These aren’t your father’s New Orleans Saints anymore. Odds are those were the Saints of the 70’s and 80’s, who were pretty terrible.

These aren’t even your New Orleans Saints anymore, the high scoring, pass heavy offense-led team of the past 10 years. The times they are a-changin’. Ron Burgundy had never heard that song, but many now believe Sean Payton has.

From the majority of the roster moves New Orleans has made this offseason, many have speculated a shift to a more run-oriented approach on offense. The Saints traded away an interview in May of 2013: "When we had our first team meeting, [Payton] talked about that. He said we definitely need to get back to that ground game. There's going to be more focus this year on that ground game than any year.” The Saints did rely on the run game a little more in the 2013 season, dropping their pass percentage from 64.5 percent in 2012 to 62.5 percent. That two-percent decrease dropped them from from the fourth most pass heavy team in 2012 to fifth in 2013.

Loss of Weapons

The offseason additions aren’t the only thing suggesting the Saints will be keeping the ball on the ground more in 2015. New Orleans voluntarily traded away two of the three most targeted receivers on the team from 2014. The trades of Graham to Seattle and Payton spoke very highly of the third-year tight end and how much they value his versatility on the field.

Defensive Key

If the Saints truly do want to rely on running the ball more, it might not even be up to the offense to dictate whether that is a viable option. That could fall on the Rob Ryan-led defense. It is atypical to run the ball while trailing, and if the Saints do not improve their defense -- they ranked last in the league in Adjusted Defensive NEP per play -- then New Orleans might be forced into their passing ways of old.

Oakland didn’t want to be the most pass heavy team last season, but they didn’t have a choice. They were constantly behind and needed to score points.

The good news is that the Saints have also made strides to improve the defense this offseason. Six of their nine draft selections were on the defensive side of the ball, and they also brought in cornerback Brandon Browner and defensive end Anthony Spencer as free agents. Llinebacker Dannell Ellerbe was brought in as part of the Stills trade with Miami. They key to the offense and the pass-run ratio may come down to how these players perform rather than the likes of Ingram, Spiller, and Hill.

In a vacuum, the Saints want to ease the load on Drew Brees as he enters his age-36 season. For that to truly work, New Orleans is going to have to give up a fewer points in that vacuum.