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11-13-2006, 10:34 PM
Still in first place, Saints grapple with playoff expectations
Still in first place, Saints grapple with playoff expectations
By BRETT MARTEL, AP Sports Writer
November 9, 2006
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Playoffs? In New Orleans?
At 6-2 and alone in first place in the NFC South, the Saints already have won as many games in half a season as numerous analysts predicted they would through the entire 2006 campaign.
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This is no longer about rebuilding a team that went 3-13 last season into a more competitive, respectable squad. The story of the Saints' final eight regular season games, beginning Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh, will focus on whether they can keep their grip on either the division or get at least an NFL wild card.
So let the psychological games begin.
"I can only control the message I'm giving to the team," rookie coach Sean Payton said this week. "I'd probably downplay and not talk about it because it's too early. This team has been 6-2 and not gone to the playoffs before."
The 2002 Saints were in fact 7-2 before crumbling en route to a 9-7 record -- one win short of what they needed to make the postseason.
But go a couple years back and there's every reason for New Orleans fans to have hope. Like Payton, Jim Haslett was a rookie coach in 2000, when he inherited a team that had gone 3-13 the season before. Haslett won coach of the year after the Saints improved to 10-6 and then won a playoff game for the first time in franchise history.
That was also the last time New Orleans made the playoffs.
"I'm sure the playoff discussion is rolling along," Payton said. "This is the ninth game of the season ... There's a time when you begin to discuss that ... but I don't think the time is yet. It's halftime."
The Saints have a one-game lead over Atlanta in their division and a two-game lead over a number of 4-4 squads that for now are tied for the final NFC Wild Card slot. They also are tied with the New York Giants for the second-best record in the conference, behind Chicago (7-1).
It adds up to the best chance sixth-year running back Deuce McAllister has had to get his first taste of the NFL postseason.
"I've been at this juncture as far as the record before and probably learned from it," McAllister said. "You've got an opportunity to make a run and do something I haven't done in my career. You probably just take heed and take advantage of it."
Special teams leader Steve Gleason, another member of the 2002 team, said he would be surprised to see this year's squad fall apart. His reasons have less to do with talent than intangibles.
There team was split in 2002 when Haslett stuck with quarterback Aaron Brooks, whose throwing shoulder was hurt and who rarely seemed comfortable with a leadership role in the locker room to begin with. Meanwhile, Jake Delhomme watched the losses mount from the bench. After the season, Brooks needed surgery and Delhomme left for Carolina, which he then led to a Super Bowl.
New quarterback Drew Brees, among the NFL's leading quarterbacks with 2,206 yards and 14 TD passes, is an unquestioned leader in the Saints locker room now. And many players say Payton has fostered a culture of discipline, fairness and unity that did not exist in recent years.
"There's more leadership at the leadership positions -- the head coach and the quarterback specifically," Gleason said. "As a group, this is much more of a team atmosphere. All that being said, it's up to us whether we want to win more than six games this year, which we have the potential to do. We have the pieces in place to be much better than that 2002 6-2 team."
Linebacker Scott Fujita likes to quote Dick Vermeil, under whom he played at Kansas City.
"They always remember what you did in November and December," Fujita said. "Now is when it gets crucial and the magnitude gets bigger and bigger."
That may not be entirely true for the 2006 Saints, who will long be remembered simply for playing improved, inspired football upon their return to a region that needed something to celebrate as residents continued to rebuild from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Their Monday night victory over Atlanta as the Louisiana Superdome reopened will go down as one of the most memorable moments in Saints history.
Still, making the playoffs in what so far has been a magical season might make an even better story. And Brees said he intends to use his experience to remind his teammates that much unfinished business remains.
"We've accomplished our goals up to this point, but it doesn't get any easier, I promise you," Brees said.
"I've been on teams that have gotten to this point in the season at similar records and have finished 8-8. I've also been on teams that have finished 12-4. The right people know it's not time to sit around and bask in your glory. It's time to work and get better. I don't think we've scratched the surface as far as what kind of team we can be."
