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Somehow, and I’m still trying to figure exactly how, the New Orleans Saints have been dragged into yet another controversy.

Baltimore coach John Harbaugh was doing an interview with a local radio station Tuesday morning. Harbaugh was asked a question about the Saints’ bounty program and the general concept of cheating throughout the NFL.

Harbaugh didn’t say a thing about the Saints. Instead, he turned his answer toward the New England Patriots, who had their own controversy with Spygate several years ago.

“In the end, everything is brought before the light of day, when it’s all said and done,” Harbaugh said in the interview. “What happens, even the thing in New England, no matter whether those things had any impact on whether they won their championships or not, they got asterisks now. It’s been stained."

That set off a firestorm in New England, and the Ravens quickly moved into damage-control mode. The Ravens just sent out a statement from Harbaugh. Although the Saints didn’t get mentioned in his on-air words, they do get mentioned in Harabaugh’s latest statement.

“While on the 98 Rock show this morning to talk about the run to honor O.J. Brigance and raise funds for ALS research, I answered a question about playing within the rules and referred to the perception that the Super Bowl championships won by the Patriots and Saints have a stain,’’ Harbaugh said. “My reference was to the perception out there that came as the result of the league’s actions. I could have been more clear that I was referring to those viewpoints. I totally believe that the Patriot and Saint coaches and players earned those championships. Bill (Belichick) and Sean (Payton) both know that. There has been some distortion about what I said.

“The original tweet indicated I pointed the finger at Bill Belichick and mentioned Bill’s name. I did not. I have so much respect for Coach Belichick and the job he does and has accomplished in his Hall of Fame career. I called him to remind him of my respect for him. I also reached out to Tedy Bruschi, who rightfully defended those Patriot players and coaches on ESPN, to tell him that I agree with him that the Patriots earned every victory.”

Sean Payton is one of the three or five best head coaches in the NFL. He’s won a Super Bowl and helped a city and a region recover from Hurricane Katrina.

He’s the most brilliant offensive mind of our time and he’s had winning seasons every year since 2008.

So why are people suddenly calling for the coach of the New Orleans Saints to be fired?

It’s not about football. It’s about a lot more.

Check out this column from colleague Ashley Fox, who writes that Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis should be fired for their role in what the NFL says was a “bounty program’’ in which New Orleans coaches and players pooled money to reward defenders when they injured opponents. We’re not talking about $500 for an interception. We’re talking that much or more for intentionally injuring an opponent.

I’ve thought long and hard about what punishments Loomis and Payton should face since the news broke on Friday. I’ve come to the conclusion that I agree totally with Fox.

Payton and Loomis have to go. It's harsh, but it's warranted, probably even necessary. If they're not fired, Payton and Loomis should be suspended, probably for a full season.

I know former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is being portrayed as the main culprit in all this. Williams is gone and now is the coordinator in St. Louis. The league is looking into allegations that he did similar programs at other stops in his career. It seems pretty likely that Williams, who has admitted to and apologized for running the program in New Orleans, will end up being suspended or maybe even banned from coaching.

But punishing Williams doesn’t punish the Saints and they’ve more than earned that. They used the bounties for three years.

To simply say Williams was the bad guy and Payton and Loomis shouldn’t suffer any consequences is ridiculous. They’re more guilty than Williams because they held higher positions.

Anyone who knows anything about the Saints knows that Payton runs every aspect of the organization and knows everything that goes on in the building. The league’s report said Payton knew about the program and did nothing to stop it.

Hmm, I can think of several big-name college coaches who went down through the years because they didn’t do enough when scandals enveloped their programs and a lot of people felt they should be held to a higher standard because they were head coaches.

We’re not talking about the NCAA here. We’re talking the NFL and allegations of anything that was designed to intentionally injure players couldn’t come at a worse time in history. Commissioner Roger Goodell has been making all sorts of noise about player safety. The lockout and labor negotiations last year were largely about player safety and we’ve seen new rules put in to cut down on offseason workouts and heard lots of other talk about the importance of player safety. How many stories have we seen about concussions in recent years?

Payton, in essence, thumbed his nose at player safety the last three years. Should he be fired because of it? Cast your vote in the accompanying SportsNation poll. I say he has to go.

Same for any assistant coach still on staff that knew anything about the bounty program. Yeah, it’s tough to fire a coach in March. But the Saints need to be proactive on this. If they keep the current staff in place for the 2012 season, I’m telling you right now every game will resemble a boxing match. Opposing teams would go after the Saints because the Saints went after them. I don’t think the league wants boxing matches these days.

