Saints, Ravens this year's rags-to-riches candidates

	Saints fullback Mike Karney, left, is consoled by teammate Ernie Conwell after the Saints beat the Falcons 23-3 last Monday night. AP

Monday night was a "raise the (newly renovated) roof" kind of night at the Louisiana Superdome, and watching the memorable and emotional homecoming unfold all around him, Ernie Conwell couldn't help but wonder where the ceiling might be for him and his New Orleans Saints this season.

After all, every worst-to-first story has its key early moments, its pivotal confidence-building stages, and this certainly felt a bit familiar to the 11th-year tight end, who seven years ago was a member of a St. Louis Rams team that went all the way from 4-12 to Super Bowl champion in that magical season.

"It has come together for us quicker than people anticipated,'' Conwell said in the wake of the Saints' 23-3 upset of Atlanta, their third consecutive win to start the season. "We've already accumulated the same amount of wins we had all of last year. But honestly, I don't know where the ceiling is for us. It's hard to tell this early how good you can be and where this team could go.

"I can tell you this is a special group of guys, with what we've been through in the past year and with the new guys we've added. From a player's perspective, it's got that feeling of a team you want to be around. And football-wise, it's so far, so good. I just know that in St. Louis that year, we started 6-0, but we didn't really know what kind of team we had until later in the season. That's when we realized we were pretty good and had something special building.''

As the first month of the NFL's regular season draws to a close, Conwell's Saints are as Cinderella as it gets these days. From 3-13 in their lost season of 2005, when they were rendered vagabonds by Hurricane Katrina's destruction, to a reborn 3-0 under rookie head coach Sean Payton, with the resilient Saints serving as symbols of the renaissance that's underway throughout the Gulf region.

There are turnaround teams, and then there's the kind of revival that goes considerably beyond the standard worst-to-first criteria. New Orleans might just top anyone's claim to that distinction this season, if the Saints can somehow all year harness the electricity and energy that flowed from stands to field Monday night in the Superdome.