The New Orleans Saints 2009-2010 regular season is set to begin this Sunday September 13th 2009 against the lowly Detroit Lions in New Orleans at the Louisiana Superdome.

The Saints are coming off a disappointing season where they finished last in a tough NFC South division with an 8-8 record after many fans, football analysts and alike saw the potential of an NFC champion, similar to the team that Saints coach Sean Payton coached to the NFC South crown in 2006.

The Saints boast a spectacular offensive game that was number one in all of the NFL in total offense and passing yards in 2008.

The offense is led by the powerful arm of quarterback Drew Brees, who led the National Football League in passing yards last season with 5069, 486 yards ahead of second place Kurt Warner.

Brees also tied for the NFL league lead in touchdown passes with San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers at 34.

Brees was also second to Rivers in yards averaged per pass at 8.0 and finally boasted the fourth highest quarterback rating in all of football at 96.2.

Brees will be backed up at the quarterback position by veteran Mark Brunell, as the Saints will go with two quarterbacks on the season, with Chase Daniel in wait on the practice squad, in case he is needed.

With the mentorship of seventeen year veteran Brunell and his powerful arm, Brees is set to have yet another big year for the Saints and hopefully lead the Saints back to the football promised land.

Justin Macione of the NewOrleansSaints.com sat down with Brees today to discuss his thoughts regarding this Sunday’s home opener against the Lions.

You can view the article here.

Moving along, if the Saints are to be successful this season they are going to have to rely on more than the strong arm of Brees.

The Saints hope to get more out of promising, yet underachieving running back Reggie Bush.

After a 2006 season that saw the versatile Bush combine for 1307 rushing/receiving yards, followed by a 2007 season in which he combined for 998 rushing/passing yards, Bush only managed to rush for 404 yards on 106 carries last season, while catching 52 passes out of the back field for 440 yards over 10 games played.

The Saints released former superstar Deuce McAllister in February, so Bush will be handed the title of “veteran presence” in the Saints back field and take some of the pressure off Pierre Thomas, who lead the Saints in rushing yards last season with 625 yards on 129 carries.

Speaking of Thomas, expect to see a lot of Thomas this season if you are a Saints fan.

Thomas will not only be running the ball for the Saints offense, but will also contribute on special teams returning kicks, as he led the team in kick returns last season with 31 for 793 total yards.

This leads me to discuss the receiving core for the Saints.

At the beginning of last season, the Saints made a splash in the NFL world by acquiring tight end Jeremy Shockey from the New York Giants. Shockey had big expectations upon his arrival to the bayou, but had the worst season of his career for the Saints.

In twelve games for the Saints last season, Shockey caught 50 passes for 483 yards.

Shockey has something to prove this season and should provide an admirable receiving target up the middle of the field when opposing teams defenses double the Saints wide receivers, disallowing Brees to throw the long ball.

Not only does Brees have outstanding receiving targets in the likes of Reggie Bush and Jeremy Shockey, Brees also has favourite target Marques Colston teaming with fellow wide receivers in last year’s Saints surprise Lance Moore (928 receiving yards on 79 receptions) and unproven rookie Rod Harper (107 receptions for 1375 yards for the Arkansas Twisters of af2).

Colston got off to a terrible start last season after suffering an injured thumb in the opener. Colston had only caught five balls for 82 yards by the middle of the season, but turned it around and exploded in the second half receiving 42 passes for 678 yards and five touchdowns.

Colston will certainly have a target on his chest that Brees will be looking to hit, but the target will also draw double teams from an opposing teams defense, leaving receivers such as Moore and Harper open down the field or Shockey and Bush low for easy 8-10 yard gains.

The Saints offensive line this season will consist of two time Pro Bowl selection in LT Jammal Brown, second year LG Carl Nicks, veteran C Jonathan Goodwin, reliable RG Jahri Evans and durable RT Jon Stinchcomb.

The Saints offensive line has allowed the least amount of sacks in the NFL over the last two seasons and do a magnificent job of protecting Brees, allowing the quarterback to gun the pig skin down field.

Expect the same, pending any sort of injury from the Saints offensive line.

Now let me move onto a preview of the Saints defense.

The Saints defense was middle to back of the pack last season, ranking 23rd in the NFL in yards allowed with 339.5 yards per game, and were miserable in points allowed per game, allowing 24.6 points per game, placing them 7th highest in points allowed.

The Saints defense recorded 28 sacks last season, tying them for 22nd in the NFL.

A good thing the Saints defense has going for them is their lack of penalty minutes, only receiving 637 penalty minutes, ranking them 24th overall.

The Saints defense is lead by middle linebacker and 2008 tackle leader Jonathan Vilma (132 tackles, 1 sack, 2 forced fumbles in 2008) anchoring the middle of the field, alongside fellow linebackers Scott Fujita (81 tackles, 1 forced fumble in 2008) and Scott Shanle (87 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble in 2008).

Upfront, the Saints will send LDE Charles Grant, NT Kendrick Clancy, DT Sedrick Ellis and 2006 Pro Bowl selection Will “Don’t call me the Fresh Prince” Smith at RDE.

Finally, the Saints will round out their secondary with new addition LCB Jabari Greer, SS Roman Harper, RCB Tracy Porter and another addition in key acquisition FS Darren Sharper.

The addition of Sharper, who has been known to be a field general in the secondary in his years with the Packers and Vikings, along with Jabari Greer should help improve a Saints secondary that allowed 53 passes over 20 yards last season.

The Saints boast a dominating offense and an improved defense for the upcoming season.

The Saints have already proven to be a force in the preseason, tallying a 3-1 record with a preseason opening victory over the Cincinnati Bengals 17-7, followed by decisive victories in Houston over the Texans 38-14 and in Oakland over the Raiders 45-7, before losing their preseason finale to the Miami Dolphins at home 10-7.

The Saints will face an improved Detroit Lions team (of course they are improved, they were 0-16 last season), but in this writer’s opinion the Saints should have zero problem picking apart a Lions defense, while playing improved defense at home for what I think will be an opening day victory at the Louisiana Superdome.

The game airs on Fox this Sunday September 13th at 12:00pm Eastern Time.

Baseball fans, do not forget to check out my Blue Jays blog for Gear Up for Sports @ http://bluejays.gearupforsports.com/blog/