After watching the Saints defense pummel Carson Palmer and the Bengals 13-0 Saturday night, I’m positively giddy about 2008.

Not because the Saints shut down a Cincinnati passing game missing its top four receivers and the New Orleans secondary showed they can cover guys who, come September, will be selling insurance.

Photo by Al Behrman / The Associated Press

New Orleans linebacker Jonathan Vilma (51) and cornerback Mike McKenzie (34) tackle Cincinnati running back Chris Perry during Saturday night's preseason exhibition game. New Orleans won 13-0.

Nope, that’s not it at all.

It was the blitzing.

The Saints were seemingly bringing guys from every angle on obvious passing downs.

Kevin Kaesviharn even delivered a knock out blow right before halftime by sacking Palmer and leaving him with a bloody nose.

If the Saints are going to use the blitz to try to cover up all the deficiencies in their secondary, the 2008 season just got off-the-charts exciting.

Why?

A blitzing defense can create turnovers, beat up quarterbacks and will drive the Superdome crowd into a frenzy.

On the flip side, if the Saints don’t get to the quarterback, they’ll give up huge pass plays and touchdowns that will always make SportsCenter.

But so what? They’ve shown the ability to do that without blitzing.

The Saints are more likely to have something good on defense happen with the blitz than without it.

Throw in the Saints high-octane offense and there won’t be a more fun team to watch all season.

I’ll be honest in saying I love the blitz. It was perhaps the only fond memory of the Mike Ditka Era.

He and then defensive coordinator Zaven Yaralian seemingly never met a blitz they couldn’t create and execute.

It was incredibly fun and the Saints actually had a top 10 defense Ditka’s first year.

They employed the simple theory of, “If all else fails, try to put the quarterback down.”

It’s as good a strategy as any and who doesn’t love a game filled with sacks, long touchdowns and beat up quarterbacks?

The good news for the Saints is with Mike McKenzie looking very good in his return from knee surgery, it might actually work.

If the Saints are going to live and die by the blitz and Tracy Porter is going to start at corner, just be prepared for the rookie from Indiana to get abused a lot.

As long as Porter gets better as the season goes along I can live with the occasional 40-yard touchdown pass and we all know the alternative has driven people to write goofy columns like this one.

So, I say to defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs and head coach Sean Payton, blitz until your heart’s content and either quarterbacks are sacked or your secondary is burned beyond recognition.

Good times are ahead people.

As for what else the Saints showed against the Bengals, it wasn’t all good.

They still don’t appear to have much of a running game and are kicking way too many field goals.

Jim Mora’s Saints could score three points consistently and win. Sean Payton’s Saints can not.

Let’s hope Jeremy Shockey will help the red-zone offense.

(By the way, I just want to go on record as saying Shockey is the second coming of Kyle Turley, except he’ll be even more popular. Fans loved Turley’s tattoos, loud mouth and passion on the field, but all he ever did was throw a helmet and protect his quarterback.

Shockey’s going to eventually pop off to the media and Saints opponents, get fans fired up and he scores touchdowns. Expect Shockey’s 88 jersey to be all over the Dome by October.)

So, in the one game that sort of kind of counts in the preseason, the Saints defense looked functional, Drew Brees was spectacular as usual and besides an injury to Marques Colston, all was well.

The season needs to just get here already.

Ralph Malbrough is a Saints fan living in Houston. He can be reached at ralphmalbrough@hotmail.com . He also hosts an internet radio show This Wednesday at 8pm at http://www.blogtalkradio/forecastradio. You can listen live or download archived editions at iTunes.