Payton: Pressure not higher against Patriots

• By LES EAST
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Nov 24, 2009 - Page: 1C

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METAIRIE — The Saints are 10-0 for the first time in franchise history, and the only team in NFL history to finish the regular season 16-0, New England, is the next opponent.

The game will be played on Monday Night Football in a sold-out and undoubtedly raucous Superdome. This will likely be the most-hyped regular-season game in Saints history as they go for lucky number 11 in a row.

But as the stakes, hype, and attention continue to build, coach Sean Payton said the pressure doesn’t necessarily do the same.

“I think there’s pressure each week to play well and to improve,” he said Monday at his weekly news conference. “But I don’t think any one of us feels a sense of mounting pressure because of winning football games.

“I think there’s always that weight of wanting to be perfect, or that added charge of trying to play the best game or coach the best game, and I think that’s urgency. I think we all coach and play with a sense of urgency, and that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.”

The flip side of the mounting-pressure theory is that the Saints’ magic number for winning the NFC South is already down to two: Any combination of New Orleans victories and Atlanta defeats equaling two will guarantee the Saints the fourth division title in franchise history.

“We’ve been in the spot where you’re sitting at 4-4 and you lose the next game and you’re eliminated from the playoffs; then there’s pressure,” Payton said. “That’s different. I think right now it’s the focus of one game at a time and really working to improve each week. We’re interested in how do we beat New England. That’s the challenge in front of us.”

The Saints had their cleanest victory in five weeks when they beat the Buccaneers 38-7 on Sunday in Tampa. New Orleans didn’t turn the ball over, producing a plus-4 turnover margin.

Improved ball security was a priority all last week because the Saints had turned the ball over 13 times in their four most recent games, and the largest margin of victory in that stretch was 12 points.

“It’s more than just giving it lip service,” Payton said. “(It’s) physically trying to pull the ball away or physically challenging anyone who has the football, starting with the quarterback to the receivers to the running backs.

“It’s one thing to talk about wanting to reduce turnovers, but it’s an area that we have to continue to work on as coaches in regards to actually having drills that simulate what happens in a game.”

The status of several key injured players will be a hot topic this week. Backup cornerback Leigh Torrence was placed on injured reserve Monday because of a shoulder injury suffered Sunday.

The Saints re-signed cornerback Mike McKenzie, a 10-year-veteran who started the past five seasons for New Orleans. McKenzie, 33, finished each of the past two seasons on injured reserve, suffering a broken patella last season and a torn anterior cruciate ligament two years ago.