Sports - New Orleans Saints

Monday, Nov. 09, 2009

Unbeaten Saints way ahead of last season

METAIRIE, La. — The unbeaten New Orleans Saints are less than a year removed from the frustrations of a mediocre 8-8 season, yet seemingly a world away.

With only half of their 2009 season in the books, the Saints already have matched their win total from 2008, surpassed several team-highs from last season and put themselves on pace to improve in other areas.

The biggest gains have come on defense.

Three fumble recoveries against Carolina on Sunday gave New Orleans 24 takeaways this season, or two more than in 16 games in 2008.

Anthony Hargrove’s fumble return marked the Saints’ seventh defensive touchdown this season, compared to none last year.

The Saints also have 16 interceptions this season after having 15 the year before.

Coach Sean Payton said the Saints are in good shape.

“I’m encouraged with how we came out of the game from a health standpoint; that was positive,’’he said. “I thought there were a lot of things that were sloppy early on. I was glad that we were able to come along and get the win.

“There will be a lot of things we can clean up. We spent a week without pads; we obviously were coming off a late game on Monday and you just try to get their legs back.

“But we made a lot of mistakes in that game that after watching the tape, there are a lot of areas that we can improve on and that’s where our focus will be on Wednesday.’’

He knows some areas to work out.

“We gave up the big run defensively and I don’t think we tackled as well as we would’ve liked,’’ Payton said.

“Offensively, we had the two turnovers, we had dropped passes, we had penalties — one on a third down play that was going to convert and set us up for a touchdown and we had to kick a field goal.”