METAIRIE, La. — After starting the 2012 season with four consecutive losses that put them in a very deep hole, the Saints aren’t going to apologize for the 2-0 record that they have so far this season.
They won’t get any style points for two hard-fought NFC South wins, but they don’t really care — especially after they had to wait out a 69-minute weather delay early in Sunday’s 16-14 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
That they came out of the first two games against the Atlanta Falcons and Bucs with wins is enough for the Saints although they know there’s a lot of cleaning up to do going forward.
Surprisingly, though, most of the cleaning up has to be done by the offense rather than the defense — which is a big change after the Saints allowed an NFL single-season record 7,042 yards last season.
The new 3-4 scheme that defensive coordinator Rob Ryan implemented is holding up nicely despite a number of injuries to key players — most notably to the front seven.
But they survived in a six-point win against the Falcons and a two-point nail-biter against the Bucs, which was capped by a last-minute drive by the offense and Garrett Hartley’s 27-yard field goal on the game’s final play.
While it wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination, the Saints know they were fortunate to escape with a win — especially when they stopped Tampa Bay from getting a first down inside the two-minute warning that would have allowed the Bucs to take a knee and run out the clock.
No one is looking too far ahead, but the complementary work by the offense and defense is reminiscent of how the Saints emphasized winning tight games when they won the Super Bowl in 2009.
“We were just talking about hanging in, fighting, kind of staying together,” Payton said after squeaking by the Bucs. “We have been in a number of games like this and we made a few plays at the end when we needed it.
“We’ll clean up … we have to clean up a lot of things to improve,” he added. “But it’s hard to win on the road — especially in a division game.”
Notes: According to the Saints’ public relations department, the 69-minute delay Sunday at Tampa marked the first time a Saints’ game had been halted by inclement weather in 42 years. The last time it happened was in a Sept. 4, 1971 preseason game with the Philadelphia Eagles in old Tulane Stadium when lightning forced officials to call the game with 33 seconds to play in a 34-0 Eagles’ win. … Cornerback Patrick Robinson injured his right leg in the third quarter and was carted off the field after having the leg immobilized with an inflatable cast. … Nose tackle John Jenkins, a third-round draft pick, made the first start of his NFL career against the Tampa Bay Bucs in place of injured Brodrick Bunkley.