When members of the New Orleans Saints front office and coaching staff sit down to begin plotting a course of action for 2008, it's likely that there will be a common theme among those assembled.
The Saints will need defense, defense and more defense if they expect to return to the playoffs after a disappointing 7-9 season one in which the memories of big play after big play will linger throughout the offseason.
After finishing 26th in total yards allowed and 30th against the pass, the Saints go into the offseason looking to improve all three parts of their defense the front four, linebacker and secondary.
"Defensively, we didn't do a good enough job of avoiding the big plays," said second-year coach Sean Payton, whose team allowed 54 pass plays of 20 yards or longer with 12 producing touchdowns. "Whether it's above our head or in front of us for the first down, we weren't as good as we would have liked, obviously."
Payton saw enough of it to indicate in a postseason news conference that, while he hadn't evaluated his team yet, was something that was going to get a lot of attention. While it doesn't necessarily mean a complete overhaul, he said, there will be some changes.
"I'm talking about getting some more good young players to help on that side of the ball," he said. "If you look at where we're at and how we're built, it's an area where we feel like we can help ourselves and bring some young players or veteran players into that mix.
"I think it's an area that we want to upgrade and try to address and bring in guys that can help improve that side of the ball. That's not to say we don't want to do that on offense because we certainly do. But that's one of the things that we'll set out to do as we look into the offseason."
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Saints' Offseason Goals: Defense, Defense, More Defense 
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