In Omar Gaither's mind, he couldn't have had a more successful start to the season. And it's not because he registered four tackles, half a sack, and a fumble recovery.

"I'm very proud of the way we came out and played that first week," Gaither said. "Obviously I want good numbers too, but it means more to me that the defense played well. Me being the driver ... it feels good to me knowing that we played well."

As the quarterback of the defense at middle linebacker, Gaither's responsibilities go beyond making open field tackles.

"(Gaither)'s the one that makes all the calls, so when I say (the defense) was accurate with their assignments, that starts with Omar and him controlling the defense," said head coach Andy Reid. "The guy ended up playing the whole game ad I thought he did a heck of a job leading the defense."

As successful as Gaither and the defense were against the Panthers, they have a much different challenge this week going up against one of the most prolific offenses in the league, led by quarterback Drew Brees.

"He's very efficient on offense," Gaither said of Brees. "He knows where to go with the ball and he was one of the top three quarterbacks, easily, in the league as far as last year so it's a big challenge for us coming up this week.

"He reads coverages well and he's not going to let you get there because he gets the ball out so fast. So if you get one or two sacks against this guy then you're doing a real good job of getting pressure."

But Gaither thinks he and the defense will have a few tricks up their sleeve to ruffle the feathers of one of the game's best.

"Like I always say, it could be the best quarterback in the world but if you get pressure in his face he's going to throw turnovers, he's going to fumble the ball," Gaither said. "That's what we want to do every week to every quarterback."

-- Posted by Bo Wulf, 1:18 p.m., September 17