It is always difficult to evaluate what is going on with the World Champions in any sport. The New Orleans Saints are no different. The events of 2009 proved to be the perfect storm. When a play was needed, someone made it. When a win was critical, they got it. It is doubtful that such a perfect storm will occur again, but storm clouds are looming in the Gulf.

There’s pain, and then there’s pain: The biggest distraction to the Saints right now has to be the lawsuit involving who knows who all in the Saints organization. The allegations are that a “senior staff member” (hmmm…) was caught on video sealing Vicodin, and another staff member took an excessive amount from team supplies of the pain killer. On top of all that, there is an alleged cover-up of the drug thefts by the higher-ups in the organization. In the meantime, Coach Peyton cannot address a single part of his team’s off-season preparation, for someone asking, “So, tell us. Was there a candy bowl of Vicodin in the coaching offices?” On top of everything, the DEA has said that there is an “investigation pending”. That’s just great. For crying out loud, hasn’t the city of New Orleans suffered enough?

Re-loading, I guess: With the last pick in each round of the draft, the Saints were not exactly in a power position to wheel and deal. So, they didn’t end up with any big names. This is actually just fine with everyone concerned, because other than Drew Brees, Reggie Bush, and maybe Jeremy Shockey, the rest of the Saints are not exactly household names. Cornerback Patrick Robinson of Florida State was the Saints’ first pick at 32. They then chose an offensive tackle and a tight end before selecting QB Sean Canfield of Oregon State in the 7th round. Ho-hum. The biggest news of the Saints draft is that they didn’t draft what they needed – linebackers and running backs.

This just in: The New Orleans Saints are not interested in signing JaMarcus Russell. So, what? Neither is anyone else. It seems that because Russell attended LSU, some people think that he would be a good pick-up for the Saints. Uh-uh.

Stars Fell Upon the Schedule: My high school team could play this schedule and go 8-8. Actually, maybe the schedule always looks that way when you are as good as the Saints. They open up with the Vikings, which is the only game in which the other team can stay within 10 points or so, until they play at Baltimore in December (where no one even scores 10 points). The Ravens might sneak up on them, but that’s it. The Saints go 15-1 (maybe), and lose to Dallas in the playoffs in an epic game.