Past sins are plaguing the New Orleans Saints

MICKEY LOOMIS

After years of suffering caused by the Hurricane Katrina disaster, it was a welcome sight to see something positive happen for the people of New Orleans as their New Orleans Saints raised the Lombardi trophy in 2009.

And although the Saints haven’t been back to the Super Bowl the past two years, they have continued to be among the NFL’s elite winning 24 of their last 32 regular season games. Quarterback Drew Brees has spearheaded one of the league’s most dangerous offenses keeping the Saints in the championship hunt each year.

Atlanta Falcons ready to play Vitt-led Saints

The Atlanta Falcons smell blood in the water. With all of the turmoil that the New Orleans Saints have experienced this offseason, it will be hard for them to repeat their stellar performance from last season when they went 13-3 and advanced to the Divisional round of the playoffs before losing to the San Francisco 49ers.

The Saints only lost three games during the regular season last year and two of those games came while head coach Sean Payton was out with a knee injury. Payton won’t be coaching at all in 2012. The Saints are too talented of a team to drop to the bottom of the standings but it will make them a more vulnerable opponent.