SmashMouth

I was part of a dynamic, balanced Saints offense in 2009, the season in which the franchise won its first-ever Super Bowl title. Before suffering a season-ending knee injury in late October, I shared the backfield with Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush and Mike Bell. Oh, and someone named Drew Brees was under center.

An in-depth look at that championship season reveals that Payton led the most balanced offensive unit of his tenure in New Orleans, running the ball on 45 percent of snaps and passing 55 percent of the time. This was the best version of the Saints' offense, with the play calling of Payton, the execution of Brees and the diversity of the backfield. Some might argue the Saints were better statistically in 2011, but we could do anything at any time to any defense in '09. And winning the Lombardi Trophy proved it. Whereas the '11 team couldn't come from behind in the Divisional Round, ending its chances at the franchise's second title two years later.

When you look at the way Payton's 2017 offense has been built this offseason, it's clear the blueprint is very similar to the '09 unit -- but this time, there's a first-ballot Hall of Fame-caliber back in the mix. Adrian Peterson, the best running back of the last decade, has joined Mark Ingram in a ground game that ranked 16th in the league a year ago. New Orleans also added promising Tennessee product Alvin Kamara in last month's draft, creating a new three-headed monster to line up behind Brees, who led the league's No. 1 total offense and passing offense in 2016.

read more from Heath Evans

Beastmode

Backfield looks good on paper, better than most teams. Some concerns but nothing major. I would take this crew over any in Division.

blackangold

2011 team was better offensively. They also didn't have the defense and special teams scoring TDs and getting TOs in 2011 like they did in 2009.

Crusader

Good read. Evans has turned in to one of the better writers on NFL.com.

saintsfan1976

It's all about the O line.

rezburna

I'm curious to see what the Saints will look like this year in general, but the offensive line is an area of emphasis. Will Peat make a 3rd year leap at Guard? Will Armstead stay healthy? Will the younger Ramczyk be the player to finally supplant Strief? How will Unger look coming off of his injury? Is Larry Warford the next Jahri Evans? Our offensive line is one huge question mark at each and every position.

SaintFanInATLHELL

Hmm. Deja Vu?



I remember there being hundreds of posts about the O-line last offseason. How exactly did that turn out during the season?

I'm not getting dragged into this quagmire again...

SFIAH

Rugby Saint II

We were terrible in preseason before Jahri got cut and slipped right back into the lineup to solidify our line.

jnormand

So he basically says that Peterson will see more time on the field than Ingram.

He predicts Peterson will get 45-50 snaps to Ingram's 25-30 snaps.

What do you guys think? I tend to think those numbers will be reversed for the two RBs, mostly due to Ingram's versatility, but who knows?

WillSaints81

If we didn't bring Evans back the RG position would have been bad. We got lucky he stayed healthy. I'm not sure Warford is an upgrade.