Expectations in sports are tricky. If a team does not meet them (see this season’s Giants and Raiders in the NFL), it is considered an underachieving failure.
When a team exceeds expectations, everyone loves it as the toast of the town. That’s what the Saints were when coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees first hit the Crescent City in 2006. It's what they are this year, too, entering Week 9 after five straight wins.
New Orleans is the surprise leader of the tough NFC South, a division that includes the last two NFC Super Bowl teams, the Falcons and Panthers, who despite their winning records in 2017 are still chasing the 5-2 Saints.
The Saints became the darlings of the football world in 2009, when they energized a hurricane-ravaged city post-Katrina and became an NFL power on their way to a Super Bowl title. Brees was then and still is the igniter for the Saints. But these days, everyone talks about how great Tom Brady is playing for the Patriots at age 40, while Brees flies more under the radar while also defying Father Time at age 38.
The early MVP talk this season is centered more around the Eagles' Carson Wentz and Brady than Brees, who leads the NFL with a 70.6 percent completion rate while ranking sixth in quarterback rating (101.7) with 11 touchdown passes and four interceptions. Like Brady, Brees keeps himself in great shape, and he has missed only one start in his 12 years in New Orleans.
Brees, a 10-time Pro Bowler, is the same player he has always been. Yet coach Sean Payton has made the offense more diversified with an excellent rushing attack to support the quarterback. The Saints’ passing game remains one of the league leaders (ranked fourth), and the run game has averaged 142 yards per game during the current winning streak.
Payton and Saints general manager Mickey Loomis wisely sent malcontent Adrian Peterson to the Cardinals last month, which cleared the deck for an excellent pair of backs in Mark Ingram and rookie third-rounder Alvin Kamara. Both can run and catch, as they have 707 rushing yards, 61 receptions and seven touchdowns between them so far this season. A fine offensive line leads the way for the backs and does a great job protecting Brees (only seven sacks allowed).
The most stunning change in New Orleans is the emergence of a big-play defense for a team that has struggled on that side of the ball over the past three seasons, all of which ended 7-9 and without a playoff berth. The Saints’ defense was outstanding in its Week 3 upset of the Panthers, as then-winless New Orleans intercepted Cam Newton three times and forced him to lose a fumble in a 34-13 road win over then-unbeaten Carolina.
In the 52-38 Week 6 win over the Lions, the Saints’ defense scored three touchdowns and forced five turnovers. It has 11 takeaways in the past five games, and it pitched a shutout in an Oct. 1 win over the Dolphins in London.
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Loomis, Payton and the player personnel staff have done a masterful job bringing the Saints back to playoff contention. They've worked the draft to acquire star defenders in Pro Bowl defensive end Cam Jordan (5.5 sacks) and a trio of productive safeties in leading tackler Kenny Vaccaro, Vonn Bell and rookie Marcus Williams. They also found an elite shutdown corner in this year's first-rounder Marshon Lattimore, who is off to a great start in his career.
Michael Thomas, a second-round pick in 2016, is the team's leading receiver with 42 catches for 480 yards and two touchdowns. Ingram and Kamara are talents acquired through the draft, too.
The Saints’ football brain trust also has done a great job finding free agents to fill in gaps and upgrade the overall talent level. The rebuilding of the defense was aided by the signings of defensive end Alex Okafor and linebackers A.J. Klein and Manti Te'o. On offense, key free agent additions include well-traveled but still-speedy wide receiver Ted Ginn, tight end Coby Fleener and guard Larry Warford.
Don’t forget about the best free agent signing in the history of the franchise: Brees, on whom Loomis and Payton took a chance when the former Chargers quarterback was coming off major shoulder surgery. Now he's on a path to the Hall of Fame and showing no signs of slowing down.
Give the coaching staff lot of credit, too. Payton and his longtime offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael have tweaked the offense to become more balanced. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen kept his players from getting too down after they were torched by the Vikings' Sam Bradford and Brady in the opening two losses. Allen has done a great job of bringing a lot of new players together in a short time frame, to the point that the Saints are playing the best defense they've played in years.
New Orleans doesn't have an easy path to the playoffs. The Saints have road tests upcoming against two other upstart teams in the Rams and Bills. A tough December schedule includes the rematch with the Panthers followed by a short week in which the Saints travel to Atlanta for a Thursday night game. There's a good chance their Christmas Eve rematch with the Falcons in New Orleans will be for the division title.
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One thing about expectations is they can change within a season. Saints fans now believe their well-balanced team has returned to playoff and Super Bowl contender status led by the same coach-quarterback combo that took them to the promised land eight years ago.
They're now hoping the Saints’ three-year playoff drought will end this season.
Jeff Diamond is a former president of the Titans and former vice president/general manager of the Vikings. He was selected NFL Executive of the Year in 1998. Diamond is currently a business and sports consultant who also does broadcast and online media work. He is the former chairman and CEO of The Ingram Group. Follow Jeff on Twitter: @jeffdiamondNFL.
