Soon enough, the Saints will have to come down from their Super Bowl cloud and face the tortuous task of trying to repeat as champions. Let's take a look at the Saints on the eighth stop of NESN.com's 32-day march across the NFL.
2009 Record: 13-3, NFC South champions (Super Bowl champions)
2010 Schedule Difficulty: Their opponents went a combined 120-136 (.469 winning percentage) in 2009, which makes for the sixth-easiest schedule in the NFL.
Key Additions: Cornerback Patrick Robinson (draft), tackle Charles Brown (draft), center Matt Tennant (draft), outside linebacker Clint Ingram, defensive end Alex Brown
Key Losses: Tackle Jammal Brown, running back Mike Bell, outside linebacker Scott Fujita, defensive end Charles Grant, inside linebacker Mark Simoneau
Burning Question: Who is the real Reggie Bush? The electrifying running back stole the stage in the Saints' victory against the Cardinals in the divisional playoffs, dancing through Arizona's defense for 108 yards from scrimmage, 107 punt return yards and two total touchdowns. Bush wasn’t overly dazzling in New Orleans' other two playoff games, particularly on the ground, and that pattern is a reflection of the rest of Bush's career.
Bush is a superstar in open space, and he is a stick of dynamite when the Saints use him in the passing game. It seems, at this point, that Bush won't ever morph into an elite running back. On the surface, that might be a difficult pill to swallow for the second overall pick in the 2006 draft. But if the Saints continue to put him in the right situations — punt returns, passing game, complimentary running back — Bush will still be a very valuable asset.
2010 Outlook: The Saints return almost all of their big-time talent from their Super Bowl roster, and they added a good crop of draft picks, too. However, their biggest challenge will be in their character. They'll have to handle the responsibility of being a champion, maintain their intensity at practice and in the film room, and they'll have to compensate for losing defensive leadership from Scott Fujita, Mark Simoneau and Charles Grant.
The last five Super Bowl champions have failed to get back to the year's biggest part, and the Saints are not immune to the reasons that have kept other teams from repeating. On paper, they're nearly as stacked as they were a season ago. And with quarterback Drew Brees and head coach Sean Payton leading the way, the Saints have their two most important pieces in place to rise to the challenge of repeating. New Orleans is good enough to do it, but it's almost impossible to forecast how a team will react to being put on such a high pedestal.
