Sean Payton's Suspension Extreme, but Hardly End of Saints' 2012 Season

Sean Payton's one-year suspension from the NFL is a huge blow to the New Orleans Saints, but it doesn't mean the team can't win in 2012.

Payton is one of the football's best offensive minds and his absence will hurt, but as long as the Saints can get Drew Brees under contract and on the field, they should be fine. Brees can run the team's offense as well as anyone and will certainly become the de facto offensive coordinator.

New Orleans does have a brutal schedule in 2012, but the team will also be playing with a fairly large chip on its shoulder. The Saints will definitely have an "us against the world" mentality, and that could work to their advantage. 

In the immediate future the Saints can't worry about Payton not being around. They have to turn their attention to rounding out their roster in free agency, getting Brees locked in and get everyone used to working together without their head coach around.

New Orleans will certainly be a focus of the upcoming season. How it plays will be picked apart by experts, and people will wonder how the team is being affected by the absence of its coach.

In addition to that, being asked questions about the bounty penalties will certainly get old for the Saints. However, the best way for them to answer those queries would be with wins. If they keep winning and establish themselves on the field as a threat to win the Super Bowl, people will forget about the bounty program. 

Wins are the way forward for New Orleans, and it's the only way the Saints can move on from this.