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"We were already thin, so everybody already knew how the game was going to go,” said Johnson, who didn’t practice Wednesday and might miss a few weeks of action. “We already had it planned that everybody had to know how to play everybody else’s position to a certain extent.”

Coach Sean Payton on Wednesday said that the cooler temperatures brought on by a rainstorm aided the depleted defensive line’s cause against Tampa Bay. The Bucs also ran fewer than 60 plays on offense, and the Saints were able to mask their scant numbers on the defensive line with “enough packages and flexibility that allow ... different personnel on the field,” Payton added.

“Those guys battled,” Payton said about Hicks, Jenkins and Jordan. “I thought they handled it well.

“Fortunately, we’re getting some guys healthy, too.”

The performance against the Bucs followed an outing against the Falcons in which Hicks had three solo tackles and one of the Saints’ three sacks on quarterback Matt Ryan.

Jordan — who’s generated more quarterback pressure than any other defensive end playing in a 3-4 scheme so far this season, according to the NFL analysis website Pro Football Focus — assisted on three tackles and landed a hit on Ryan. Jenkins had a tackle and chipped in on another stop.

“We just go out there like a band of brothers, and we have to have each other’s backs at the end of the day,” Jenkins said in response to a question about the extra work he, Hicks and Jordan have been tasked with. “For us, this is the moment we trained for.”

Read more: Saints defensive line aims to get healthy | Saints | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA

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Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

All little common sense goes a long way.