Patriots know well how Saints are marching

The New England Patriots have seen it all before. In fact, when some of them look in the mirror they can still see it.

They had an offensive machine two seasons ago – and in many respects, still do. Back then, that machine was taking them toward an undefeated season. And just two weeks ago, they faced a team that is enjoying the same type of year in the 10-0 Indianapolis Colts, a dome team with speed.

Next up: The 10-0 New Orleans Saints, searching for perfection week by week. A dynamic dome team.

“They’re a real good football team, strong in every area,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said of the Drew Brees-Reggie Bush led WhoDats. “They turn the ball over on defense, make a lot of big plays, everybody’s a problem on offense – tight ends, receivers, quarterback, running backs, offensive line. They create a lot of problems. We’ll need all the time we can to prepare for them. They give you a lot to get ready for.

“I can see why their record is what it is; they deserve it. They’ve won every game by double digits – most of the time they are running out the clock in the middle of the third quarter.”

Gee, weren’t teams saying the same thing about the Patriots two years ago at this time, about the time that the rest of the league made it a little tougher for them to get to that 16-0 season? Read on, it gets even more eerily similar:

“They have 18 different guys that scored touchdowns,” Belichick said. “You can’t stop one and let the other 17 go. I know a lot of those are defensive touchdowns, but still that’s a lot of different guys. It’s fourth and one against the Jets and they’re throwing to offensive linemen in the end zone, so everybody’s involved.”

Tom Brady, time to look in the mirror. Brady knew that eventually another team would approach the numbers his 2007 Patriots piled up.

“I’ve seen a lot of great offenses since I’ve been in the league, like the Rams and Colts,” Brady said on Wednesday. “We were one of them (in 2007). The Saints are obviously one of them this year. But there’s always going to be another great offense.

“There’s always going to be great receivers and quarterbacks that finally come together under a coach (Sean Payton) that’s been with them for a few years, that really understands the strengths and weaknesses. The schedule aligns right and the scores of the games come out a certain way, so (records) are always going to be broken.”

“They’re an organization that’s done a lot of things well, overall, for a long period of time,” Payton said of the Pats. “We pay close attention each year to the different things that they’re doing to have success.”

Brady says there’s no real incentive to stop the Saints from doing what New England did. The incentive is to just win, baby.

“From (the Saints’) standpoint, they obviously have a lot of confidence in what they’re doing,” Brady said. “Any time you take the field, I remember what kind of confidence we had taking the field as an undefeated team and knowing that if we played a good game it was going to be almost impossible for teams to beat us.”

But Brady senses some confidence brewing in his own locker room.

“If you don’t play well you do get beat, as evidenced by what happened in the Super Bowl that year,” he said of the loss to the Giants. “We go down (to New Orleans) with our own feelings as well. Even though we’re 7-3, we have a pretty confident team, too. We’ve played a lot of good football this year at times, and obviously it hasn’t been all perfect, but aside from a few bad halves of football, it’s been pretty solid.

“We see ourselves as a team that can beat anybody we play. Then again, we’ve got to go out and do it. It’s much easier said than done against this team.”

Does the fact they’ve faced the Colts help the Patriots prepare for this game?

“It think it will help us a lot,” Pats cornerback Jonathan Wilhite said. “We’ve played against some good teams this year and some teams that can move the ball around. But this is a team that can beat you right off the start.

“Being in the NFL, every week you’ve got to be ready to go, but this is one of those weeks that you have to study a little more and watch a little more film.” Pats safety Brandon Meriweather thinks this is an even tougher challenge.

“Indianapolis does one thing great; this team does everything else great,” he said. “But just going into that atmosphere (in Indy) and taking what we took from that game, which was tremendous. Not necessarily playing against (the Colts) will help us against (the Saints) that much, but some of the things that we took out of that game will.”

One thing that came out of that game: the word undefeated. The Colts and Saints are still that.

“You don’t hear it too often,” Saints safety Darren Sharper said. “You know the fact the team we’re playing Monday has done it recently, you heard about it more and more.

“You don’t imagine a team doing that. And to have a chance to be able to do that is something you have to cherish, appreciate and go out there and take the task head-on and know that it’s not going to be easy.”

One thing different about these Saints vs. those Patriots: The 2007 team never talked about it until it was accomplished.

Food for thought in the Bayou.