Saints know they won't sneak up on anyone in '07

	Drew Brees appears to be healthy after injuring his left elbow in the Pro Bowl last February. AP
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There has always been a singular vibe to New Orleans. You go there as a visiting journalist for a Sugar Bowl, a Final Four, a track meet, a story on the Saints; and it's unlike any other city in the U.S.A. It has long been a place with a palpable culture, whether in the food, the music or the parties. You feel it when you hit the low ground. And that was before Katrina.

Last Friday I went to New Orleans for Saints' minicamp, the first formal gathering of last season's most compelling feel-good story in the NFL. I made the short drive from Louis Armstrong Airport down Airline Drive to the Saints' headquarters and was again quickly reminded of where I was, in two ways.

1) Upon making the right-hand turn off Airline into the Saints' facilities, there was already a line forming for entry into the afternoon's practice. The Saints would admit only the first 2,500 spectators (there is very limited space) and in 90-degree heat and punishing humidity, dozens of fans were already lined up, wearing their black Saints' jerseys.

2) The radio station on my rental car was broadcasting from its emergency broadcast center, a largely (although not entirely) symbolic act on June 1, the first day of the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season. Numerous local and national experts were paraded before the station's microphones, noting almost unanimously that were another massive storm to hit the city, the consequences would be scarcely better than in 2005.

This somber broadcast as the backdrop to the renewed euphoria of Saints' fans was reminiscent of the dual emotions that attended the Saints' run last year to the NFC Championship Game. You remember: A city still partly in ruins, rallying behind a team.

It was a good story. It still is. My colleague, NFL guru Peter King, obviously thinks it will get better. This week he made the Saints his early pick to represent the NFL in the Super Bowl. Peter is not alone. But that doesn't mean it will be easy in a league designed to leave everybody at 8-8. And the Saints are no longer an upstart. "We're not sneaking up on anybody this year," Reggie Bush told me after the practice.

Drew Brees has been here before. In 2004, he beat out rookie quarterback Philip Rivers and led the San Diego Chargers to a 12-4 reversal of their 4-12 2003 season and a wild card playoff game. The next year, the Chargers slipped to a disappointing 9-7, including a crucial December home loss to Miami that kept them out of the playoffs.

"I pretty much know what this situation feels like," Brees said. "Oh-four, oh-five with the Chargers we went from a surprise team to a team that everybody was ready for and that didn't turn out the way we wanted." (It didn't turn out the way Brees wanted, either; the Chargers lowballed him in the offseason, leading to his signing with the Saints, the classic blessing-in-disguise that was painful at the time).