Saints, Steelers see fortunes change



By Jim Wexell/The Herald-Standard

PITTSBURGH - What a difference a year makes. Last year, the Steelers were first at 6-2 and the New Orleans Saints were last at 2-6.

Today, the record and standing of each team is reversed. The only difference between this year's Steelers and last year's Saints is the flood surrounding the Steelers consists of criticism and question marks. The flood surrounding the Saints, of course, was very real.

"You can see some progress being made," said Saints running back Deuce McAllister of a city still reeling from Hurricane Katrina. "But there is a long way to go."

"When I first got here in January," said new coach Sean Payton, "you had traffic, you had people. It was different from what I expected. Living in Dallas and seeing the town in the news, I thought I'd be coming to a ghost town. It was much different than that. There was a lot of traffic, a lot more commuting into the city for work purposes. There are still areas that you would look at and you might think a month ago the storm hit. There are areas that have recovered quicker.

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