NEW ORLEANS (AP) Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints may very well be on a revenge tour this season, whether they frame it that way publicly or not.

The Saints are among the favorites to contend for the Super Bowl berth they were agonizingly denied last season by both the Los Angeles Rams and an untimely officiating lapse in the NFC title game. And that heartbreak came just one year after their previous postseason run was stunningly halted by the first decisive touchdown on the final snap of regulation in NFL playoff history - on a 61-yard passing play, no less.

Brees, who is 40 and entering his 19th season, asserts that professionalism demands compartmentalization, so that disgust about the recent past doesn't undermine one's focus on the work at hand as a new season arrives.