The Saints have defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo on staff. He wasn’t around when this stuff was going on. He’s been a head coach in St. Louis and has a clean reputation around the league.

What about Loomis? I think he’s got to go as well. Although Payton definitely played the dominant role in this coach-general manager relationship, Loomis has carried the title of general manager. In theory, that means managing an organization overall and maintaining the integrity of a franchise would seem to be part of the job description.

The NFL report says Loomis was told by owner Tom Benson to stop the bounty program. The NFL also said Loomis failed to follow through on that.

I know a lot of other general managers that would immediately do what they were told by an owner. Loomis didn’t do that and therefore failed in his duty to uphold the integrity of the franchise and the league. Heck, once the New England Patriots were hit with Spygate, all talk of them filming other teams ceased — perhaps not coincidentally, they haven't won a Super Bowl since.

Loomis and Payton have done many great things for the Saints and New Orleans. But they failed their team, their city and the NFL by allowing this disgraceful practice to go on for three years. Somebody has to pay the price on this one.

We’ve mentioned several times Wednesday that Tampa Bay rookie middle linebacker Mason Foster was fined by the NFL for his hit on New England wide receiver Chad Ochocinco in last week’s preseason game.

Now, there’s another twist to the story. Ochocinco, who previously tweeted he would pay any fine, said he’d gladly pay Foster’s fine with a tweet in which he referred to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell as “Dad.’’

"Dad no disrespect but I don't agree with @mason_foster fine n I'll be reimbursing him personally," @Ochocinco wrote to @nflcommish. "Please feel free to contact me,'' Ochocinco said in the tweet.

In the past, the NFL has refused to let other players or fans pay fines for individuals, so I doubt there’s much chance of the NFL taking a check from Ochocinco on this one. But he might be getting a fine of his own if he keeps calling Goodell names.

TAMPA, Fla. -- If LeGarrette Blount continues on Thursday night’s pace, he’ll need the NFL to expand to a 1,000-game schedule in order to have his second straight 1,000-yard rushing season.

I don’t mean to single out Blount, but the running back is as fitting a symbol as any of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their exhibition loss (31-14) against the New England Patriots. He ran for 1 yard on four carries. Heck, on Thursday night’s pace, quarterback Josh Freeman would need almost 100 games to reach 3,000 passing yards.

Freeman completed 5 of 10 passes for 33 yards. And we could go on and on.

Yes, they were playing the mighty New England Patriots and Tom Brady played just about the entire first half. But let’s not give all the credit to New England.

“We had a couple of mistakes out there as well,’’ Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris said at halftime when New England was leading 28-0.

There were missed assignments on both sides of the ball and 10 first-half penalties that cost the Bucs 85 yards. And all this comes less than a week after the Bucs looked like potential Super Bowl contenders in the preseason opener against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Take the Kansas City game for what it’s worth and do the same with the New England game. It all tells you the preseason really doesn’t mean much. It also tells you the Bucs have some more work to accomplish before the start of the regular season.

A few more observations on the Bucs.

• The Bucs are planning on letting outside linebacker Quincy Black wear the radio helmet because they're going to keep him on the field for passing downs. Black didn’t look too good dropping into coverage on a touchdown pass from Brady to Aaron Hernandez in the first quarter. Then again, it wasn’t like Black got any help from the safeties.
• Rookie Mason Foster seems to be the leading candidate for the starting job at middle linebacker and part of the reason Black is wearing the radio helmet is because the Bucs plan to take Foster out in nickel situations during the regular season. They let Foster stay on the field for some passing downs against the Patriots and that didn’t go very well. Foster got hit with an unnecessary-roughness penalty for what appeared to be a helmet-to-helmet hit on Chad Ochocinco. Tyrone McKenzie still may be competing with Foster for the starting job.
• Speaking of Ochocinco, he had no problem getting by safety Sean Jones to catch a first-quarter touchdown.
• Defensive tackle E.J. Wilson suffered an ankle injury. The severity of the injury wasn't known right away.
• One of the few bright spots for the Bucs was cornerback Elbert Mack. He picked off a Ryan Mallett pass and returned it for a touchdown early in the second half.
• As long as we’re scraping for bright spots, I’ll throw out rookie defensive end Adrian Clayborn. He at least got near Brady a few times and seemed active, which is an upgrade over anything the Bucs had at defensive end last year.

TAMPA, Fla. -- I’m at Raymond James Stadium, where only a handful of players are out on the field warming up for Thursday night’s game between the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I’ll have observations after the game and will check in during the game if anything major happens. I’ll also be keeping eyes and ears open across the rest of the NFC South and will let you know if there are any significant developments.

