Giants, Saints meet as both aim to prolong recent upswing

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Drew Brees makes no apologies for being bullish on how successful the sub-.500 Saints can still be this season, no matter how much former teammates might have teased him about his tendency to put positive spins on things.

Former Saints linebacker "Scott Fujita called me annoyingly optimistic at some point. Maybe I am, but I am the eternal optimist, always feeling like things are happening for a reason if you are facing adversity," Brees said this week. "It is there to kind of make you stronger, and our best is yet to come, and it is going to happen for us if we just keep doing the right things."

Certainly, things have been looking up lately in the Big Easy.

After an 0-3 start, the Saints have managed to win three of their last four, giving them a chance to improve to 4-4 on Sunday when they host the up-and-down New York Giants (4-3).

"We all feel like the work we are putting in is being validated on Sundays," Brees said. "So that excites you, it makes you want to come and work even harder and continue to get a little better each and every day on the things that you are preaching. You're starting to see results, and that's good."

The Giants, who started 0-2, have won four of five to climb to the top of the NFC East. So while neither of these teams looks like a world-beater in the standings, the Giants and Saints have combined to win seven of their last nine games.

"It's kind of similar to us. They're playing very well right now," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "They are getting better."

DOMECOMING: Two of the Giants' top players on offense, quarterback Eli Manning and receiver Odell Beckham Jr., played at the same New Orleans high school (Newman). The game marks Beckham's first in his hometown as a pro. Manning, meanwhile, is 0-2 in the Superdome, where his father, Archie, starred for the Saints.

"They have put up a lot of points in those games. We just got outscored a few times," Manning said of losses to the Saints in 2009 and 2011, when the Saints won 13 games in each season. "They were playing good football on those days and we did not play as well as we needed to."

In all, the Giants have 10 players who have played high school, college or pro football in Louisiana, including running back Orleans Darkwa, who played home games in the Superdome for Tulane.

TURNOVER TREND: The Saints had only three takeaways in their first four games. They have eight in their last three games on four fumbles and four interceptions. Turnovers were a particularly big factor in recent victories over Atlanta and Indianapolis.

"They seem to be doing a good job getting turnovers on defense, and getting pressure on the quarterback," Manning said. "It looks like they're covering guys up and making the quarterback hold it a little bit longer. Their defensive line is getting to the quarterback and they're getting some sacks."

The Giants, meanwhile, have intercepted 11 passes and lead the NFL in turnover differential at plus-10.

"They are really confident in their secondary, with those pressure packages, to be able to hang in there and cover," Brees said of the Giants. "Obviously, that has served them well. They have been able to take the ball away quite a bit."

RUSHING WOES: The Giants have not had a 100-yard rusher this season. It wasn't until last week's victory over reeling Dallas that New York cracked 100 yards on ground this season as a team. The Saints, likewise, also have struggled to run the ball, but had their best game on the ground last week against the Colts. The Saints rushed for 183 yards as a team at Indianapolis, led by Mark Ingram's 143.

MORE PRESSURE: The Saints have ratcheted up pressure on opposing quarterbacks in the past two weeks. Cameron Jordan, who had three sacks in a victory over Atlanta two games ago, had two more against the Colts. In all, the Saints have nine sacks in the past two games.

POROUS DEFENSES: Both defenses have given up a lot of yards this season. The Saints rank 30th, giving up 404.9 yards per game, while the Giants rank 29th, allowing 401.7 yards per game.

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