blacksaint

Despite a season-opening loss to the Colts, the Saints look forward to playing the Buccaneers, whom they usually manage to keep within reach

Thursday, September 13, 2007
By Mike Triplett

As if last Thursday's blowout loss to the Indianapolis Colts wasn't bad enough, the Saints have been suffering though an extra-long wait for their shot at redemption.

Everyone is itching for Sunday's game at division rival Tampa Bay -- a chance, as quarterback Drew Brees put it, to "go take it out on somebody."

"This was the longest weekend of my life," Brees said Wednesday, though he admitted that might be a slight exaggeration.

"Well, I've had some worse weekends. But this one took a while," he said. "Just because we had so much time to prepare for those guys (the Colts), and expectations were so high. And I think we all walked away from that game just thinking to ourselves, 'What happened?' It just didn't seem like we showed up.

"We were so prepared. I feel like I was more prepared for that game than I had been for one in my life. And yet, things just didn't go our way. And I think you've just got to understand that at times that's going to happen, and it shows the strength and the character of your team to see how you're going to respond."

It's a little early in the season for "must-win" games, but if the Saints want to carry on as Super Bowl contenders, this one is important.

First, it's a divisional game, so it counts a little more in the standings.

More important, the Saints would like to prove that their Week 1 performance was something of an aberration -- even though it did come against the defending Super Bowl champions.

"I think right now, every game is a must-win game for us, because we expect so much of ourselves this year," defensive tackle Brian Young said. "We know what we did last year wasn't a fluke."

"It's important just to break the ice, so to speak. Just to get the first one under your belt," offensive tackle Jon Stinchcomb added. "And you don't want to get into a situation where you set yourself back early in the season. We've already gone one week without that win. You don't want to go two."

The good thing about having 10 days between games is that the Saints were able to start preparing for Tampa Bay early. The players reviewed film last Friday, had Saturday and Sunday off, then worked in a bonus practice session Monday before getting back into the regular weekly routine.

The players and Coach Sean Payton all talked about finding the right balance between forgetting about last week's game and learning from it.

Safety Roman Harper said the Saints need to "bury" last week's loss just like they buried the positive accomplishments from last season with a mock jazz funeral at the team's practice facility.

Young said you want to hold on to the frustration just "a little bit," so it drives you to work harder throughout the week.

"You do have to get on to the next game, but not at the expense of the things that you want to correct," Payton said. "I think it's important, whether you're coming off of a win or a loss.

"You need to be able to re-energize, regroup and get ready to play another game, both physically and mentally. It's a long season. You look back on the good teams that have gone on to the postseason and won Super Bowls -- there are going to be stretches where you're going to have to fight through the schedule.

"For us it's moving on to the second week of the season and getting ready to play a tough team on the road."

Tampa Bay had an equally frustrating season opener, losing 20-6 at Seattle on Sunday. And last year, the Buccaneers fell on hard times, finishing 4-12.

However, these two teams always seem to play each other close, regardless of records.

After they joined the new NFC South in 2002, the first seven games between the Saints and Buccaneers were decided by seven points or less. The Saints swept Tampa Bay last season, but they had one of their most classic matchups in the Superdome on Oct. 8, when New Orleans needed Reggie Bush's punt return touchdown for a come-from-behind win in the fourth quarter.

The Saints are hoping to avoid such dramatics this time around, but Brees said the team needs some sort of momentum boost to get this season kick-started.

"You know, each year, you really start over, as good or bad as you were the year before," Brees said. "And I think you still need as a team something good to happen to you, so then you just start to build confidence and you start to roll.

"That's what we need. We just need a good win, a little confidence builder, and then we get on a roll."

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