New England is my goal.....so I'm working hard to get there. Gotta get back out there with my teammates asap. Pray for me!

"The thing I picked up as soon as I got here and got around the rest of the team was the feeling of ‘Team.’ You hear guys around here talking about ‘we’ and nobody talking is talking about themselves," McAlister said of his initial impression of the Saints. "The players have been very helpful and welcoming. I only have played for one other team, Baltimore, so I don’t know what it’s like to be in another locker room."

@jeffduncantp The MRI revealed Tracy Porter's injury to be an MCL sprain. He's expected to miss 4-6 weeks.

"Like I said before, I never heard that," Smith said. "I don't listen to the news, read the paper, go on the Internet, I don't do any of that. I just come to work every day and do my job. If anybody ever did say (Smith wasn't living up to the contract) it really at the end of the day doesn't mean anything to me, because they don't really know what going on behind the scenes.

"Coach (Sean) Payton, (General Manager) Mickey Loomis, (Owner) Mr. (Tom) Benson, we were all on the same page. They knew what was going on. They knew that I was doing was the best I could do at that particular time because of the injury I had."

Dr. Kyle Dalton of Conway was invited to go to New Orleans September 21 and 22 to help other PPM Dentists fit the New Orleans Saints football team with Makkar Advantage Mouthguard, formerly known as the Pure Power Mouthguard.

"I think it's a combination of the coaches putting together a great game plan and getting us prepared during the week, and the players going out there and executing the game plan," Saints cornerback Jabari Greer said. "So far, it's worked well."

"It was man-to-man coverage, and sometimes when their man blocks, they blitz," Brees said. "So it was one of those things where our guy (Bush) looked like he was blocking, but really he was just trying to kind of fight his way out. So (DeCoud) comes and I'm looking somewhere else, and all of a sudden my eyes come back around and he's hitting me in the chin.
"But here's the thing, risk-reward. If he does that and I dump it to the guy he's supposed to be covering, it goes 50 yards without anybody touching him. So that's the whole thing with pressures. You pressure to try and create a big play while understanding that you could give one up as well. That's the cat and mouse game."

"That play he had against (Jets rookie quarterback) Mark Sanchez, when he took it 99 yards for a touchdown, he disguised it well. He acted like he was going to (cover) the inside receiver. That comes from him playing for 13 years against a young guy."

Monday Night Lights/Atlanta at New Orleans, 8:30 p.m. ET

The line: Saints by 9½

The story: I'll make this one short and sweet. If Atlanta couldn't figure out Tony Romo -- which it didn't -- how does it stay with Drew Brees and New Orleans? Romo punched holes everywhere in the Falcons secondary last weekend, and it's that secondary that could keep Atlanta from moving to the next level.

New Orleans has won five of its past six against the Falcons, including its past three at home, and those teams weren't nearly as sound as this one. The Saints keep proving they're the best team in the NFC, but that isn't Atlanta's concern. The Falcons must demonstrate that for one night, at least, they're the best team in their division.

Unless they can control the clock and play flawless football, I don't see how. Miami should've beaten the Saints but suffered second-half screw-ups, with the Saints returning two interceptions for touchdowns. Atlanta can't afford similar mistakes and must keep Brees off the field.

Yeah, I know the club hasn't suffered back-to-back losses under coach Mike Smith, but there's always room for a first. And this is it. Mike, you're about to earn your paycheck.

Something to consider: Matt Ryan is 11-3 in indoor games and has a passer rating of 113.9 in two starts vs. New Orleans. When his rating exceeds 100, the Falcons are 8-0.

When New Orleans wiped out Miami's 21-point lead Sunday, it represented the largest comeback victory in league history for a team attempting to preserve a record of at least 5-0: Then, Saints running back Reggie Bush sent another message to Mercury Morris and the rest of the 1972 Dolphins, suggesting on Sporting News radio that his team could go undefeated. There are still 10 games to go - a whole lot, in other words -- but the Saints' schedule isn't exactly daunting. New Orleans plays host to Atlanta on "Monday Night Football" this week, then welcomes the Carolina Panthers before back-to-back games at St. Louis and at Tampa Bay. The Saints return home for New England on Nov. 30 before finishing the season at Washington, at Atlanta, vs. Dallas, vs. Tampa Bay and at Carolina. Going unbeaten might be expecting too much, but finishing 15-1 or 14-2 -- with an NFC South title and home-field advantage in the playoffs -- is not.