4-0 Saints rewarded with extra day off

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Oct 7, 2009 - Page: 1C

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METAIRIE — The New Orleans Saints know a 4-0 record doesn’t guarantee them anything as far as the postseason goes, but it did get them something: an extra day off.

The Saints, who were off Monday, reported for work Tuesday morning thinking they’d practice in the afternoon and again today before getting a four-day weekend for their bye week.

Instead, coach Sean Payton rewarded them with an extra day off and no practice Tuesday after they reviewed the game tapes of Sunday’s 24-10 victory over the New York Jets.

Quarterback Drew Brees joked that they wanted to try something different after losing three times following a bye since Payton’s arrival in 2006. The Saints did win an NFC divisional playoff game after earning a bye in 2006.

“I’m sure you guys are going to bring up next week that our record has not been very good the week after a bye,” Brees said. “So we figured that we would try something new. If you want to change the results, you’ve got to change the process a little bit.”

The Saints will be off today through Sunday, then return to work Monday to begin preparing for their Oct. 18 date against the 4-0 New York Giants in the Superdome. The Giants play the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.

“It was a pretty big surprise because it’s very out of the norm,” Brees said. “Typically we grind it out for a few days, then get a nice weekend off, a long weekend. But this really allows guys to relax, be with their families, kind of recharge the batteries. Hopefully, when we get back on Monday we’ll be locked and loaded.”

NFL honors Sharper

Saints free safety Darren Sharper was named Tuesday by the NFL as the NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in the win over the Jets.

Sharper intercepted two passes, returning one a club-record 99 yards to give his team a 10-0 lead in the second quarter, giving him five interceptions in the first four games. He also recorded a team-high eight tackles.

Sharper is ninth on the league’s all-time list with 59 career interceptions, and he ranks second in returns for touchdowns with 10, two behind Hall of Famer Rod Woodson.

With touchdown returns of 97 and 99 yards this season, Sharper is the second player in NFL history to have two interception returns of 90-plus yards for scores. The first to do it was Deion Sanders in 1994.

Bell eyes return