Updated on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 4:32
Still in first place, Saints grapple with playoff expectations
By BRETT MARTEL, AP Sports Writer
November 9, 2006
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Playoffs? In New Orleans?
At 6-2 and alone in first place in the NFC South, the Saints already have won as many games in half a season as numerous analysts predicted they would through the entire 2006 campaign.
ADVERTISEMENT
This is no longer about rebuilding a team that went 3-13 last season into a more competitive, respectable squad. The story of the Saints' final eight regular season games, beginning Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh, will focus on whether they can keep their grip on either the division or get at least an NFL wild card.
So let the psychological games begin.
"I can only control the message I'm giving to the team," rookie coach Sean Payton said this week. "I'd probably downplay and not talk about it because it's too early. This team has been 6-2 and not gone to the playoffs before."
The 2002 Saints were in fact 7-2 before crumbling en route to a 9-7 record -- one win short of what they needed to make the postseason.
But go a couple years back and there's every reason for New Orleans fans to have hope. Like Payton, Jim Haslett was a rookie coach in 2000, when he inherited a team that had gone 3-13 the season before. Haslett won coach of the year after the Saints improved to 10-6 and then won a playoff game for the first time in franchise history.
That was also the last time New Orleans made the playoffs.
"I'm sure the playoff discussion is rolling along," Payton said. "This is the ninth game of the season ... There's a time when you begin to discuss that ... but I don't think the time is yet. It's halftime."
The Saints have a one-game lead over Atlanta in their division and a two-game lead over a number of 4-4 squads that for now are tied for the final NFC Wild Card slot. They also are tied with the New York Giants for the second-best record in the conference, behind Chicago (7-1).
It adds up to the best chance sixth-year running back Deuce McAllister has had to get his first taste of the NFL postseason.
"I've been at this juncture as far as the record before and probably learned from it," McAllister said. "You've got an opportunity to make a run and do something I haven't done in my career. You probably just take heed and take advantage of it."
Special teams leader Steve Gleason, another member of the 2002 team, said he would be surprised to see this year's squad fall apart. His reasons have less to do with talent than intangibles.
There team was split in 2002 when Haslett stuck with quarterback Aaron Brooks, whose throwing shoulder was hurt and who rarely seemed comfortable with a leadership role in the locker room to begin with. Meanwhile, Jake Delhomme watched the losses mount from the bench. After the season, Brooks needed surgery and Delhomme left for Carolina, which he then led to a Super Bowl.
New quarterback Drew Brees, among the NFL's leading quarterbacks with 2,206 yards and 14 TD passes, is an unquestioned leader in the Saints locker room now. And many players say Payton has fostered a culture of discipline, fairness and unity that did not exist in recent years.
"There's more leadership at the leadership positions -- the head coach and the quarterback specifically," Gleason said. "As a group, this is much more of a team atmosphere. All that being said, it's up to us whether we want to win more than six games this year, which we have the potential to do. We have the pieces in place to be much better than that 2002 6-2 team."
Linebacker Scott Fujita likes to quote Dick Vermeil, under whom he played at Kansas City.
"They always remember what you did in November and December," Fujita said. "Now is when it gets crucial and the magnitude gets bigger and bigger."
That may not be entirely true for the 2006 Saints, who will long be remembered simply for playing improved, inspired football upon their return to a region that needed something to celebrate as residents continued to rebuild from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Their Monday night victory over Atlanta as the Louisiana Superdome reopened will go down as one of the most memorable moments in Saints history.
Still, making the playoffs in what so far has been a magical season might make an even better story. And Brees said he intends to use his experience to remind his teammates that much unfinished business remains.
"We've accomplished our goals up to this point, but it doesn't get any easier, I promise you," Brees said.
"I've been on teams that have gotten to this point in the season at similar records and have finished 8-8. I've also been on teams that have finished 12-4. The right people know it's not time to sit around and bask in your glory. It's time to work and get better. I don't think we've scratched the surface as far as what kind of team we can be."
Updated on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 4:32