New Orleans Saints Football

The New Orleans Saints 2012 Season has been a frustrating one if you are a fan of the team. The Saints entered the 2012 NFL football season with a whirlwind of questions surrounding the team after the team's bounty gate scandal. If you haven't watched ESPN over the last six months then you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. It seems that the Saints players and coaches had a bounty system in place where they put in money into a "pot" and the players were awarded prize money for things like big hits or "cart offs" where players were carted off the field. Head Coach Sean Peyton was suspended for the entire 2012 season by NFL the commissioner for knowingly allowing this system to stay in place and even be misleading to the NFL investigators when they first began to look into these allegations.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees signed a big money, long term contract. Brees got a deal in the $18 million dollar a year range. Brees previous contract with the Saints was not a huge one because the Saints took and chance and signed him coming off his elbow surgery when he was a free agent leaving the San Diego Chargers. Certainly Drew Brees deserved a big contract which was his last chance for a mega payday considering his age. Brees lead a team that was for so long woefully pitiful to a Super Bowl championship over Payton Manning and the Colts, Brees has won over the Saints fans and has become perhaps one of the city and state of Louisiana's most beloved sports heroes ever. With all the bad stuff that happened to the city after Hurricane Katrina and then to lead the Saints to Super Bowl champions, that was just great stuff for a city and group of people that needed something good to happen to them.

The New Orleans Saints still have a big time offense. Drew Brees and the Saints feature one of the leagues most potent offenses even without Coach Payton calling plays on the sidelines. The Saints have Heisman winner from Alabama Mark Ingram returning after a sold rookie season. Darren Sproles has had a huge season and was a big weapon for the Saints in 2012. The previous year Brees recruited his old Chargers pal to the team during last year when Sproles became a free agent. The Saints still have great receivers like Marcus Colston and one of the best tight ends in the game in Jimmy Graham. Graham was a sensation last year in his rookie year. And had some injury problems in 2012 but still had a good year. Jimmy Graham looks like he is going to be setting all kinds of records and will have to be considered one of the very best at his position for years to come. There's no doubt that the Saints offense will continue to be able to put points on the board and lots of them.

Sean Peyton was recently reinstated by the NFL's Roger Goddell. The Saints fans and players are all happy to have their head coach back. Coach Peyton announced that he will fire a new defensive coordinator and the team will switch to the increasingly popular 3-4 defensive scheme which so many teams in the NFL seem to be using these days. It's clear that the Saints needed to make some defensive changes after a dismal showing on the defensive side of the ball last seaso. In fact, the Saints gave up an NFL record for most yards allowed. Certainly, things can only get better for the Saints on defense.