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Saints hope to regain Superdome mojo against Bengals

Nov 15, 2014 - 4:32 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - If you're the New Orleans Saints, you'd love to be happy about your first-place standing in the jumbled NFC South with seven games to play.

But then you look at your record - 4-5 - and reality begins to creep in.

"In this league, you have to earn them each week," coach Sean Payton said. "There's a number of games we won referencing other seasons, that easily could have went a different direction. It's what drives you to get back to practice and get back to prepare and focus quickly on the best way to correct it. We have to continue to be teaching. We have to continue to covering the details and understand that this is a different team."

New Orleans stumbled from the gate at 2-4, but whipped Green Bay and Carolina in weeks 8 and 9 to get back to .500 and regain the look of a would-be NFC contender. A Week 10 loss in overtime to San Francisco, however, again dipped the record below break-even and ended an 11-0 run at home.

The 49ers converted on a fourth down with less than two minutes remaining on a drive that tied the game, then pounced on a Drew Brees fumble in New Orleans territory in the extra session and ultimately kicked a decisive field goal.

The Saints have turned the ball over 18 times in nine games, and have led in the fourth quarter of four of their five losses. Brees has 10 interceptions this season after throwing 12 in all of 2013.

"Something's got to get fixed," he said. "I'm not happy about it. I can't turn the ball over at the rate I'm turning it over and I can't turn it over in the situations that I'm turning it over. I'm aware of that."

When it's successful, the offense remains capable of big numbers.

New Orleans is second in the league in total yardage (435.0 yards per game) and third in passing yardage (304.8 yards per game). It'll face a Cincinnati defense this week that will likely be without linebacker Vontaze Burfict after he underwent knee surgery in late October. Another linebacker, Rey Maualuga, is questionable with a hamstring problem that's kept him out of four games.

The absences haven't helped the Bengals statistically at all.

In fact, Cincinnati is now allowing yardage at a 391.9 rate per week, third from last in the league.

"We don't have to turn anything, but turn ourselves, and right the ship, and go get ready to play in New Orleans," coach Marvin Lewis said. "We've got to go back and play football our way. We lost the football game. We didn't fall off a cliff."

Cincinnati was the league's last unbeaten team at 3-0, but was humbled, 43-17, by New England in a Sunday night game in Week 5 and has gone a pedestrian 2-2 since. The Bengals scored 27 and 33 points in wins over Baltimore and Jacksonville, but managed a combined three in losses to Indianapolis and Cleveland.

The loss to the Browns last week dropped them behind the Browns in the AFC South.

Running back Giovani Bernard remains doubtful with a hip injury, though first- year man Jeremy Hill has managed 209 rushing yards and 5.8 yards per carry in the last two games. Bernard, who has 625 yards from scrimmage and has scored five times, did not practice on Wednesday.

Wide receiver A.J. Green, on the other hand, is expected to play for a third straight week after missing three games with a foot problem. He's caught six passes for 67 yards and a touchdown in that pair.

Aerial mate Mohamed Sanu caught just two balls against the Browns, but has registered the NFL's 10th-best yardage total in the last five weeks - since Green's initial injury.

Quarterback Andy Dalton completed just 10 of 33 passes for 86 yards and was intercepted three times against Cleveland. His 2.0 passer rating for the game was fifth-worst in league history in a game with 30 or more passes, and it predictably ratcheted up the scrutiny on a player who signed a six-year, $115 million contract in August.

He's on pace to fewer than 20 touchdowns for the first time in his career - now in its fourth season - and also trending toward 800 fewer yards than last season, which would be the first time he's not exceeded the yardage total of the prior season.

"We've got to find a way to be consistent," Dalton said. "We haven't been in the losses. That's what it comes down to. Every week we have to come to play. We have to find a way to do that."

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Foolin' Dalton

The Browns wreaked havoc on a typically prolific Cincinnati quarterback by expertly disguising the way that their safeties would be utilized, sometimes right up until the snap of the ball. Upon the snap, they'd rotate positions and ultimately forced Dalton into the single worst game of his career and one of the worst by an NFL starter in decades. The Saints, however, are just 24th in the league in pass defense.

Work Your Weapons

Whether he's in a funk or not, it's clear that Brees has options to help share the load. His run game has been buffeted recently by the re-emergence of former college star Mark Ingram, who's averaged 27 carries and 131 yards in his last three games. Ingram's 4.8 yards per carry is ninth in the league. And then there's always tight end Jimmy Graham, who leads the team in catches (56) and yards (594).

OVERALL ANALYSIS

At this point, it might come down to which team would you least like to be? Brees and the Saints have been a season-long enigma, while Dalton and the Bengals clearly haven't been the same since the 26-point whipping administered by the Patriots in early October. When it comes to possible tie-breakers, look no further than the fact that New Orleans rarely loses at home. Translation: Brees gets it done late.

Sports Network predicted outcome: Saints 27, Bengals 23