The most talented group of underachievers in the league now has to cope
with a natural disaster as well as the ones of their own making. Hurricane Katrina has left them, like many other New Orleans residents, homeless.

The Saints probably will play all 16 games on the road this season, perhaps most often at the Alamodome in San Antonio or at LSU's 92,000-seat Tiger Stadium. That's a lot of empty seats to have looking at you each Sunday, so they might opt to work out of San Antonio, where the city fathers are offering to guarantee owner Tom Benson weekly sellouts or the financial equivalent of them. All the turmoil won't help a team that always seems to fade down the stretch and is led by a quarterback whose most consistent trait has been his own inconsistency.

Yet with all of that the question about the Saints is the same as before the rains came: Is Jim Haslett's team the saints who won their final four games or the sinners that opened the season 4-8? Haslett believes it's the former, although these up-and-down performances have been hallmarks of his teams ever since he took over as coach five years ago.

The roller coaster has to stop if Haslett wants the opportunity to keep going in New Orleans and that begins with quarterback Aaron Brooks but doesn't end there. To bolster a suspect offensive line, New Orleans drafted tackle Jammal Brown in the first round and intends to install him on the right side. They also brought in free-agent guard Jermane Mayberry to put next to Brown and bolster a group that somehow ranked 27th in rushing despite the presence of the explosive back Deuce McAllister behind them.

Brown and Mayberry should help McAllister improve those numbers, but left tackle Wayne Gandy is suspect at 33 and looked to be slowing down last season. He has to hold up and Brown and Mayberry must come through for the run-oriented offense Haslett wants to be successful. Part of that emphasis on the run is designed to help the passing game, which Haslett wants to become a play-action attack that will freeze defenses and give Brooks an extra second or two to make his decisions.

New Orleans' defense also has to improve against the run. It was 30th a year ago and little was done to improve it. Defensive tackle Johnathan Sullivan, a former No. 1 pick, has been a major disappointment and must improve because he starts regardless this season. The linebacker corps could have three starters with only a combined five years of starting experience and with only 27 NFL starts between them. Best of the lot could be James Allen, who showed flashes of playmaking ability and disruptiveness a year ago.

The secondary added free safety Dwight Smith from Tampa but how much difference can one new face make on a unit that was 30th vs. the run and 27th against the pass a year ago?

HOT SEAT: Aaron Brooks. His up-and-down career mirrors that of his team. It's 32-32 the past four years and he's 35-34 as a starter. Brooks has thrown for over 3,000 yards each of the past four years but never completed more than 57 percent of his passes and last year had 21 touchdown passes but also 16 interceptions. Despite his elusiveness, he was sacked 41 times, which calls into question the quickness of his decision making. Brooks' quarterback efficiency rating was only 79.5. If he can up all of those numbers the Saints make the playoffs. If not, he may not make the team in 2006.

OVERHEARD: New offensive coordinator Mike Sheppard is trying to simplify the pass offense for Brooks so he does not have to make as many pre-snap reads. Sheppard wants Brooks' accuracy to improve and he believes one way to do it is to reduce the decisions he has to make and provide him with safer throws he can get to more quickly.

OUTLOOK: The Saints believe they are on the edge of being a playoff contender. Haslett better be right about that because he nearly lost his job a year ago until his team rallied in the final month of the season. That won't be enough this time if the Saints don't march into the
playoffs.

PREDICTION: Third.

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