Saints want to shift focus to on-field excellence

	The Saints' Will Smith wraps up Eagles running back Correll Buckhalter in the Saints' 27-24 win last Saturday. Kevin C. Cox/WireImage
	MAILBAG Submit a question or comment for Tim Layden. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

Very late Saturday night, on the ground floor of the reborn Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans Saints' defensive end Will Smith was making a point. Outside Smith's door, the venerable big dome was still rocking in the aftermath of the Saints' 27-24 divisional playoff victory over the Eagles. People were singing and dancing and screaming the millionth chorus of Who Dat? You can insert your own Mardi Gras metaphor.

A small group of writers was clustered around Smith's cubicle in the undersized home dressing room. (The Superdome is the size of Delaware and the locker rooms are smaller than most Division III college versions. Seriously. And this was a pre-Katrina problem). Smith's inquisitor begins a rambling question -- most of which escapes me, because my ears are ringing from the noise during the game -- that includes the phrase "feel-good story.''

Smith cuts off the inquiry in mid-ramble. "This is not a feel-good story,'' he says, with significantly more engagement than one normally gets from a locker room scrum. "This is a good, solid football team. We play balls out and we get after people. And we deserve to be where we are.''

So there it is: Katrina Recovery Backlash In The Locker Room. You could see it coming, could you not?

Let's lay down the ground rules here. Smith notwithstanding, the Saints absolutely, unequivocally are a feel-good story. And the Saints absolutely, unequivocally are a solid football team that deserves to be in the NFL's final four and are not finished yet ... by a long shot.

I understand Smith's point. Let's just say it was the Houston Texans, and not the Saints, who were preparing to play in Chicago this weekend. Or the New York Jets. The Saints were 3-13 last year. The Texas were 2-14, the Jets 4-12. So we would be talking about the same kind of turnaround seasons. We in the media will always find the angle behind the story. If the Texans were in the conference championship game, we'd be talking about the brilliance in drafting Mario Williams. If the Jets were here (and they did make the playoffs), we'd be talking about coach Eric Mangini and his non-handshakes with Bill Belichick. In fact, we did talk about those things.

But in the end, we would get back to football. With the Saints, sometimes it takes a while to get back to football. Justifiably so. The tale of the 2006 New Orleans Saints goes far beyond football.

We all know that America moves on quickly to the next story, the next channel, the next web page. What's not new is old. Katrina is no longer new, but the story bears reiterating: Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29 and is among the most devastating natural disasters in U.S. history. In its aftermath, the Saints played "home'' games in New Jersey, San Antonio and Baton Rouge. They were orphans of the storm. This year they have returned to the Superdome to win games and inspire a city that is still far from whole.