The New Orleans Saints and the Kansas City Chiefs are meeting in the preseason for a Week 1 matchup and while the two teams are in different divisions in different conferences, they have quite a bit in common as they both are getting a new head coach on the sidelines in 2013, although both are in totally different situations.
The Saints are getting back head coach Sean Payton after his year-long suspension for the bounty scandal and he looks ready to get back in the fold, especially after the team ranked 25th in the league or below in rushing yards per game as well as passing and rushing yards allowed per game. One thing that remained a constant while Payton was out of action was the passing offense for the Saints, as Drew Brees threw for over 5,000 yards and had the team ranked number one in the league and now they must find a way to be more consistent.
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The franchise brought in Rob Ryan to help get the defense in order and he should be able to improve the team from 31st in the league in passing yards allowed per game and 32nd in rushing yards allowed per game with nearly 150 per contest. Brees will be without his likely third receiver for the season after Joe Morgan was injured and now he will rely on Marques Colston and Lance Moore even more now with him out of action and they signed Steve Breaston to help hold things over for the season.
The team opens the preseason with the Chiefs before hosting the Oakland Raiders at the Superdome and then the team will travel to Houston to play the Texans before going to South Florida for a matchup with the Miami Dolphins. To start the regular season the Atlanta Falcons will be waiting in Week 1 and then in week 2 they travel to play another divisional rival in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Saints know they need to get better on defense and if the offense can get just a little more production out of Mark Ingram and Pierre Thomas, things should get even better for Brees as he tries to break his own record.
The Kansas City Chiefs went just 2-14 last season and dealt with some awful quarterback play from Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn, but after an offseason brought new head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Alex Smith in a trade, the franchise has the chance to turn things around very quickly, especially after getting Eric Fisher with the number one overall pick. The team also re-signed Dwayne Bowe and brought back tackle Branden Albert and along with signings like Sean Smith and Dunta Robinson in the secondary, the defense is expected to get much better as well. The team has one of the best running backs in the league with Jamaal Charles and he should give Alex Smith the balance he needs on offense after the team ranked fifth in rushing and 32nd in the league in passing yards per game.
The team opens the season with the Saints as their first preseason matchup and then they will host the San Francisco 49ers in week 2 in a tough matchup. The week 3 game will have the Chiefs travel to play the Steelers and then they will host Green Bay before opening the season against the Jaguars on the road in a battle of 2-14 teams from last year. The team will then go on an NFC East kick, as the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants are lined up for the next three weeks.
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