For the second consecutive week, the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints (0-1) held joint practices with their opponent leading up to their preseason game.  The Saints hope that will not work against them again when they face the Houston Texans (0-1) in the preseason for the third year in a row on Saturday.  New Orleans is a small favorite at -1 after losing to the New England Patriots 27-24 last week following a similar routine of joint practices.

The Texans have split the previous two preseason meetings, with each one sailing OVER the total.  New Orleans won the last meeting 38-14 while Houston was the victor the previous year in a 31-27 shootout.  The Saints set the tone for their Super Bowl season against the Texans last year, focusing on forcing turnovers from the very beginning of training camp.

New Orleans stripped the ball from Houston repeatedly in practice and got the Texans to turn the ball over three times when they finally played the game.  The Saints did not turn the ball over once.  New Orleans went on to finish third in the NFL in turnover differential en route to winning the Super Bowl, which was clinched when Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning threw an interception that was returned 74 yards by Saints CB Tracy Porter for a touchdown.

This meeting between Houston and New Orleans will feature the last two quarterbacks to lead the league in passing.  Texans QB Matt Schaub threw for 4,770 yards last season while Saints QB Drew Brees became only the second quarterback in NFL history to break the 5,000-yard mark with 5,069.  Schaub is hoping he can duplicate Brees’ feat of making it to the Super Bowl the following year but would be happy just to make the playoffs for the first time in his career.

Houston got off to a great start last week against the Arizona Cardinals before surrendering all of their points in the fourth quarter of an eventual 19-16 loss.  The Texans were up 10-0 at the end of the first quarter and tacked on field goals in the second and third quarters to take a commanding lead before the Cardinals scored three touchdowns in the last 8:30 of the game.

Schaub connected with NFL leading receiver Andre Johnson on a 44-yard touchdown pass with 6:46 left in the first and finished 5-of-6 passing for 78 yards.  Johnson caught three of those passes for 59 yards following back-to-back seasons of over 1,500 yards.  Houston did lose rookie RB Ben Tate for the season with a fractured ankle while Steve Slaton struggled with his first fumble of 2010 after coughing the ball up seven times (losing five) a year ago.  That means second-year RB Arian Foster could be the starter after finishing last season very strong.

The Saints are also dealing with a key injury to a running back, as veteran Ladell Betts was brought in to replace Lynell Hamilton, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last week.  Betts tore the ACL and MCL in his knee last year in Week 11 while filling in for Washington Redskins RB Clinton Portis but had surgery early enough that he was already walking again in December.