It's not as if Drew Brees hasn't heard whispers, shouts, choruses or even roars of disapproval before.
As efficient as the New Orleans Saints offense has been since he joined the franchise as an unrestricted free agent in 2006, it has had production dips. And as off-the-charts good as Brees has been for the vast majority of that time – he's the NFL's all-time leader in touchdown passes and passing yards, and owns a handful of league marks – when the offense doesn't click, he usually is the focal point of concern.
And entering a Sunday night game against Green Bay in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the offense for the Saints (1-1) hasn't clicked.
New Orleans benefited from a defensive touchdown, another interception to set up a short-field touchdown drive, a blocked field goal to set up a field goal and a recovered kickoff fumble to set up a field goal in a 34-23 victory over Tampa Bay in the season opener.
And when the offense looked to be on track against the Raiders, with 17 points and touchdown drives of 78 and 76 yards within the first 25 minutes of game time, it stalled. While the Raiders scored 24 consecutive points, New Orleans' next three possessions were a Brees interception and two punts.
But the murmurs dissipate among the compartmentalization. There isn't much time to wallow.
"That's the nature of our business," said Brees, who completed 26 of 38 passes for 312 yard and a touchdown, with the interception. "Even after you have really good games, really good performances, it's always on to the next opponent. There's always another challenge right around the corner.
"Week in and week out, you really have to put together your best efforts in order to win in this league. It's tough to win, you have to execute at a very high level. And listen, we're used to doing that. Obviously, there's those moments, there's those games that you have where, obviously, it's not clicking or, for whatever reason, you walked away from it saying 'We can be much better than that.'
"And you just get back to work, and you put together a game plan that everybody feels very confident with, and then you go in the next game feeling like, man, we've done everything we can to put ourselves in the best position to succeed. And that's what we're going to do this week."
A portion of Monday's struggle was attributable to the absence of receiver Michael Thomas, who missed the game with an ankle injury. It was the second missed game of Thomas' career; the Saints have lost both.
"We've got some new faces, we've got some young guys in some key areas, especially offensively," Brees said. "Obviously, with the loss of Mike Thomas, we're having to fit some guys into some new roles, get some guys some significant playing time maybe in different situations that they haven't been in before.
"There definitely is that element of just getting everybody (on) the same page, everybody in sync. (But) I'm confident with the guys that we have and with the system that we have and everything, that we're going to be able to get back on track."
Brees said that an ailing offense doesn't mean that he is ailing.
"I feel good. I feel good, borderline great," he said. "My job is to move the football, get first downs, possess the ball and score points. And so, however we can do that, we're going to do it.
"One of the statistics that was thrown out after the game was the yards per attempt, or something like that. There are many statistics I do not pay one bit of attention to, and that would be one of them. At the end of the day, I am focused on putting us in position to succeed.
"Making great decisions – both in the run game and the pass game, whatever is predicated on my ability to get us into the best play. And our ability to take care of the football and go and score points, put us in the best position to win. Play complementary ball with our defense and special teams, as well. Those are the things I'm focused on, and I don't care how we do it, I honestly don't. I just want to win football games."
