QBREES9

By SHELDON MICKLES
Advocate sportswriter
Published: Oct 2, 2009 - Page: 1C
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Only one game in the NFL this weekend will match two of the league’s seven remaining undefeated teams.

That game won’t be played in Foxborough, Mass., East Rutherford, N.J.; Indianapolis; Pittsburgh; or San Diego — which are most likely to host a battle of unbeatens in Week 4.

No, the showdown of two 3-0 teams will take place in the Superdome on Sunday when the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets — two early-season surprises — meet.

Which explains why the Saints training facility in Metairie was swarming with national media on Wednesday and Thursday. The NFL Network, USA Today and New York Times came in Wednesday, while CBS and ESPN will be in along with reporters from NFL.com, ESPN.com and CBSSports.com.

Arguably, that makes the Saints-Jets clash the game of the week although the Baltimore-New England, Dallas-Denver and Green Bay-Minnesota games will garner their fair share of attention.

But Saints running back Reggie Bush knows who should get top billing.

“There aren’t two other undefeated teams that are playing (each other) this week,” he said Wednesday. “If it’s not the game of the week, then I don’t know what it would be. This should be the game of the week.”

The game pits the Saints, who have the league’s top-ranked offense, against the Jets, who are ranked third in total defense, which only adds to the anticipation.

“This is what you live for,” Bush said.

Before anyone could start hyping it too much, Saints coach Sean Payton tried to boil it down to what it is: Just another early-season outing in a 16-game schedule, nothing more … nothing less.

“I think it’s really more about two 3-0 teams that are playing well,” Payton said. “That’s the interest level. If these two teams were sitting here at 1-2, I don’t think you’d have the same interest level. It really boils down to the fact that you have two teams that have played really well in the first three games of the season. That’s what piques the interest of the fan base.”

Having the Jets and the New York viewing market involved certainly helped raise the level of excitement from a ratings point of view.

But while it’s been exciting, Drew Brees, who was interviewed this week by Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino for a segment that will air on CBS’ pregame show Sunday, said all the hoopla hasn’t been a problem.

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