were last year it sets the table for the offence to do what is does. At this point that’s all they need to do.

It also cannot be overlooked how important this team is becoming to the city. For New Orleans, still feeling some after effects of Katrina, the Saints represent all that is good about the place. The gold uniforms shine like a beacon of light and hope from the Superdome. After Katrina the grand, old structure was filled with desolate and desperate people who’s lives had just been torn apart. Now if you watch New Orleans against Dallas tonight, or any Saints home game for that matter, it is a different person in the arena. It is a different team. It is a different city.