Start of training camp gives Saints chance to move on from ‘Minneapolis Miracle’

Prior to the start of training camp in 2010, the defending NFL-champion New Orleans Saints buried the past.

Literally and figuratively.

Coach Sean Payton had a hole dug at the team’s training facility and instructed players to rid themselves of the many individual awards they had garnered from that karma-filled 2009 season and historic triumph over the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV led by game-MVP Drew Brees.

Five players earned Pro Bowl honors (G Jahri Evans, LB Jonathan Vilma, T Jon Stinchcomb, FS Darren Sharper, Brees). Another two were named as injury placements (C Jonathan Goodwin, FS Roman Harper). None played in the game because of their involvement in XLIV.

All of it was ancient history in Payton’s mind, irrelevant to the task at hand.

What happened between September 2009 and the first Sunday in February 2010 no longer mattered.

It was time to move on.

And it is time to move on now from one of the most shocking moments in franchise history 192 days ago, a 29-24 walkoff loss against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs.

It is said the passage of time heals all wounds.

Truth be told, I’m not sure enough time has passed to fully erase the painful memory from that arcing bull’s-eye thrown by Vikings quarterback Case Keenum and acrobatic sideline catch-and-run by wide recever Stefon Diggs, an epic collaboration that covered 61 yards and now forever known as the “Minneapolis Miracle.’‘

Beaten Saints rookie cornerback Marcus Williams vows not to let that fundamental lapse in judgment define him as a player or a man.

I believed him then and I believe him now.

So, when the Saints reported Wednesday for physicals, meetings and strength/conditioning tests to signal the start of training camp, Payton will have properly placed the “Minneapolis Miracle’‘ six feet under and have all eyes focused on the here and now.

There will be no looking back or thinking back to what might have been or could have been or would have been. That does no one any good, not now, not with a season-long marathon to run beginning with the Tampa Buccaneers on Sept. 9 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

There was no Super Bowl hangover per se in 2010, though a 41-36 road loss in the wildcard round to a 7-9 Seattle Seahawks team that featured Beast Mode’s epic cross-country run suggests the Saints might have been a little tipsy at season’s end.

And there will be no “Minneapolis Miracle’‘ hangover in 2018.

Skol brother!