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New Orleans (5-0) at New England (4-1) — 4:25 p.m. ET, FOX: If you hypothesized before the season that the Saints defense would have the edge over New England’s offense in this game, you’d have received some funny looks. But that’s where we are now. Tom Brady is dealing with injuries and attrition all along his receiver corps, and the formerly historically porous Saints defense has been a revelation since switching coordinators from Steve Spagnuolo to Rob Ryan. Brady currently ranks 19th in Football Outsiders’ DYAR (season-cumulative) efficiency metric, the lowest mark of his career, and the Saints are teeing off on their opponents. Ryan, who worked as New England’s linebackers coach from 2000 through ’03, has always had a way of getting to Brady with his schemes. Last time, it was Ryan’s Dallas Cowboys against the Pats in 2011, and Brady countered with constant no-huddle to keep Ryan’s weird blitzes off the field. The problem now is that Brady’s own receivers may need the time between snaps to get their bearings and remember what they’re supposed to do.

FARRAR: Rob Ryan’s big blitzes key Saints’ defensive revival

Meanwhile, there’s the always efficient Drew Brees, who is reunited with Sean Payton and has an interesting history of absolutely waxing New England’s defense when he faces it. In three career games against the Pats, Brees has completed 47 passes in 65 attempts for 723 yards, eight touchdowns and no picks. He has a higher quarterback rating (148.3) against New England than against any other team. Small sample size? Yes. Different personnel? Sure. And the Pats’ defense has played very well this season for the most part. But if Brees gets a head of steam going at Gillette Stadium and the seemingly unstoppable Jimmy Graham goes on a roll, watch out. Brady’s team as currently constructed isn’t ready for a shoot-out, and that’s true even if Rob Gronkowski is finally able to make his 2013 season debut.

Payton wouldn’t bite, however, when asked this week if Brady will be an easier matchup than in years past.

“You see everything you’ve seen prior, you see the arm strength, you see the will to win, you see the competitive drive, you see all those things,” the Saints coach said. “I think just like we are a work in progress each week, we’re trying to improve, we feel like we tell our players we’re in a race to get better. It’s either that or you’re going in the other direction, and I’m sure they’re working hard to improve in the areas they feel like they need to just like we are.”

The issue for the Patriots is the Saints are much further along in their progression. – Doug Farrar

NFL Week 6 preview: Looking at New Orleans Saints vs. New England Patriotss, more | Audibles - SI.com

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

homerj07

Kill da Wabbit. Drop Brady (repeatedly) like a bad habit.