Professor

excerpt:

Next stop: Super Bowl XLII.

Right?

I mean, we can't settle for anything less than that from the Saints this season, after having expectations raised by the 2006 season and having most pundits -- even the ones who are supposed to be unbiased and knowledgeable -- agree that New Orleans is as good a candidate as any to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XLII.

Can we?

Maybe we can. Maybe, given the heightened level of respect the Saints have generated throughout the NFL, we'll have to.

It wasn't easy for them to win 10 regular-season games, capture the NFC South Division title, advance to the NFC championship game, create the most potent passing offense in the league and in franchise history and manage to galvanize an entire region -- if not the nation -- en route to becoming one of the best stories of 2006.

And it won't be easy to approach those benchmarks and also to field an improved, turnover-forcing defense this season, with every game providing an opportunity for an opponent to see if it can chop down a Saints team that today looks even better on paper than it did after the NFC conference title game.

But, of course, that doesn't mean Saints fans won't be expecting the NFL ride of their lives.

After decades of "Wait Till Next Year" that meant absolutely nothing, year after year of hollow offseason promises and enough unfounded preseason bluster to last three lifetimes, it's pretty unreasonable to think fans won't be caught up as never before, pretty ridiculous to ask them to temper their enthusiasm with a shot of reality as the Saints open training camp at Millsaps College on Friday in Jackson, Miss.

Because reality is that, all things considered, the Saints look as good as any top team in the NFC. Give them the home-field advantage in the playoffs, and there's no reason to believe they can't march through the Bears, Eagles, Panthers, Seahawks, Cowboys and anyone else.


For page 2 click here

NOLA.com: Everything New Orleans

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Serrated Shadow

To me they're the favorites. When their offense is on, nobody's stopping them.

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Professor

except their own defense. LOL

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Serrated Shadow

yeah well, at least we'll see some entertaining shootouts!

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UCFNoleFan

Unless the defense can, you know, keep the other team from scoring at least once in a while...

Well at least if Payton decides to actually use the RBs all game long they can keep the defenses fresh.

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InToX

We definately have the chance of being the Superbowl. The offense will score and while the defense still isn't great, I believe it will be better than last year, but then again, how can it not be.

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