The have the gameplan to bring down the Super Bowl champion . That's not just a Matt Holliday Jersey figure of speech or a bold prediction. Saints coach Sean Payton actually He drew it up in the aftermath of -- appropriately dubbed the Minneapolis Miracle -- even though his season was over and it was the Vikings who were advancing on to Philadelphia, where Payton just couldn't help himself. More on the NFL . Everyone has different ways to do it. We came back after that game, we met, we began a procedure of evaluations," Payton told Pro Football Talk in the offseason. "And look, on Wednesday and Thursday, we had the Philly cut-ups. I gameplanned Philly like we were going to play them. Because I wasn't ready to stop game-planning. So, like an imaginary 'let's pretend that didn't happen.' It was just my way of dealing with it, I gue s." If all goes according to plan, Payton will get his chance to implement his gameplan during the upcoming season. Today, we continue with ourseries by taking a look at why the Saints will emerge out of what is a stacked-beyond-belief conference. As the calendar turns from summer to fall -- more importantly, from meaningle s football to meaningful football -- the Saints should be regarded as the favorites in the NFC over the Eagles, Vikings, , and . It has a lot to do with , , , and , but it has just as much to do with a budding defense and the additions they've welcomed into the ranks. A season ago, the Saints -- , by the way -- came one play away from advancing to the NFC title game, where they would've at least put up a better fight than the Vikings. Just Kamara told Bleacher Report in August. "If we won against the Vikings , I knew nobody was gonna stop us cause we came all the way back." Now, beginning in just a few weeks, Kamara and the Saints will Reggie Jackson Jersey get their chance to prove the events of last postseason were a fluke. Defense made the leap, added reinforcements The Saints have trotted out a high-powered offense for the past several seasons, but they've failed to make the leap from a mediocre team to a playoff team because of their defense. In 2014, the Saints ranked ninth in points scored, but 28th in points conceded. They went 7-9. In 2015, the Saints ranked eighth in points scored, but dead last in points conceded. They went 7-9. In 2016, the Saints ranked second in points scored, but 31st in points conceded. They went 7-9. You should sense a pattern here.The 2017 Saints obliterated that pattern. Their offense was just as good as it was in years past, finishing fourth in points scored. It was their defense that finally did its part, ranking 10th in points allowed and The Saints went 11-5. For their defensive improvement, the Saints can thank one historically great draft cla s that birthed two star defensive backs in cornerback (first round) and safety (second round). Lattimore, serving as the team's top cornerback, was one of the league's best cover Babe Ruth Jersey guys, picking off five pa ses in 13 games and shutting down every route in the playbook. Don't try Marshon Lattimore on go routes! Pro Football Focus (@PFF) Williams, a free safety, picked off four pa ses and finished as . He might be best known as the player who whiffed on preventing from scoring the walk-off touchdown in the Minneapolis Miracle, but Brees has . Both players will be back in 2018, and it's not unreasonable to think that they could improve considering they now have a full season of experience. But they're not the Saints' best important defensive players. That distinction belongs to defensive end , who racked up 13 sacks last season, bringing his sack total over the past five seasons to 50.5; . According to PFF, He, too, will be back. And he'll have some help. In free agency, the Saints did well to bring back , who had 4.5 sacks in 10 games last season. The Saints then made their splashy move in the draft, who gives the Saints the second dangerous pa s rusher they so desperately needed considering Jordan was the only player on the Saints to finish with at least five sacks. In his final season at , Davenport collected 17.5 sacks. Davenport's been dealing with injuries in his first summer as a pro, but As was the case with Roquan Smith and the , Davenport mi sing practice time in the summer shouldn't be considered a major area of concern. The most important factor is that Davenport is entering the season healthy, ready to provide the Saints with another source of pre sure.Elsewhere, the Saints maintained the status quo at linebacker -- free-agent addition is another fine body to add to a group that isn't really spearheaded by a star -- and the back end with veteran replacing at strong safety. The Saints' defense isn't as good as the Vikings, Rams, or Eagles' defense, but that's OK. The Saints don't need to have the top-ranked defense to bring down those teams. They just need to have a defense that is good. They can attack the quarterback (tied for seventh in sacks last year) and generate turnovers (tied for ninth in takeaways). Their offense can do the rest, because it's both explosive and balanced. Offense can attack in Masahiro Tanaka Jersey so many different ways Unlike years past, the Saints offense isn't just built around Drew Brees. The Saints are now built around their explosive ground game, though they can certainly still sling it around if nece sary. In 2017, the Saints ranked fifth in rushing, fifth in pa sing, fourth in points scored, and . They're so incredibly balanced with an attack led by running backs Alvin Kamara (1,554 yards) and Mark Ingram (1,540 yards), who became to each total more than 1,500 yards from scrimmage. Ingram will mi s the quarter of the season due to a suspension, but . The Saints open up the season against the: (minus )At worst, even without Ingram, the Saints are looking at a 3-1 (maybe 2-2) start. Meanwhile, Ingram, who has 1,390 touches and 6,791 total yards on his resume, will be completely fresh for the final 12 games of the regular season. After Week 4, the Saints' schedule picks up with out-of-division games against the Vikings, Rams, Eagles, and . They'll need a fresh Ingram for those games, which might decide the seeding in the playoffs. And let's not pretend like more of Kamara is a bad thing. Kamara set the league on fire during his rookie season by averaging an insane 9.0 yards per touch, 6.1 yards per carry, and 10.2 yards per reception. Expecting him to do the same in 2018 is probably expecting the impo sible unle s Kamara really is the most Adam Lind Jersey explosive running back in NFL history, but he's going to remain an impact player. He can turn handoffs into 74-yard touchdowns and swing pa ses into chunk plays. He. Is. GONE.74-yard TOUCHDOWN! NFL (@NFL) Best of luck stopping NFL (@NFL) And if the running game takes a step back, the Saints still have Drew freakin' Brees to lean on. Let that sink in: Brees, who ranks and is with , is almost in a way the Saints' contingency plan on offense.It's am