NEW ORLEANS — There were constant commutes along unfamiliar routes — to changing practice fields, changing weight rooms, or makeshift locker and film rooms.

Steve Gleason, the Saints' long-haired, normally laid-back special teams standout, took on an unusual air of irritability as he recalled what it was like for his team to be displaced to San Antonio a year ago.

"You'd drive to practice and after practice you'd drive back and shower — 20 minutes there — and then you'd drive 20 minutes to try to lift and it was just ... I'm almost getting frustrated talking about it, which is the last thing I want to be right now," Gleason said. "Really, I just want to focus on how much better it is here."

Saints players who were part of the Hurricane Katrina-displaced team of last year were not looking for sympathy. They knew they had it easy compared to tens of thousands of storm victims in New Orleans who lost everything.

Most considered San Antonio a nice place to live and appreciated the warm reception they received from football fans there. But in terms of having standard NFL practice facilities and certainty in their lives, this season back home in their undamaged headquarters has seemed like a return to paradise.

"You're coming to a facility that has everything you didn't have last year, which was a training room, hot and cold tubs, your sauna room, an actual equipment room," fullback Mike Karney said. "Last year we were driving to a building to have meetings, practicing on a high school field, just a lot of running around that 31 other teams weren't doing."

Having finished 2004 on a four-game winning streak against some of the NFC's better teams and missing the playoffs on the last day of that season, the Saints were expected to be playoff contenders in 2005. Driven from New Orleans during the last week of preseason, they ended up 3-13.

Players often said they didn't want to use the storm as an excuse. They could only bite their tongues so long.

Take Week 3 of this season and last. Today, the Saints are 2-0 and preparing for their first home game in a sold-out, refurbished Louisiana Superdome tomorrow night. Their main concern seems to be that the celebratory, Super Bowl-like ambiance in New Orleans and demands by family and friends for tickets could distract players from preparing for the 2-0 Atlanta Falcons.

The same time last year, the Saints were 1-1 coming off a loss in their "home" opener in Giants Stadium. Images of suffering storm victims in New Orleans — many of whom were stranded for days in the heavily damaged Superdome — were fresh.

"I was thinking about what these people were going to eat, where they were going, whose phone number I had to return to help them — to send them some money, how to get to my house," Saints receiver Joe Horn said. "I was worried about my kids, school, how were they adjusting?

"You had to adjust to everything and then, all of a sudden, kick it into football gear," Horn added. "And that's hard. Trust me."

Saints players went nearly two weeks before most of their cars were shipped to San Antonio from team headquarters, which was being used after the storm as a relief base.

With what little free time they had after practice and meetings, players took taxis to unfamiliar neighborhoods, looking for new places to live and settling for the first decent one they found. Many took in teammates as house mates.

"A lot of guys didn't have clothes still, trying to figure out what to wear, knowing we couldn't live in a hotel forever, trying to find an apartment, going to furniture stores trying to rent stuff, finding out there's none of that available any more," tight end Ernie Conwell said. "Figuring out what's going on with the wife and kids — were they going to make it down from where they evacuated to? Were they going to send them back home?"

The Saints' current headquarters has several fields, including a full field indoors, attached to an expansive weight room. There's a cafeteria, meeting rooms, film rooms, a spacious locker room, equipment room and training room, among other amenities.

Karney credits being back in New Orleans with his ability to return to practice within two weeks of straining a calf muscle in the season opener. He hopes to play tomorrow night.

"No way that happened last year," Karney said emphatically. "There was too much running around from place to place. The training room was not even close to being the right size."

Saints cornerback Fred Thomas, whose property was not damaged, shook his head recalling the uncertainty of a year ago.

"Everybody was trying to figure out what actually was going on, making arrangements with the kids and family. They were waiting on calls to see how their property was doing. Our focus was not on football," Thomas said. "To me it was a very depressing time. There's a big difference between then and now."

ELSEWHERE

Seahawks: Seattle activated recently acquired wide receiver Deion Branch yesterday and added him to the 53-man roster for today's game against the New York Giants. To clear a roster spot, the Seahawks released defensive lineman Chris Cooper.

Colts: Kicker Adam Vinatieri, who came to Indianapolis from New England in the offseason, will miss the first game of his 11-year career because of a lingering groin injury. The Colts were expected to sign veteran kicker Martin Gramatica to play in today's game against Jacksonville.