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Opening Remarks: "We've got (S) Nate Allen who's got a hamstring strain. He did not practice today. It's a day by day (situation). We're going to take it all the way up to game day. We'll see how he does. (WR) Mardy Gilyard is out and (G) Danny Watkins is out with the ankle. Everybody else practiced and will be ready to go. (DT Mike) Patterson practiced. I'll get with (general manager) Howie (Roseman), talk to him (and I) wanted to make sure we got through this practice so I had an opportunity to see him. I'm going to talk to Mike Patterson once I get through with this and make sure he did okay. It looked like he did. Then we'll go from there. But I have not made any moves. You guys will be the first to know when we do.

"Look forward to playing New Orleans. Tough place to play. Our guys have prepared hard and they understand that. We've worked a couple days in noise here which is important when you go down there and the guys are comfortable with that. So you go play."

On when is the latest the team can activate Patterson for Monday's game: "We'll get it done today. It'll be knocked out today one way or another. We've got another day to do that but I just want to make sure everything's okay with him."

On how Patterson has looked physically: "He did a good job. He moved around well and there were no symptoms (from the) surgery he had with his head and brain. He's felt good. He's felt good all the way through workouts and then once he came out here he felt good."

On whether Patterson is conditioned to play a large number of snaps on Monday: "I think you would probably monitor how many snaps he plays. You're not going to put him in there and have him go the whole game, which our guys don't do anyway. Definitely monitor how he's doing."

On whether S David Sims will start if Allen is inactive on Monday: "Yeah, Sims is the one who worked in there."

On how Sims looked in practice this week: "He actually looked pretty good. He did a nice job. I think he feels comfortable with the defense. He feels comfortable with the calls he has to make back there. He looked like he's got communication."

On whether Watkins' ankle is getting better or has stayed the same: "He's got the high ankle sprain component there so it is sore. It's not as much straight ahead working as it is his lateral work. So straight ahead he's getting better. He feels pretty comfortable doing that. Laterally, it's still pretty tender. He can't plant on it. He can't plant and redirect. Playing that position you've got to be able to do that."

On whether he expects the Saints to target T/G Dennis Kelly now that there is game film on him:"He held his own against Atlanta so I don't know if that's the area they would go. Maybe they test that. They kind of test every position with their blitz game and (are) pretty sophisticated there. We'll see how that works out."

On whether Allen will travel to New Orleans: "Nate will travel, yeah. Right now that's what I'm looking at unless something crazy happens."

On whether Allen has progressed since yesterday or is still limited to no participation: "He didn't run today either. We're just giving him treatment and (going from there)."

On the report that some of the assistant coaches wanted QB Michael Vick benched: "I don't know where that would come from. That's not the case. Everybody is on board with Michael."

On how tough it is to defend and sack QB Drew Brees: "You've got to try to get there as fast as you can and try to put some form of pressure on him. Listen, he gets the ball out very fast. He's one of the best in the business against the blitz, against the straight pressure, and (a) great timing quarterback. Does a great job with that."

On the criticism of DE Trent Cole's play and the suggestion that he is getting too old: "Listen, Trent Cole, since he's been here has one speed. It's the same way in practice as it is in the game. It is 110 percent. I haven't seen any loss of step or loss of movement or anything there. He knows one speed and that's how he goes. He does it the whole game. He doesn't take plays off."

On whether he feels the same about DE Jason Babin: "Same way with Babin."

On whether he has a theory about why Cole's sacks are down this year: "These guys are getting chipped quite a bit which is understandable. Both of them are. You asked about Babin, same thing there. But you've got to work through it. You keep pushing. The thing you can't do is pull off. Neither one of those two is wired that way so they'll keep pushing and eventually it'll work out for them."

On how the linebackers will deal with covering TE Jimmy Graham and WR Marques Colston in the middle of the field: "Both of those two, one is at wide receiver and one is at tight end, are very good and you've got to make sure you maintain leverage and work your jams and so on."

On whether covering Graham presents a special challenge for the defense: "Well he's a pretty good player. He's one of the top tight ends in the league, of receiving tight ends in particular. He can really do that. You've got to make sure you stay disciplined and use you techniques and fundamentals and be aggressive when needed."

On whether CB Nnamdi Asomugha will cover Graham at all during the game: "We'll see how that goes."

On why the team practiced with crowd noise two days in a row when they historically only do it once before road games:"We haven't had it in a while so I just wanted to make sure we go it and got (it covered). That's a loud place. That's one of the louder places in the league and I just wanted to make sure the guys are comfortable with it and confident with it. We did it."

On whether they practiced with crowd noise during the special teams portion of practice:"We did a little bit of special teams with it. Just for the punt protection. That was important and then the field goal protection. We've done field goal protection with it before. We haven't done the punt protection."

On whether that is due to a lot of new players on the lines: "They give you a few different looks there so just making sure you can pick it up. It's like pass protection. You want to make sure you take care of that."

On how he feels about players only meetings: "Listen, players have had them throughout my time here and really any team I've been on. I think it's a positive thing. I think it gives them time to express their feelings to one another all together in one room. I think that's very positive. I try to keep open communication. I want them to talk. I think that can be a healthy thing."

On his opinion of Vick's confidence level of himself: "I think Mike is confident. I think he feels pretty good going into this. He's prepared hard for it so I think he's confident going in."