Drew Brees, Saints looking for better showing than last week

The Saints got off to a terrible 0-4 start to the season, but seemed to have turned things around after 2 straight wins over San Diego & Tampa Bay. Then, the wheels came off in Denver. The Saints were crushed by the Broncos 34-14. Peyton Manning had a near perfect night and the Broncos offense was barely even slowed down.

That the Saints defense was terrible was no shock, but the fact that the New Orleans offense was so anemic was. Drew Brees says that game left them with a bad memory, which they want to erase tonight.

"Unfortunately that's a bad memory for us, but you gotta grow from those situations and games like that, circumstances like this," Brees said this week. "Obviously I felt like we have improved each and every week this season, from Week 1 until Week 6, and unfortunately that trip to Denver was a little bit of an aberration for us. That's not the team that we are; that's not the way that we have been taught to play. We're a prideful group that just walks away from that one real disappointed. And yet it just lights a fire under us even more, just realizing that we want to get that taste out of our mouths. We want to get back on the field, put together a great team performance, great team win and get back on a winning track. We do have a mountain to climb here - we know that - but it's one game at a time and no better way to do it than Monday Night Football against Philly."

He says the main stumbling block was the team's inability to convert 3rd downs.

"We knew going in that was going to be a critical stat in the game, and obviously, offensively, we did not measure up to the task in regards to being able to convert third downs, keep drives alive, keep our defense off the field, go down, sustain drives, get points. We just really couldn't get anything going because of our inability to convert some of those early third downs. And we just never really got back on track in that regard."

He mentioned that the only big 3rd down play they were able to get all night came from Darren Sproles, who will miss tonight's game after having hand surgery.

When asked about the Eagles defense, Brees gave the canned answer.

"I see a lot of talent. I see a ton of playmakers on both sides of the ball. Obviously we focus on their defense ... They've done a good job taking the ball away and getting pressure on the quarterback and, really, all around have done very well, and they've been put in some tough positions this year. But they play well together, very aggressive. They do some things that can give you some problems."

Not sure that they've done a good job "getting pressure on the quarterback" but, we can hope.