Before the game Ed Werder reported for ESPN that Drew Brees felt the Saints could put 40 points on the board against the Giants with several shock plays he hoped would be called.

The New York Giants boasted the top-rated defense in the National Football League.

This was a team that had allowed 17, 31, 0, 16, and 7 points on their way to an unblemished record.

Meanwhile, after compiling a gaudy 93 points in their first two games, the Saints chose to grind it out against the Bills and Jets (whose fanbases also felt their respective defense was the best in the NFL heading into games with the Saints) before sitting idle last week.

I stopped and considered what Drew had said, and then it dawned on me.

This is not an individual known for boasting, in fact he seems quite the perfectionist. Every comment carefully worded, every action deliberate, and every decision weighed properly.

Still, he let it be known his feelings.

Confidence abounds in New Orleans right now, so it could be chalked up to that, certainly. However, Drew seems unaffected by such jubilation. His sole goal seems to be increasing the number in the win column, not patting himself nor his charges on the back with pre-game hype.

It turns out Drew Brees wasn’t being boastful at all, rather stating what he saw that no one outside of Airline Drive had — the Saints offense will face top-rated defense after top-rated defense and show that excellent offensive execution will always trump outstanding defensive play.

The problem is it so rarely happens in the history of this league.

Ranked number one overall, the Giants had allowed a meager 210 yards total per game on defense.

The Saints had far eclipsed that total by halftime.

In fact, by the end of the game the Saints had scored 7 touchdowns (tying a team record set 40 years ago) by 7 different players.

No matter what play Sean Payton dialed up, it almost seemed to matter on one thing, that Drew Brees was the one orchestrating the development of it. Marques Colston ran free in the Giants secondary — also rated tops in the league going into the game allowing a paltry 105 yards per game through the air — and accumulated 100 yard receiving by the half. Brees had 100 yards passing at the end of the first quarter.

The Saints biggest weakness for years has been their offensive line. Not able to withstand pressure up the middle, speed rushers on the edge, nor capable of grinding out the tough yards, they staked their claim to being able to not only overcome all three knocks, but rather it may well have become a strength.

New Orleans has run the ball consistently in each game, even when the other team knows it is coming. On fourth and goal from the 1, Payton decided to go for it on the opening drive. No observer of the Saints in the previous three years would have applauded such a move, especially against that Giants front four. In four games and one drive, however, the offensive line had made believers not only of the fans but more importantly their coach and play-caller.

The result? Touchdown.

And for once, the defense faced an established quarterback, one who has even led his team to a championship, and still it mattered not. Turnovers came infrequently as they had in previous weeks, but that also didn’t seem to make much difference. Playing with the lead, Greer and Porter got their hands on passes, forcing Eli to put a little more on the ball to a wide open streaking Steve Smith.

What would have been a touchdown against Oakland or Tampa Bay was an overthrow against New Orleans.

Darren Sharper’s touchdown return on an interception was negated by a penalty that led to a Giants touchdown, and while that would have deflated past Saints defenses whose big plays were so infrequent that it may as well have spelled a collapse, it almost seemed to fuel them even more.

Manning looked uncomfortable dropping back, even getting in the face of his running back for a poor blitz pickup that came on an interception that he threw up for grabs, not Bradshaw.

You could see things unraveling.

And for the fifth straight game the Saints snowball effect eventually came into play.

Force your opponent into being one-dimensional, allow Gregg Williams to bring pressure, and have an attitude on defense that your offensive line matches and allow number 9 to go out and direct the ballclub.

Welcome to the best Saints team in the history of the franchise.

And that is only five games in.

Heady times.

Drew Brees was harried, harassed, and hurried.

Never allowed to discover any semblance of a rhythm, the Saints passing attack led by its previously unflappable orchestrator was more than held in check.

It was shutdown.

However, in a game in which the Saints could muster little through the air, they found their sledding on the ground. It took several quarters of attrition and fresh, eager legs from Pierre Thomas to seal the deal.

The Saints amassed over 220 yards on the ground and three scores.

Yet that hardly tells the story of this game.

No, despite the gaudy numbers the Saints offense seems to effortlessly be able to generate on the ground or in the air, this game belonged to the defense and its mastermind, Gregg Williams.

Previous weeks the Saints allowed yardage and points to inexperienced signal-callers, playing a prevent defense some fans, myself included, didn’t much care for even if we understood the cause to implement it.

Gregg Williams unleashed a taste of what New Orleans fans have craved since 2000, an attacking and aggressive defense that does not give any yard easily, and causes more mayhem than it has missteps.

New Orleans finally has a defense that can shut an opponent down in a grind-it-out game, and a running attack that can bolster its point production when the footing proves anything but solid.

Saints players slipped and fell on numerous occasions. Brees was hit early on. Long-developing pass patterns were rarely allowed to form.

The Bills came out and smacked the Saints in the mouth.

They did it up the gut.

