Yet don’t overlook the importance of both Brees and Payton in the Saints’ current rebirth. Brees may not be the next Dan Marino, but he’s a capable quarterback in an era where such specimens are rare. Just take a gander at teams like the Raiders, Titans, Buccaneers, Dolphins and Redskins and you’ll realize how precious an experienced QB who can manage a game is these days. The Saints could have had either Brees or Daunte Culpepper. As it turns out, they chose wisely.

It’s too early to tell if Payton is the spiritual leader the Saints need to lead them out of years of doldrums. He has nine years of experience as an NFL coach, most recently as the Dallas Cowboys’ passing game guru. He also seems to be a fairly normal guy who can command respect without bellowing a “my way or the highway” edict upon his arrival. If he can keep the Saints competitive in a rugged NFC South division that also includes Atlanta and Carolina during his first season on the job, he’ll lay the groundwork for a steady and determined climb out of the NFL muck.

Monday night’s game, though, was about more than Xs and Os, about more than free agents and draft picks. It’s about a city embracing some heroes after a period when it was deeply skeptical that heroes existed anymore.

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That was to be expected. America was bombarded with images of the Superdome that didn’t involve thousands of people cheering. Instead, the Superdome was a meeting place for the unwilling and the displaced, and not necessarily a safe place at that. In a relatively short period of time, a football stadium came to signify failure that had nothing to do with activity on the gridiron.

All that is gone now. Not forgotten, but gone for the time being. The beloved Saints are back. They didn’t move to San Antonio or Los Angeles. They returned home, just like many of the citizens whose hearts are inextricably linked to them.

The Saints may still stink up the field and elicit a chorus of boos. They may still cause fans to put paper bags over their heads.

But they’re home again. That’s more gratifying to New Orleans and its residents than anything the scoreboard says.