New Orleans Saints not ready to throw in towel

The New Orleans Saints have been very good at playing on only four days of rest, posting a 5-2 mark in such games since their first Thursday night game back in 1992.

But Thursday night’s matchup with the undefeated and NFC South-leading Atlanta Falcons in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome presents a different set of problems for the struggling Saints.

The Saints know they have to improve in a hurry, or the season will get away from them before they get near the midway point of the schedule. Dropping a 39-17 decision to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday when they had an opportunity to climb back to 2-3 wasn’t what they hoped to see.

But the one thing the Saints have at this point, they say, is a will to win despite the daunting task they face going into what is another critical game — much like the one against the Dallas Cowboys just 1 1/2 weeks ago.

The Saints were winless in three games that night and they fought their way to a 26-20 overtime win to temporarily keep them afloat — until Sunday’s clunker against the Eagles when they were outscored 29-0 in the second half until a touchdown on the final play of the game.

“We’ve got to get fixed whatever we need to get fixed, I don’t know,” strong safety Kenny Vaccaro said after the Eagles debacle. “I think we have got the players, though. And we have to stay healthy.

“We have to get our guys out here to make plays … and us coming together becoming a unit instead of something just pieced together. We just need to get to the point where everybody’s healthy, everybody’s good, everybody’s in the game and we’re doing what we do. Like in 2013.”

That’s a long way from happening, especially when you consider that team won 11 games and added a victory in the playoffs. But that team had a steady offense and a salty defense, two things the current Saints are lacking.

But they aren’t throwing in the towel, not by any stretch of the imagination.

“We feel like we have the right pieces in place,” quarterback Drew Brees said. “It hasn’t come together yet, but it will.”

While some players might not be ready to get right back on the field after such a poor outing and play a game on a short week of preparation, the Saints are embracing it.

“We’re fortunate to play Thursday,” Saints running back Mark Ingram said on Monday. “If it was a Sunday game, you would still kind of take that 24-hour rule.”

“You just focus strictly on the game ahead,” defensive end Cameron Jordan said. “That’s something that’s proven to help us (in the past) and I’m hoping to do the same this year. I’m surely glad we have a chance to redeem ourselves come Thursday against an in-division opponent.”