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It's often illogical to describe any NFL team as a one-man band. It simply takes too many people, from top to bottom, consistently doing the right things to have success. Yet there are times when the New Orleans Saints come as close as an NFL team can be to just that.

With the Bountygate suspensions having altered much of the way they do business, including penalties imposed on coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis, the Saints have leaned on quarterback Drew Brees, both on and off the field, more than ever.

Off the field, Brees is the unquestioned face and the voice of the franchise.

On the field, he is the Saints' driving force, which is also the topic of this week's Hot Read video.

But the Saints are a team that is last in the league on defense, allowing a staggering 465.5 yards per game, and last in the league in rushing.

Put those two items together, and you have the recipe for a team asking its quarterback to make it happen at every level.

Brees has done so thus far with five games with at least 300 yards passing to go with a 446-yard effort, 18 touchdowns and just two interceptions. To put that into perspective, there are 18 teams in the league that haven't scored 18 touchdowns this year; Brees has thrown his 18 touchdown passes in just six games.

But from a defensive perspective, it is a testament to Brees' ability to do what he has done thus far despite the fact the New Orleans' offense is a you-know-what-you're-going-to-get affair with an out-of-kilter leaning toward Brees. Defensive coaches routinely work the percentages to figure out a plan each week.



Read more: Broncos know what to expect from Saints offense: Drew Brees in spades - The Denver Post

|Mitch|

It's about time our defense shows up and shocks the Broncos offense! Taking some pressure off of Drew and the offense...

D_it_up

I sure hope you are right, but I'm not banking on it. I'm starting Manning over Brees this week in fantasy football just because of the defense.

QBREES9

I'm going to say Drew will light them up. This will be the turning point game for the Defense.

SaintsBro

The punter is the one guy on the Denver team I want to see having a really good night. If our defense can just get him out there on the field every once in a while, I think we will be fine.

Shoe.

I want Drew to pick on Tracy Porter all night. He knows Porter's tendencies, so I'm hoping that will give us an ever-so-slight advantage (And we damn sure don't want to be throwing toward Champ Bailey)

I've heard that Denver's D is more or less built to be a run-stopping defense, even with the loss of Bunkley. Does this mean good things for us? If someone more knowledgeable knows about this please enlighten me

lumm0x

I'd love to see our defense have a "man-up" kind of game where they shock everyone with a turnaround. I just don't see it. I think Denver's o-line is solid enought to make pressure difficult, their run game effective enough to keep us honest and frankly Manning is smart enough to pick us apart.

NonieT

Besides the defense showing up the Saints need to Run, Run, Run the ball. As Sean Payton always says, a quarterbacks' best friend is a good running game and good defense.

Rugby Saint II

They aren't missing Bunkley becasuse he hasn't shown up here yet.

saintfan

This.

They're giving up 115 yards a game on the ground. We need to get PT going early and keep him going. Use the pass to set up the run and pound them into submission.