Buffalo sought to make the Saints one-dimensional, preferring to take the ball out of their leader’s hands, and place it firmly in those of undrafted players Lynell Hamilton, Pierre Thomas, and gadget player extraordinaire Reggie Bush.

They would play the battle of field position. Limit possessions. Run the clock.

Keep the score low.

Maybe even sack the quarterback a couple of times and collect a fumble while scoring on special teams.

Should all of these things come to fruition, the Bills would have plied their gameplan exactly as they wanted. One would think that Dick Jauron had to like his odds.

Yet it was the Saints who came out the victors. Taking what the defense gave them, and gashing them for leaving five defensive backs in the ballgame. The defense found exotic ways to generate pressure, and the often termed overpaid defensive ends for New Orleans actually made their presence felt on more than one occasion for the first time all season.

In the end, the Saints had won.

What we saw today would have been blowout losses to the Ravens in ‘06, the Bears in ‘06 and ‘07, and on and on and on..

The Saints have changed their personality. They have found an identity.

That is why New Orleans sits atop the NFC South with an unblemished record.

With thirteen more to go.

Sean Payton had a great first year with the Saints. We made it to the NFC Championship, but since then, we have not made the playoffs. That being said, I have not really given much thought to whether he should be the Saints head coach. I think he has actually accomplished a lot (in spite of two disappointing seasons). I started thinking about why I felt that way (Haslett had a similar start, but I had enough of him pretty quickly).

After giving it some though, I made a list of some of the things that separate Payton from our previous Saints head coaches, along with some of his most important decisions:

1. Payton joined the Saints shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans area. There was a lot of uncertainly about the Saints and the viability of the city and franchise, and I think he had options, but took the job anyway. He played a leadership role not just with the team, but in the community, and I respect him for that. He also is an excellent role model.

2. He is the only Saints Coach that I can remember that calls all the offensive plays, and is an offensive coach. He has made the Saints and exciting football team, win or lose. Haslett and Mora were both defensive coaches, and Ditka was just plain ‘offensive’. I will never forget “Jumbo”.

3. Payton has a good and fair relationship with the media. He keeps his cool. He answers questions, and is very reasonable. He is not afraid to give explanations. Haslett, Mora and Ditka had contentious relationships with the press, and were for the most part hot headed, particularly when things were not going well. And when things were going well they were very sarcastic. Kind of, “I won a game, how dare you ever criticize me.” I will never forget Mora’s, “You think you know, but you will never know.”

4. Payton shows a lot of respect and appreciation for the fans. Mora, Haslett and Ditka looked at the fans as necessary evils, and with arrogance. Remember the Ditka crotch grabbing incident, Haslett defending Brooks, and Mora sticking with his offensive coordinator, Carl Smith?

5 Unlike his 3 predecessors, (it is too painful to think past Mora), Payton has often admitted he has been wrong. More importantly, he has made a lot of changes in response to bad decisions. You can list them:

(1) Brought in a New Defensive Coordinator and basically recruited Greg Williams.
(2) He did not even consider Aaron Brooks; his first move was signing Drew Brees.
(3) Kept Pierre Thomas, and eventually even started to play him.
(4) Made a mistake in getting rid of John Carney, with good intentions. But then he
did not waste too much time bringing in new kickers. Releasing Carney was a bad
mistake, as kickers probably kept us out of the playoffs the past two years.
(5) Was not afraid to draft Reggie Bush. Yes, he has not lived up to everyone’s expectations, but undoubtedly brought a lot of excitement to a city that needed something to get excited about. It helped to sell tickets and bring attention to the franchise. I cannot think of another player that would have brought that much excitement to the Saints in that draft.
(6) Tries to fill Saints obvious needs. Went after Vilma, traded up for Cedric Ellis, brought in Fujita, gave Lance Moore a chance, made sure management kept the core players like Hill, Grant, Colston, brought in Shockey (even though he has not produced, our TEs had really not been productive.

There are more, but the point is that if Payton recognizes a mistake, he fixes it. Letting Bullocks and Tebucky Jones, go, and bringing in a Darren Sharper. He brought in a veteran back up QB in Brunnel, and I think Harrington is even better than some of the backups we had in the past. (I mean he was a no. 1 pick and a starter for at least two other teams.) But, I am still scratching my head about Jason David.

The other thing is Payton does appear sincere. He has brought in high-character players (unlike, Ditka and Haslett), and has changed the attitude for the franchise, where we can actually go out and attract quality players and coaches. This team has some very good role models that are active in the community.

There have been very few character issues with his Saints, and it appears the Players have bought into the program. If there is any dissension in the locker room, we do not hear about it. (I think possible dissension that could have created issues is what cost Kevin Houser his job, and hopefully, we do not pay the price.)

But Payton is very different from our past 3 coaches. I think he will eventually win, if we can avoid injuries and get a few more breaks, have some consistency in the kicking game, and have a decent defense.

I think extending his contract was a good decision.