JACKSON, Miss. — New Orleans’ Deuce McAllister doesn’t want to call it an edge, per se.

It’s more that the Saints have something to prove, he said, after a down 2007 season when the team followed an NFC Championship game berth with a 7-9 record and no playoffs.

File Photo

Deuce McAllister, 26, said New Orleans has something to prove this year after a disastrous 2007.

“Each individual has something to find, myself included,” McAllister said.

And that, in a nutshell, seems to be the motto this Saints team is carrying throughout training camp at Millsaps College.

A year ago, most national experts had New Orleans winning the NFC South and vying for a spot in the NFC Championship game again. But the team stumbled to an 0-4 start and never fully recovered.

“Expectation levels certainly were very high last year,” quarterback Drew Brees said. “They are just as high this year, but I think maybe the approach and process has changed a little bit just because we went through what we went through last year.”

The Saints finished 2006 as the nation’s darlings by going 10-6 and making a run to the NFC Championship game the same year the franchise returned to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

It certainly was an inspirational story and with most of the roster returning intact, some thought the feel-good story was coming back for a second year.

And when New Orleans went 3-2 during the preseason a year ago and felt good heading into the regular season opener, there was no reason to think otherwise.

But then the season began and everything fell apart.

Already nearly two weeks into training camp, there’s a different feel.

“There is a certain amount of urgency when you’re coming off of a season when you were 7-9,” head coach Sean Payton said. “I think players are anxious to start ’08 and start it off on a better note than we did last year.”

File Photo, Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press

Saints tackle Hollis Thomas (99) said the team needs to fix the little things from a year ago to move forward in 2008.

Changes begin with Payton, who is cutting camp at Millsaps short. Instead of being in Jackson, Miss., for more than a month, the team will go through practices for fewer than three weeks away from New Orleans.

The Saints will host the Houston Texans in New Orleans for three practices on Aug. 13 and 14 before playing them in the Superdome Aug. 16.

“We’ll try to be judicious and smart,” Payton said.

Another departure from normal – all but one of the players reported to training camp physically fit, hitting weight and conditioning goals.

“The fact is that guys went home after minicamp and they did everything they needed to do – every guy – to get ready to have a great year, a special season and one that we’ll always remember,” Brees said. “I think that just goes to show you the commitment level and where everybody’s head is at.”

Said defensive tackle Hollis Thomas, “It’s dedication and accountability on everybody’s part. They’re accountable for what they’re supposed to do in the offseason.

“That’s one of the first steps in trying to win a championship is doing the little things.”

And the hope is that if many of the little things are changed from last year, 2006’s success will reappear in 2008.

"You look to the future and look at the new additions and try to build on last year’s mistakes and not make those same mistakes," Thomas said.