The New Orleans Saints are coming into the 2013 season with high expectation after dealing with the fallout from Sean Payton's suspension and now that he is back, the team is ready to do things right and win the NFC South again.
The team needs to get more consistent on offense and defense and in training camp Payton stressed both, as the Saints worked on running the ball more and also they brought in Rob Ryan to turn over the defense. The team lost some players in free agency and will Joe Morgan going down things might get tougher, but based on the way Brees played last season, there is no reason to think why the Saints can't make a nice comeback this year and the running game will play a big park, as will rookie Kenny Vaccaro on defense.
Last year the team ranked first in the league in passing as Brees threw for 5,177 yards, but the running game was awful while dealing with injuries and ranked 25th in the NFL in yards per game and now Payton will try and fix that as he returns. The defense was also awful, ranking 31st and 32nd in the league in passing and rushing yards allowed per game and Payton brought in Rob Ryan to help overhaul that.
One key this season will be the play of Mark Ingram, as he was the primary rusher last year with 602 yards and five touchdowns and Payton is expecting him to run the ball even more this year. Darren Sproles has been fantastic out of the backfield, but he serves more as the Reggie Bush type while Ingram can go between the tackles easier and that is what Payton is hoping to do with him along with Pierre Thomas. The team has talent at the position, but injuries and running schemes will help dictate how things go.
Brees has a ton of weapons to choose from, but he will have to overcome some injuries, as wideout Joe Morgan will be out for the season with an injury. The team has Marques Colston as well as Steve Breaston and second-year pro Nick Toon and Brees will have to work with everyone to get things back to being more consistent. Morgan suffered a torn meniscus and a partial ACL tear and this comes after he was expected to step up after making 10 catches for 379 yards and three touchdowns last season.
"We just want to be effective in the running game,'' Ingram said. "When the Saints won the Super Bowl in '09, they were top 10 in the league in rushing. We know how important running the ball is. We just want to be effective and have one of the best rushing games in the league, because we have the O-line to do it and we have the runners to do it. If we can run the ball effectively, that does nothing but open up the passing game for (quarterback) Drew (Brees) and all the explosive receivers we have. That's definitely a focal point for us.''
