A few tidbits from New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton's Monday teleconference:

1. Film don't lie: Payton said he thought that defensive end Cam Jordan(nine tackles, a sack, three tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries) stood out as much on Monday as he did on Sunday in the Saints’ 25-23 loss to Denver. "I thought he played exceptionally well, probably one of his best games of the year," Payton said. "The pressure (applied to Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian) was significant and it really helped us in a lot of ways coverage-wise and with some of the sudden changes we had."

2. The beauty of the short week is that, preparation-wise, there's familiarity: Carolina is an NFC South Division opponent that the Saints already have played (Oct. 16 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, a 41-38 Saints victory), so New Orleans already has a good idea of how Carolina operates offensively and defensively. The concern may be recovery, particularly for the Saints' defense. Denver had a significant time of possession advantage on Sunday (39:22 to New Orleans' 20:38) and ran 83 offensive plays, to the Saints' 51. However, in the previous three games, the Saints played significantly fewer defensive snaps than did Kansas City (52, to the Chiefs' 71), Seattle (54 to 72) and San Francisco (57 to 82). Neither of those teams had a time of possession that topped 27:22 (Seattle and San Francisco clocked in at 23:48 and 21:07, respectively). So, cumulatively speaking, the Saints may be perfectly suited to bounce back defensively in terms of the snap count against Carolina. "I think the challenge for both clubs, in time you're in a short week, is getting the recovery, getting mental part of gameplan and getting ready to go again here in a short period of time."

3. After further review, Payton said there wasn't much to disagree with on the point-after touchdown attempt that Denver blocked and returned for the winning two-point conversion. "The timing in which (Broncos safety Justin Simmons) hits it was clean. Obviously, you can't see a clear enough picture on the sideline (to determine whether safety Will Parks stepped out of bounds during the return). I know there's a handful of pictures after the fact, but it is kind of what I thought it was after the game." Payton said the Saints mostly need better awareness during that kind of situation. "We've just got to be better in that situation of recognizing a jumper and being able to see it, because it's an easy penalty to draw if you just come up at all. But, watching that, there didn't look to be anything egregious."