They departed New Orleans battered and bruised, dazed and confused after the Saints piled up 480 yards while scoring on six of their first nine possessions (one of those "stops" was a first-half-ending kneel down). Those were season highs for yards and points allowed.

"We've had times where we've had some problems like any defense have, but from a league-wide basis, I would say we've been pretty competitive," coach Bill Belichick said yesterday in a conference call. "But we weren't (Monday) night, and I know we can do a better job than that, and that's what we'll work toward."

The good news is Belichick believes the defense's latest problems are correctable as the Saints generated a whopping 312 yards on a mere eight plays. They ranged in length from 20 to 75 yards. All but one was a pass, and three accounted for touchdowns.

"(I'm) not saying all the rest of them were great, but anytime you give up that much yardage on a handful of plays, it's bad," Belichick said. "But if you can find a way to correct those plays and not give them up all at once, you would be a lot more competitive out there. So the big plays were clearly the biggest problem we had on defense."

Unlike recent seasons, allowing big plays hadn't been an issue this year. The Patriots , 7-4 and headed to Miami on Sunday, allowed a manageable 26 plays of 20-plus yards in their first 10 games.

New Orleans' longest play was Devery Henderson's 75-yard scoring strike early in the second quarter that pushed the lead to 17-7 and seemed to set the tone for the rest of the evening. Defensive coordinator Dean Bees chalked that one up to a blown coverage.

"We even actually had the communication, and for whatever reason, (the player) froze and it happened," Pees said. "So it is rare, and we've been doing a pretty good job in the past of not allowing big plays. And the biggest problem in this game was, I mean, that's all we gave up.

"We knew this was a team that thrived on that, and you couldn't allow that. That's how they ... I mean, they live for big plays. That's how they beat people, and it was very disappointing."

New Orleans had 51 plays of 20-plus yards while winning its first 10 games. Five were for touchdowns.

The Patriots got younger and faster in the offseason. The tradeoff was losing leadership and experience.

Pees was adamant that is not the issue, not at this point in the season

"We just simply did not execute," he said. "We didn't tackle well. We had more missed assignments than we've had in almost all the other previous games combined. I don't know exactly ... I'm trying to find out what the factor was to that so that I can remedy it and fix it as a coach."

Weis coveted

Charlie Weis, fired as Notre Dame's coach on Monday, is reportedly already coveted by a number of NFL teams as an offensive coordinator.

Weis worked for the Patriots for nine seasons, including calling the offense from 2000 to '04 during the Super Bowl run. The Patriots don't officially have an offensive coordinator at the moment, so you can see where this is headed.

"Of course, I go back a long way with Charlie, and we have a good friendship," Belichick said. "I talk to him on a pretty regular basis, so I'm disappointed for him on that level. But right now my focus is on the Miami Dolphins, and getting ready to go down there and play a tough division game on the road (Sunday). That's where I'm at right now.

"There are going to be situations like that - there have been every year - where things happen on other teams and on other coaching staffs or player rumors and so forth. Anything along that nature is something that would be addressed at a later point in time. It's not anything that is on the front burner at all."

Quarterbacks coach Bill O'Brien is currently serving as the de facto OC following the offseason departure of Josh McDaniels to Denver. O'Brien has been OK in his apprenticeship, but doesn't appear to be the long-term answer.

Something positive

Although less than enamored with his offense or his defense, Belichick did find something positive to take out of Monday's loss.

"I thought we were at least competitive in the kicking game, but it wasn't nearly enough," he said.

Wes Welker only returned one punt, but it went for 41 yards. He had a 69-yard return against the Jets last week and is averaging 14.8 yards on the season, tops in the AFC and second in the NFL.

Matthew Slater averaged a solid 26.7 yards on three kick returns and showed a nice burst. The coverage units bottled up the Saints, and punter Chris Hanson had one of his better showings, averaging 46 yards on three kicks.

Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 36-yard field goal in the second quarter, but was wide left from 50 yards out right before halftime. It was his second miss in as many weeks.

Another fourth down

The Patriots again found themselves defending a fourth-down decision, although this one was nowhere near as controversial as that fourth-and-2 call at Indianapolis.

This time, the Patriots found themselves trailing by 14 points and facing fourth-and-4 from the New Orleans 10-yard line with 4:12 left in the third quarter. Rather than attempt a field goal, they opted to go for it, but Tom Brady's pass to Randy Moss was knocked down by cornerback Mike McKenzie.

"I thought we were moving the ball OK, offensively," Belichick said. "I thought we needed more than a field goal - really, the way the game was going - you needed more than a field goal to get back into the game. McKenzie made a nice, good play over there, and we didn't pick it up."

Extra Points

Wes Welker caught seven passes, giving him six-plus receptions in nine straight games. The NFL record is 16 games, set by Marvin Harrison in 2002-03. ... Sam Aiken's seven receptions for 90 yards were both career bests. ... The Patriots had won 17 straight regular-season games against NFC opponents, a streak dating to a 27-17 loss to the Carolina Panthers in September 2005.