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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees this week stressed Coach Sean Payton's 'one-game-at-a-time' mantra.
Unbeaten and unchallenged, their spot in the NFL hierarchy will be determined this afternoon.


Unbeaten and unchallenged, their spot in the NFL hierarchy will be determined this afternoon.
Pretenders or contenders? We find out today.
The New York Football Giants invade the Superdome for what most experts are calling an early showdown for supremacy in the NFC. The winner seizes the early lead in the race for home-field advantage in the conference.
No more questioning New Orleans' resurgent running game for authenticity.
No more wondering if the Saints' defense is really a force or just a product of a user-friendly early schedule.
It's gauge time -- Big Apple vs. Big Easy in the biggest game of the young NFL season.
The Saints know what's at stake. Their reputations are on the line.
"We understand the type of game that it's going to be, and I think we'll be ready for the challenge, " New Orleans Coach Sean Payton said.
Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams took it a step farther.
"By far it's the most physical team we've played -- by far, " he said. "It's the best coached team we've played so far. They're a hard nosed, physical football team that doesn't beat themselves."
The Saints are breathing rare air these days.
They're one of five unbeaten teams in the NFL. They're ranked atop or at the top of nearly every pundit's power polls, and they're 4-0 for only the third time in the franchise's 43-year history.
No one outside of the 504 area code expected this from a team that went 7-9 and 8-8 the previous two seasons.
But the Saints believed all along they were capable of such lofty feats.
"I don't think any of us are surprised by it, " running back Reggie Bush said Wednesday.
The Saints have managed to keep their cleats firmly on terra firma. Payton has brainwashed his troops with a one-game-at-a-time mantra for the past few weeks, and the preaching appears to have worked. The Saints aren't eating the cheese, even if their fan base has gorged themselves into on Who Dat Havarti for most of the past two weeks.
No one was talking playoff implications on Airline Drive this week.
"Let's just take it one game at a time and not take it too far ahead, " Brees said Wednesday. "It's only the fifth game of the season for us, the sixth for them. It's not like this is the week 12, 13 or 14 where you could very much see (playoff implications) on the horizon."
Brees admitted the thought has crossed his mind, "but it doesn't change things. It doesn't mean I'm going to play a little extra harder. The fact is we're all going to be giving it our best because we want to win."
The last time the Saints were unbeaten this far into the season was 1993.
You probably don't remember those mighty conquerors, do you?
The 1993 Saints started 5-0 and strutted into the bye week as one of two unbeaten teams in the league.
Under the headline "Saints' Fantastic Start is a Dream to Behold," here's what Times-Picayune columnist Peter Finney wrote after the Saints vanquished the Los Angeles Rams for their fifth win without a loss:
"As the Saints prepare for a week off with one of the league's two unbeaten records, (Coach Jim) Mora realizes he could not have written better script. . . . (He's) watched his defense come together (and) by and large, the Saints have feasted on superior field position and a plus-9 number in the giveaway-takeaway department, tops in the NFL."
Sound familiar?
The Saints were America's darlings. During the bye week players conducted interviews far and wide as they prepared for a road trip to Pittsburgh for a classic gauge game against the Steelers, one of the league's ruling elite
New Orleans left on the wrong end of an embarrassing 37-14 beatdown, one of the worst, most thorough losses of Mora's coaching tenure. The Saints never recovered -- mentally or physically. They lost seven of their next nine games and finished 8-8.
The dream had quickly become a nightmare.
The 1993 season should serve as a cautionary tale for this year's Saints. They haven't accomplished anything, but with a win today they'll take a big step toward getting where they want to go.

New Orleans Saints get chance to show what they're made of | New Orleans Saints Central - - NOLA.com