Saints' Homecoming Became Their Coming-Out Party

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 26, 2006 — -- The Saints' first game back in the Louisiana Superdome in 13 months was seen primarily as an opportunity for this rebuilding city to showcase itself, to reintroduce itself to the world as more than just a community still crippled in many areas by Hurricane Katrina and the great flood but as one attempting to get back up and running.

The 2-0 record the home team brought to its Monday Night Football matchup with division rival Atlanta was a short sidebar to the feel-good story of the Saints finally returning home. Not anymore. The Saints turned their homecoming celebration into a coming-out party and showed the nation that New Orleans doesn't just have its team back, it's got a pretty good team at that.

Consecutive road wins to start the season against teams who to this point have combined to win one game didn't earn the Saints a lot of respect nationally, but a 23-3 plucking of a Falcons club that spent the first two games running its way into the record books and looked capable of making a Super Bowl run just might do the trick.

Of course, it's too early for even diehards to star talking Saints and Super Bowl XLI simply because they took care of business at home in Super Bowl XL½ (there was a championship game buzz around this one). But New Orleans already has matched its win total last season and is just one of six clubs leaguewide that can boast a 3-0 record. That speaks for itself. That says rookie coach Sean Payton just might have something here.

And most important, this depressed region finally has something else to talk about other than hurricane-related problems. Specifically, a team that looks legitimately capable of causing other contenders problems. The Saints didn't squeak by the Falcons or win on some fluke play, or lucky bounce, or blown call. They thoroughly outperformed Atlanta. Now they're in first place, already with a two-game lead over preseason favorite Carolina and a three-game lead over defending NFC South champ Tampa Bay. With games the next two weeks at the Panthers and back home for the Bucs, should the Saints somehow manage to win one or both of those ...