One quick pre-game note from inside the stadium. I was just told by a Bucs’ official that Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon and closer Kyle Farnsworth will be attending the game as guests of coach Raheem Morris. Maddon and Morris have developed a close friendship and often share coaching philosophies.

This might be a good omen for the Bucs as they face New England. The last time the Rays played was Wednesday. They defeated the Boston Red Sox, 4-0, and Farnsworth pitched the final inning.

We’ve got a war of words brewing between the Panthers and the Patriots -- well, at least some of them.

Carolina coach John Fox, as you would expect, stayed totally away from the Randy Moss subject on Monday. But New England coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady were firing back at Carolina defensive backs Chris Harris and Chris Gamble after they suggested Sunday that Moss took plays off.

Harris answered back Monday with a “who cares?’’ which I think is fitting. I know the names of Brady and Belichick carry a lot of weight, but I’m going to stand up for Harris and Gamble here. I know them both and have interviewed them many times.

If they said that Moss was taking plays off, that’s what they actually saw. Harris and Gamble are not the type of guys who would just go out and rip an opponent for no reason. They were asked specifically about what they saw from Moss and they answered the questions.

Harris is one of the better interviews in the league. He’s also very bright and isn’t going to go out of his way to provide bulletin-board material for another team. Gamble is one of the quietest guys on Carolina’s roster and I’ve never heard him rip on an opponent. In fact, in my days in Charlotte, I rarely quoted Gamble because he didn’t have a lot of interesting things to say.

He and Harris were asked questions Sunday and they gave their honest opinions. What’s wrong with that?

Carolina’s loss to New England on Sunday sealed one thing and might help seal another.

The loss means the Panthers are 5-8. That officially means they’re not going to have a winning season. It also means the franchise’s streak of never having back-to-back winning seasons is still going strong.

All that could help seal the fate of coach John Fox. Ownership is aware he’s had some very good years in Carolina, but he has never been able to follow them up with anything. The Panthers were 12-4 last year and the best they can finish this season is 8-8. But their final three games are against the Vikings, Giants and New Orleans.

I’m thinking 10 losses are a very real possibility. If that happens, I don’t see the Panthers keeping a coach who took a team from double-digit wins to double-digit losses.

TAMPA, Fla. -- They strolled into the locker room with a few references to their 10-0 record, but the New Orleans Saints are the first to tell you they're not perfect.

They rolled through the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 38-7, and instantly started pointing out their flaws.

"Let's face it, these are not the Jon Gruden-coached Tampa Bay Buccaneers that we're used to," New Orleans tight end Jeremy Shockey said. "No offense to Tampa. They're going to be good in time. But we know we can play better than we did."

Shockey and his teammates have been saying that for the past month or so, but it's time to back up that talk. The Saints play host to the New England Patriots on Nov. 30 in a "Monday Night Football" game at the Superdome.

You can get by the likes of St. Louis, Carolina, Atlanta and Miami when you're turning over the ball and your defense is banged up and not playing as well as it did early in the season. But you can't get by the Patriots unless you're at the top of your game.

That's why Sunday's victory over the Bucs was so encouraging. Even if it was against a 1-9 team, the Saints looked better than they have in their past few outings. They didn't turn over the ball, and aside from an impressive opening drive by the Bucs, a defense that was without three injured starters didn't give up much and took the ball away four times.

"I thought we got better today," Saints coach Sean Payton said.

The outlook gets even more positive when you factor in that the Saints have a chance to get injured defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis and starting cornerbacks Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter healthy in time for the Patriots. That trio, running back Reggie Bush and receiver Lance Moore all sat out against the Bucs.

It's likely the Saints will at least get some of those injured players back as they have eight days between games. And they have to be feeling better about their depth in the secondary after first-round draft pick Malcolm Jenkins got a start and produced an interception.

Take all of that as an indication that the Saints are heading in the right direction at the right time. No, they haven't played a perfect game yet and there might not be any such thing. But the Saints got enough things right that they didn't need a big comeback like they did against Miami and Carolina and they didn't let Tampa Bay hang with them the way Atlanta did a few weeks ago.

"Throughout the season, you want to get better," linebacker Scott Fujita said. "And I like to think we are getting better. People are going to build this up to be the biggest game in the world. We have to keep our composure, not let anything get in the way and go out and continue to get better in practice each day this week."

In other words, the fans can get caught up in the hype. The players can't afford that because they've got Bill Belichick and the best franchise of the past decade coming to town.

"Our fans are going to be tailgating for about 10 hours before that game," safety Darren Sharper said. "It's going to be a great atmosphere."

