Last years offseason effects
 

Does anyone think all the book tours and leno shows and tv appearances for our boys didnt give them a chance to catch a breath for this season? I mean I know when I take vacation, I turn my phone off because if I take one phone call its like I never got away from the office.

It may off been a reason that we started slow, examples being our offense not as explosive to start with.
They got it in gear on Halloween vs steelers, just the fact that we let teams make comebacks instead of shutting them out once we gained a lead is what hurt us.
Looking forward to some signings this offseason though

We finished with the 3rd best record. We did fine considering all the injuries and restricted free-agency rules.

oh, I totally agree with you, I just thought they all seemed a step behind this year. Somthing just didnt seem right from the get go. But I know what your saying and dont take anything from them for the accomplishments.

That something was that many players were not ready for an NFL season.

Hey, we even suspected that Drew had an injury remember.

To win a championship requires a number of things....

1. Good players - goes without saying
2. Good coaching - same
3. Some luck - See Washington last year; Arizona this year
4. Some breaks - See Minnesota losing late last year to give us the ability to take the final week off; See Hartley missed FG in week 3
5. Staying relatively injury free

To repeat
1. solid leadership - Saints have it... New England has it... Pittsburgh does not
2. Commitment to the cause - I think the Saints showed that
3. Staying relatively injury free

11-5 after all that occurred on the injury front.... after the breaks going against us at times (again see the Arizona game.... and that was not isolated... many fumbles not bouncing our way)... after everyone pointing at us... was remarkable in my opinion....

The ATL has been getting the breaks and are relatively injury free.... I don't think they have the leadership we have (Brees>icy-poo..... Sharper... Vilma) and they dont have the coaching... for that reason I think they go down this week....

The time is still NOW... some wise moves (in Sean/Loomis I trust) and we will be in the mix.... need some things to break our way and we will be back

Yes, 11-5 was remarkable. As was the Seahawks beating us.

If we learn or acquire anything in this offseason, I simply hope it is the drive to PUT A TEAM AWAY once we have a commanding lead.

THAT will take us to the Superbowl next year with the exact players we have now.

Alaska

Not nocking it, but, TOP 3 records puts us in the top 10% of teams.
Out in the first round of the playoffs, puts us in the bottom 7% of playoff teams.

AK

I said it all year --- it affected us. BUT, the NFL is a business --- I can't blame these guys in capitalizing on an opportunity to make some extra coin with book deals, appearances, etc. Any of us would have done it as well ... It's good business.

Before the season started, someone asked me "Do you think the Saints are as focused going into this year as they were last year". My answer was "No Way". Not with all the reasons that the OP mentioned above. But I think the biggest factor that affected us this year were the injuries, ESPECIALLY at RB.