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For the better part of last week, a lot of the pregame hype centered around the purported beast-of-the-east New York Jets and their loquacious blitz-minded coach, Rex Ryan.
On Sunday, before a raucous sellout crowd of 70,009 at the Superdome, the "no-name" New Orleans Saints' defense coached by veteran coordinator Gregg Williams got the last word, providing the impetus in a crucial 24-10 victory to remain unbeaten and atop the NFC South.
Williams' swarming, gritty, hands-on group of defenders helped stake the Black & Gold to a 17-0 lead with two touchdowns in the first six minutes of the second quarter, and the Saints now find themselves 4-0 for the third time in franchise history.
Saints free safety Darren Sharper continued his thieving ways, returning one of his two interceptions 99 yards for a touchdown, and defensive tackle Remi Ayodele recovered a fumble in the end zone for his first NFL score.
Complete game coverage
Jeff Duncan: New Orleans Saints playing Sharper defense
Jeff Duncan's postgame video log
Peter Finney: Jets can't get airborne vs. Saints defense
Recapping the game
Grading the Saints
Photo gallery
Saints-Jets notebook
Jets disrupt Saints' offense
Scoring summary
In-game updates
In all, the Saints collected four turnovers to push their league-leading total to 13.
"I can quote Gregg Williams, it's not about the Xs and Os, " Saints cornerback Jabari Greer said of the first-year defensive coordinator. "It's about players making plays, and that's what we did. That's what he gives us, the equipment to go out there and make plays. If we made a statement today, that was it."
Said Ryan, whose team had yielded 33 points in its 3-0 start: "The Saints outplayed us today. Overall, it was poor performance on our part. We kind of got it handed to us a little bit."
New Orleans needed every point provided by the defense as quarterback Drew Brees and the offense struggled for the second consecutive week, producing 10 points and squandering several opportunities.
After throwing nine touchdown passes in the first seven quarters this season, Brees has thrown none in the past nine.
"After we drove down the field on our first possession of the game -- we got three points, we very well could have seven -- it was about managing the football game, " said Brees, who completed 20 of 32 passes for 190 yards, with no interceptions, no sacks and a 78.9 passer rating.
Said Saints Coach Sean Payton: "This isn't about style points. This is about the formula to win each game and then get on to the next week."
Brees' counterpart, Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez, lent the Saints a huge helping hand with four turnovers, two resulting in touchdowns for the home team.
Sanchez's first mistake ended up in Sharper's hands at the New Orleans' 1-yard line on the first play of the second quarter, and 99 yards later the Saints led 10-0.
"I don't want to say that he eyed his receivers, " said Sharper, who now has 59 career interceptions and leads the NFL this season with five. "I would say that one of my strengths is reading quarterbacks and knowing where they are trying to throw the football."
Sanchez attempted to squeeze the ball into tight end Dustin Keller, but Sharper played the role of center fielder beautifully and made an easy pick in stride.
"That's a classic mistake by a rookie quarterback, looking at his receiver, " said Sanchez, who completed 14 of 27 passes for 138 yards, with no touchdowns and three interceptions, for a 27.0 passer rating. "Sharper read me the entire way. He saw my eyes, and I threw it right to him. There's absolutely no excuse for that. It was a poor decision and poor use of my eyes."
Sanchez added to his woes by being called for a personal foul while trying to make a tackle on Sharper in front of the Jets' bench.
"It was a cheap shot, " said Saints middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma, the victim of Sanchez's low blow to the knees. "I don't know why he did it to be honest with you. I hope the NFL will take care of that. We got the points, we got the W, so we'll go from there."
Sanchez's second turnover came minutes later after the Saints failed to score from a first-and-goal at New York's 1.
With the Jets facing second-and-7 from their 2, Saints right defensive end Will Smith beat left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson and stripped the ball from Sanchez's grasp. Ayodele beat Vilma to the loose ball in the end zone, extending New Orleans' lead to 17-0 with nine minutes remaining in the first half.
"That was huge, " said Ayodele, who has started the past three games for injured starter Kendrick Clancy. "We noticed that (Sanchez) runs around with the ball real loosely in his hands. When I saw it on tape, it was like he must have some big hands the way he runs around with it out there. So we knew if we could get to him we could probably get that ball out."
Then, with a big grin, Ayodele gave the rest of the story.
"Vilma tried to steal it from me, actually, " Ayodele said. "I didn't know it was him. I thought it was one of the other players. I just snatched it back."
Sharper and Saints cornerback Randall Gay picked off two more Sanchez passes in the second half, handing the fifth overall pick of the 2009 draft his first pro loss.
"Brees didn't make the mistakes I made, " Sanchez said. "My mistakes killed us. Our defense played well enough to win. That game is 10-10 without three interceptions and a fumble, so that's the game right there.
"You turn the ball over like that, you just aren't going to win. I just made poor decisions today and that cost us the game."
Sanchez attempted to rally the Jets, closing to within 17-10 on Jay Feeley's 38-yard field goal in the second quarter and Thomas Jones' 15-yard scoring run in the third quarter.
But it turned out to be too little, too late.
Afterward, Saints defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis had a few encouraging words and some friendly advice for his former college teammate.
"(Sanchez) isn't used to being down, " Ellis said. "From the program that we come from at Southern Cal, we're not used to being down at all.
"That's something he's going to have to learn how to deal with. I think he'll learn that with time, but I think he definitely got rattled. You could see him on their sideline with his head down. It was very visible. One thing I learned is even when you are frustrated and down, you never let the guys on the other sideline see you. That is something he has to learn."
That lesson comes courtesy of Gregg Williams and his "no-name" defense.

New Orleans Saints improve to 4-0 with 24-10 win over New York Jets | New Orleans Saints Central - - NOLA.com