Understandable because the Saints are 10-0 for the first time in franchise history. They've also won 10 consecutive games for the first time in franchise history. This kind of winning is basically totally new to New Orleans, a city that's supported a team that's been mostly a bunch of loveable losers throughout its existence.

That's not lost on the players and they know they have to keep improving as they get ready for perhaps the biggest game this franchise has played since the Saints made a memorable return to the Superdome in 2006, the year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf region.

"It only makes it harder because every team we face now would love to give us that first loss," quarterback Drew Brees said. "We're building something special this year. In order to get there, we have to win games like the one coming up."

That's the next step for Brees, who got back to being a machine-like passer (he had three touchdowns and a 118.0 rating) against the Bucs after a few up-and-down games. Beating a team like the Patriots would only enhance Brees' common ranking among the league's best quarterbacks along with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

It could even be a step toward the Hall of Fame for a quarterback who has put up big numbers throughout his career, but doesn't have the long list of big wins that Manning and Brady have.

"When we take care of the football and take away negative plays, we're a very, very hard team to beat," Brees said.

More importantly, winning against New England would be a major step for the entire franchise. Remember, the Saints are in uncharted territory.

"For most of us, this is the first time we're 10-0 dating back to high school," Fujita said.

The next step -- and it's obviously a difficult one -- would be getting to 11-0.

"This is going to be a very good test for us," Sharper said. "Coach Payton is always talking about doing things you've never done before. Winning this one would be something this franchise has never done before."

TAMPA, Fla. -- Go ahead and start the tailgate party in New Orleans.

The Saints are 10-0 for the first time in franchise history and they’re about to play one of the biggest games in franchise history. They’re going to host the New England Patriots in a "Monday Night Football" game Nov. 30 in the Superdome.

For the past month or so, this game’s been on the horizon and coach Sean Payton and his troops repeatedly refused to look ahead -- even though some of their recent games looked as if they were glancing ahead to the Patriots.

Now that the Saints have gotten through a soft stretch in their schedule, they can focus all of their attention on the Patriots. If they’re going to have a shot at getting through the regular season undefeated, they’re going to have to beat the last franchise to accomplish that task.

ESPN's Michael Smith previews this afternoon's game between the Falcons and Patriots from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Posted by ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas

Five nuggets of knowledge about this weekend’s games:

	Todd Kirkland/Icon SMI
	Matt Ryan and the Falcons can prove they're an elite team by knocking off the Patriots in New England.

Big game: It’s only Week 3, but the Atlanta Falcons are playing their biggest game in five years Sunday at New England. I call it the biggest game the Falcons have played since they went to the NFC Championship Game in 2004, not because it’s a homecoming for Matt Ryan and Thomas Dimitroff. I say it because it’s a chance for the Falcons to show the world they’re an elite team. There’s no better way to do that than going into New England and winning.

Road warriors: My initial plan was to write that the Bucs actually have a chance Sunday. My thinking was that the Giants have had to play two tough games and could be a little drained coming to the Florida heat. But that all changed when I looked and saw the Giants are 16-3 in their last 19 road games and most of those 16 wins have come against teams that are markedly better than the Bucs.

Looking ahead: Not to get ahead of things, but the Saints could be facing a huge Week Four game against the Jets. If the Saints can get by Buffalo on Sunday, they’ll be 3-0 and have two road wins against good teams. There’s a pretty good chance the Saints will be either 4-0 or 3-1 in the first quarter of the season. That kind of start didn’t seem like a possibility back in the preseason when we all thought defensive ends Will Smith and Charles Grant would be suspended for the first four games.

Secondary opinion: A lot of people talk about Atlanta’s secondary and say Tom Brady’s going to carve it up Sunday. That could happen, but I think this secondary is getting a bad rap. Yes, it’s very true there is not a single stud in this secondary. But that also was the case last year and the Falcons made it to the playoffs. They did that because they hid their defensive weaknesses with the pass rush. That pass rush is better than it was a year ago, now that John Abraham is getting some help from Kroy Biermann. That’s why I’ll argue that Atlanta’s secondary, while still a concern, is better than it was a year ago.

Prep time: The Panthers have an extra day to get ready because they don’t play Dallas until Monday night. That’s a good thing because it gives John Fox an extra day to coach. He switched defensive coordinators in the offseason and the defense hasn’t looked very good in the first two weeks. Fox’s teams always have been built around defense and I’m guessing the coach has been spending a little extra time in defensive meetings this week.

Posted by ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas

It’s way too early to start comparing Matt Ryan to Tom Brady. But, since the Falcons are playing the Patriots on Sunday, let’s do it anyway.

