The bitter aftertaste from Monday's loss hasn't dissolved for Chase Young and his New Orleans Saints teammates, and isn't likely to do so until they're in position to do something about it.
The next opportunity for that will be Sunday, when the Saints (1-3) face the Vikings (4-0) in the Caesars Superdome.
Among a locker room of seething players following the 45-24, nationally-televised loss to the Falcons, none seethed more than Young. And it pleased him that that emotion has remained to a degree this week.
"Honestly, I hope we have a sour taste," said Young, a defensive team captain and the Saints' leader in sacks, with 3.5. "That's the game, right? You win some, you lose some but the ones you lose — I think real competitors keep that sour taste until Sunday. And I hope everybody in here has a sour taste in their mouth until we get to Sunday, so we can use that monkey on our back."
Expectedly, fan disappointment matched the players' fury.
"You face the noise," Young said. "That's life. That's football."
But he has seen his teammates use the fury to help fuel the week.
"I'll just say after the game, you should be upset," Young said. "We didn't play to our standard, but the positive is seeing everybody come in (Wednesday), how they're dealing with it and that's what you want to see — dudes who have a sour taste in their mouth, dudes who are mad about it. You get punched in your mouth, hopefully you ain't smiling.
"I still got that taste in my mouth right now. But it's just riding slowly until Sunday, (and) you can just go out and let loose."
Young confirmed Coach Kellen Moore's account that on Tuesday, an off day for all healthy players in the short week, everyone reported.
"It was great," he said. "Everybody was in the building. I like how we responded — everybody in the building, everybody wants to get better.
"We held everybody accountable, and we're on to the Vikings and we're doing the same thing we do during the week."
While the Vikings have not had explosive scoring outputs this season — having posted 9, 23 and 15 points in three of their wins — they'll bring with them a mobile quarterback (Kyler Murray) who has given New Orleans, and other NFL teams, fits in the past.
Murray has completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 433 yards and a touchdown, with two interceptions, and run for 42 yards on 10 carries in three games. He has been sacked seven times.
"Running quarterback, can move around," Young said. "Just have to be aware. I always say with running quarterbacks, just stay in your pass rushing lanes and he'll come to you. We've got to be aware of him and we've just got to rush together."
Staying together has been a central theme this week.
"It's first quarter (of the season), about to be in the second quarter," he said. "It's a long season. I have no doubt we're going to get everything rolling the way we want to."
INJURY REPORT: The Saints' 13-player injury report included several notables who did not participate in the walkthrough practice, among them receiver Chris Olave (rest), running back Alvin Kamara (back), linebacker Kaden Elliss (calf) and receiver Barion Brown (thigh). Quarterback Tyler Shough (left hand) was limited, but Shough said he mainly was dealing with soreness.
