Who dat?

Callers were invited to chime in with opinions on where their New Orleans Saints are headed this season, and which upcoming opponents might have the audacity to smear the record of a team that has flirted with defeat in back-to-back outings.

They called in from places like Houma, Mandeville and connected via the Internet, even Little Rock.

While some seemed wary of games against the New England Patriots (Nov. 30), Dallas Cowboys (Dec. 19) and a rematch against Atlanta (Dec. 13), the idea that the Saints could go undefeated is gaining some momentum with an optimistic fan base.

Despite the sports talk-show appeal, it is way too early to ponder that.

"The reason it's premature is that we haven't hit the halfway point in the season yet," said Saints coach Sean Payton, with a short week to prepare for Sunday's home game against the Carolina Panthers. "Each week, we get another challenge."

Payton watched his big-play, high-scoring machine rip off another impressive victory against the Falcons. Eight days after rallying from a 21-point deficit at Miami, the Saints got another fourth-quarter interception by Tracee Porter — off a pass deflected by linebacker Jonathan Vilma — and turned it into an 81-yard, game-sealing TD drive.

Yet Payton also saw many flaws. The Saints committed four more turnovers (that's eight in two games), missed a field goal and couldn't recover the onsides kick that gave the Falcons (4-3) a flicker of hope in the final seconds.

Said Payton, "We did a lot of things that can get you beat."

Winning ugly works, too. The Saints — averaging 39 points per game and on pace to top the 2007 New England Patriots' single-season record of 589 points — have demonstrated that they are hardly lacking grit in matching the best start in franchise history.

New Orleans and the Indianapolis Colts (7-0) are the NFL's lone unbeatens.

"We can win in a lot of different ways," said quarterback Drew Brees. "We've already won a few of those ways, and I'm sure we'll encounter the other situations later on."

Brees, tied for the NFL lead with 16 TD passes, triggers the league's top-ranked offense while an opportunistic, rebuilt defense is tied for the NFL high with 21 takeaways. Yet Brees is quick to dismiss questions about the prospects of running the table, maintaining Monday night that the Saints have yet to even produce a complete game this season.

He's also mindful of history. The Tennessee Titans started 10-0 in 2008. The Colts were 13-0 in 2005. Both were eliminated in their playoff openers.

The 1991 Saints had a similar fate, opening 7-0 before an 11-5 regular-season finish and one-and-done playoff appearance.

"There are a lot of things we can improve on," Brees said. "You've seen teams in the past, they go through these stretches being undefeated and the pressure mounts and at the end of the season there's self-destruction and they get eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

"But you know what? We are so much locked into this one-game-at-a-time (mind-set), not letting this undefeated thing get to us. It's all about the next opponent. They only get tougher. We're going to make sure we're ready."

Still, reaching November with the talk of going undefeated is a good problem to have.

Enlarge By John David Mercer, US Presswire The Saints improved to 7-0 on Monday night, but coach Sean Payton is downplaying speculation that they might finish the year with a 16-0 mark.