Brady is widely considered to be one of the league’s most savvy quarterbacks and the general consensus is pressure doesn’t bother him. But the Jets showed last week that is not necessarily the case as they had success when pressuring Brady.

Thanks to ESPN Stats & Information, here’s a look at what Brady did under heavy pressure and ordinary pressure from the Jets in Week Two:

Tom Brady passing vs. Jets, by number of pass-rushers 5/fewer 6/more Comp-Att 17-26 6-21 Pass yds 154 62 TD-INT 0-0 0-1 Passer rtg 81.3 19.7

Two games into his second season, Ryan is thriving when there’s pressure. Here’s a look at what Ryan has done against conventional defenses and blitzes.

Matt Ryan passing, by type of pressure Standard Extra Comp-Att 28-46 43-63 Pass yds 296 449 TD-INT 3-1 5-1 Passer rtg 98.6 108.5

Posted by ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas

I just got off the phone with Atlanta general manager Thomas Dimitroff after doing an interview for a column that will run Friday. Gee, with the Falcons going to New England on Sunday, anybody think this one might be a look at how Dimitroff’s time with Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli could be playing a role in Atlanta being built into one of the league’s best young teams?

	AP Photo/Carlos Osorio
	Thomas Johnson will get a chance to start in place of the injured Peria Jerry.

Anyway, we’ll get much more into that Friday. But I did take the opportunity at the end of the interview to ask Dimitroff about Atlanta’s situation at defensive tackle after first-round draft pick Peria Jerry went down Sunday with a season-ending knee injury.

“It’s very unfortunate,’’ Dimitroff said. “As you know, we had big expectations for Peria and he was off to a nice start. He was grasping the system and really coming along.’’

But Dimitroff said the Falcons are prepared to move on and he has high hopes for the rest of the defensive tackles, even if there aren’t many big names. The Falcons have Jonathan Babineaux, who I think might be the most underrated player in the NFC South, as their other starting defensive tackle and that’s a good starting point.

But I asked Dimitroff to run through the rest of the group and I respect his judgment because the guy is a top-notch personnel man and I can’t say I’ve seen him make a true mistake since taking over the Falcons.

Atlanta likely will move Thomas Johnson into the starting role. This guy was out of the league the last two years, but the Falcons believe they’ve got a diamond in the rough -- maybe even a couple of diamonds. We’ll start with Johnson: He was a part-time starter for Houston in 2006.

The Falcons took a shot on signing Johnson and he showed some of his old promise in training camp. He performed so well that the Falcons decided to make him their third tackle. Johnson rotated in quite a bit behind Jerry and Babineaux in the first two games and graded out very well. The Falcons think he can make the next step and develop into a solid starter.

But what does that do to the back end of the rotation? Well, remember this, the Falcons didn’t panic and go out and sign some washed-up veteran. That means they believe they’ve got some other young guys who can grow into bigger roles.

They have Trey Lewis, who is coming off two major knee injuries, but showed some promise as a rookie in 2007. They also elevated Vance Walker off their practice squad.

“We knew we had Thomas and Trey and we drafted Vance (in the seventh round) and like him,’’ Dimitroff said. “Trey is coming along well after his ACL injuries and we like what we have. We believe we have a strong, stout rotation. I’ll even go ahead and say that we believe that even with Peria’s injury, we are still further ahead on the defensive line than we were last year at this time.’’

Posted by ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas

The fine folks at Scouts Inc. take an X's and O's look at Sunday’s huge game between Atlanta and New England.

The Scouts Inc. guys watch lots of film as they prepare these things and they give 10 detailed observations. They also gave an edge to one team or the other at each position or unit, and they do a great job, but I’m a little stunned to see they’ve given the defensive backfield edge to Atlanta. I haven’t had a chance to see New England’s secondary yet this season, but I have seen Atlanta’s and I don’t think of this as an area of strength for the Falcons.

I can’t share the entire scouting report with you because it’s part of our Insider package, but you can see it in its entirety by clicking here.

Posted by ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas

I got a chance to speak with John Rooke and Erik Scalavino on Patriots Playbook to discuss Sunday’s huge matchup between Atlanta and New England.

We talked about this being a "statement" game for the Falcons, who have a chance to establish themselves firmly among the league’s elite with a victory in New England. We talked lots about Matt Ryan and Tony Gonzalez. We talked about the rest of Atlanta’s offense and plenty about their defense. I don’t recall talking much about special teams.

But we broke this game down for a pretty long time and those are the highlights I can remember. You can hear the whole interview by clicking here. And apologies if my voice sounds a little scratchy, but spending last weekend in rainy Atlanta has left me without my full voice.