New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - NOLA.com New Orleans Saints say they're focused on winning game, not hype

The New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings: a dream rematch in the marketing corridors of the NFL and in the minds of many football fans, but inside New Orleans' locker room?

Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune
New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton has warned about getting too caught up in the hype and emotion of an NFC title game rematch.
Maybe not so much.

That was the message several players and Coach Sean Payton attempted to convey Sunday as preparations began in earnest for the season opener Thursday night at the Superdome. The game will have an emotional punch -- quarterback Drew Brees made it clear he hoped elements such as the unfurling of the Saints' 2009 championship banner helps the Saints and deflates the Vikings a bit -- but not all of the feelings stem from last January's overtime thriller in the NFC championship game.
This is the 2010 season, which the NFL isn't shy about broadcasting, and Brees remembers what it was like when he was on the spectacle's visiting sideline.
"We were part of this game in 2007 up in Indianapolis after they had won it, " he said. "Unfortunately, that wasn't a great moment because we were on the other side. Hopefully, the home team being us, plays like the home team did that night, but I guess I haven't thought a whole lot about it. You're so much in preparation mode for this team and who you're going up against as opposed to thinking about the emotions of when the banner drops, the crowd and everything else. But certainly that's something to start thinking about, so I'm somewhat prepared for it, so that I stay calm once we move on from that."
What matters most, Saints players said, is the team starts the season on a positive note.
"It's a game that we really want to win, that we need to win, " said defensive end Alex Brown, a newcomer to the Saints and one of the few who acknowledges he didn't watch last season's NFC championship game. "That's it. Everything that happened last year, that's not going to help them or us. If we approach it that way, I think it hurts us. If they approach it that way, I think it hurts them."
Any different sort of approach would be unprofessional, according to the veterans.
"That's a rivalry you're talking about right there with Georgia and Florida, " Brown said, when asked about how the pregame feeling this week compares to "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party." "Is the Saints and Minnesota a rivalry? It's another game. I think it's a game the NFL wants to see, that the fans want to see."

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