2009 New Orleans Saints Preview

Last Season 
 
The New Orleans Saints were a tale of bi-polar personalities in 2008. The Saints offense could not be any better. On the other hand, the Saints defense could not be any worse.

Drew Brees led the Saints' air attack into a lucrative 5,000 plus yard season. New Orleans had the No. 1 ranked passing and overall offense. The Saints were the only team to average over 400 yards of total offense and over 300 yards of passing offense throughout the season.

New Orleans had extreme confidence in their ability to move the ball and rack up points, but the defense simply held the team back from achieving any major success. The Saints defense ranked towards the bottom of the league allowing over 340 yards per game.

The Saints' secondary was perhaps the major problem, giving up 221 yards per game through the air. The New Orleans defensive unit gave up over 24 points per game on the season. While it is usual for a defense to give up more yards when the offense posts huge numbers, the Saints defense could simply not stop teams when it mattered.

New Orleans finished at 8-8 on the season despite their high power offense. However, six of those eight losses were by a mere five points or less. The Saints enter the 2009 season trying to turn those close defeats into victories. 

 
Off-Season
 
New Orleans only had one major concern heading into the off-season as that was to address their defensive weaknesses. The Saints selected three straight defensive players in the 2009 draft. New Orleans selected CB Malcolm Jenkins with the 14th overall pick.

Jenkins is a former Ohio State cornerback that can make big plays. The former Buckeye can not only defend well in the secondary, but also is able to lay a blow to help the rush defense. Considering how well the New Orleans secondary has performed, I would expect Jenkins to get the opportunity to play right away.

The Saints also selected another pick to help out in the secondary by choosing Chip Vaughn out of Wake Forest in the fourth round. Vaughn is a fairly big guy to be in the secondary, but is another big hitter like Jenkins.

New Orleans was not very busy in the NFL Draft with only limited number of picks. However, the Saints were very busy keeping some of their key players in town. New Orleans signed one year contracts to WR Lance Moore and G Jahri Evans.

Moore had a surprisingly strong season catching just under a 1,000 yards on the season. Evans holds down the offensive line better than anyone on the Saints front. The 26 year old is one of the top linemen in the league with a bright future ahead. The Saints were also able to keep possibly the best defensive player as well. Jonathon Vilma recorded over 130 tackles that by far led the team in 2008 and signed a five year deal worth 34 million for his efforts. 

2009 Preview 
 
New Orleans was knocking on the door of a 12 win season if the ball had bounced there way in 2008. The Saints will return another very good looking offense heading into the new season and again will be a force in the NFC.

Offensively, there may be no other team in the league as strong as the Saints passing attack. However, they are still going to need help from the defense. We expect Malcolm Jenkins to climb in the depth chart more than most anticipate and find the field early. The defense should be better, but how much better determines how much success New Orleans will experience in 2009.

 
 
2009 Prediction  
 
The Saints schedule starts off as a walk in the park outside of a week two meeting in Philadelphia. If New Orleans gets off to worse than a 3-1 start, that would have to feel like a letdown. The Saints schedule will get tougher as the year progresses, but their offense will allow them the opportunity to win them all.

However, in the end the Saints go from last to first from their finish in the division a year ago, becoming one of the surprise teams of the season. 
 
Pick—first in NFC South (11-5 overall)—For more NFL Previews visit Bangthebook.com for all your football betting needs.