METAIRIE, La. – New Orleans Saints linebacker Curtis Lofton is well aware of the defense's struggles this season. Still, drastic changes aren't necessary, he said Wednesday after practice.
He and his teammates fully grasp that losing can become contagious and their season can quickly spiral out of control. Nevertheless, he's confident in their ability to rebound after a 1-3 start.
"It's easy to lose, but it takes guts, it takes character and heart to win," Lofton said. "That's what we have in this locker room and that's what we will do, we will win. At the end of the day, this here is a business and we're in the business of winning."
And while business is down this year, Lofton's spirits are not.
In a few moments of brutal honesty and gut-wrenching humor during the team's open locker room session, Lofton addressed several hot topics regarding the Saints' struggles, including a few fans seem to be harking on after last week's embarrassing primetime loss in Dallas.
"Everybody wants to say, you're talking from a fan standpoint, this is the first three things: 'There's no leadership.' That's No. 1," he said. "Number two is, 'Oh well they went to the Greenbrier, they must have country club-style living.' And No. 3 is, 'Well, do they not know what they're doing? Well, it's the coaching staff, or this player sucks, or this player is bad, we need to get rid of this guy.' When just a couple of weeks before, he was great and you loved him. But now all of a sudden he's terrible."
Lofton continued by mocking a few of the more off-the-wall criticisms he's heard from some of the more disenchanted fans.
"O-line they're terrible, they can't block anyone," he said sarcastically. "Drew Brees, he says he can play to 45 and he can't throw it past 10 yards. So everybody is a critic and at the end of the day the offense is gonna get it rolling, defense gonna get it rolling and the special teams are gonna get it going so we tune all that out and we know that at the end of the day all we've got is the guys that are next to you in the locker room and the coaches upstairs."
It's easy, he said, to highlight the mistakes of others, but what's more important is to look inward and for each of the players to be hard on themselves.
"I told everybody you just need to be detailed in doing the little things yourself," he said. "Just focus on getting better everyday yourself and whatever your problem area is. If you do that, we'll be fine and we'll start winning some games."
Several Saints, including fellow captains quarterback Drew Brees and left tackle Zach Strief, joined Lofton in saying the team just needs to get back to having fun. That, they said, will help the team return to its winning ways.
"Not too many people get the opportunity to do what we do," Lofton said. "So there's not no reason to be down or no reason to be sad. Of course we're disappointed we're not getting the outcomes you'd want, but you come to work with a smile on your face and come with a purpose of getting better and that's what we did today."
Because of the team's early-season struggles, coach Sean Payton said he "tweaked" the normal practice routine on Wednesday to include more competition.
Lofton made a slight change, too, one he hopes will help break the Saints out of their funk.
"I was like, 'man, I've been wearing that deodorant, I've got to switch over so I brought some new deodorant today," he said while fetching it from his locker after which he displayed it in a jocular manner. "I get to get this Old Spice Fox out. So that's what I switched up, so hopefully it comes through for me this week.
"That ain't no superstition, there's no magic, we just got to go out and be focused and get a win."
In a lighthearted moment, Lofton was then caught off guard by the natural follow-up questions: Does your new deodorant have to do with people saying the defense stinks? Is it an intentional or unintentional metaphor?
"You love us one week, you hate us the next week," he said, peering back with a contorted wide-eyed look of disbelief. "So as a defense we're gonna get our act together. We know what we've been putting out there is not acceptable and we're our own worse critics. Nothing you can say to us can hurt us, we see it ourselves. We're the ones out there living it and doing it.
"Saying that, we'll get it right, and we can't wait for this next game (verses Tampa Bay on Sunday in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome) to come around."
