It's not the first time that defensive end Darren Howard has faced his former team. However, this Sunday's battle between the Eagles and the Saints will be the first time that Howard gets to show what his old team is missing in his new home.

The Eagles and the Saints have played three times since Howard signed as an unrestricted free agent prior to the start of the 2006 season. All three of those meetings have taken place in the Crescent City. Two of those meetings took place in 2006 and the Saints won both games by a 27-24 score. The last meeting was in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. The Eagles won in 2007, which eliminated the Saints from playoff contention.

However, the Saints didn't get to see Howard reach the level of play the Eagles had hoped for when they signed him to the big contract. In his first two years with the Eagles, Howard had 6.0 sacks. In the off-season prior to the 2008 campaign, Howard employed a new training program that included boxing, mixed martial arts and basketball. He's lost 15 pounds and seven percent of his body far over the last two years with this regimen. In 2008, Howard led all NFL players who did not start a game with 10.0 sacks. That was his highest total since 2004. He continued his success with a team-high 2.0 sacks and a forced fumble last week against the Panthers.

"We brought a lot of pressure right off the bat," Howard said. "That was our style in the past. We had guys who made a lot of plays on defense. We started having fun. Once that snowball gets going, it's hard to stop it."

Howard said that he told his teammates last week that they would know what type of defense they are after last Sunday's win. Apparently, with seven turnovers, five sacks and the league's No. 1 defense after Week 1, it's a pretty good one.

"I think you saw (what this defense is). We put it out there. Now we have to maintain that level of football," Howard said. "We still have some work to do. We have a good New Orleans Saints team coming in this week. We just have to keep building and keep working."

Last week, it was a vaunted rushing attack. This week, it's the league's top offense from a year ago and last week. The New Orleans Saints scored 45 points and gained 515 yards behind quarterback Drew Brees - who leads virtually every NFL stat category since he was signed by the Saints in 2006. Howard knows the importance of getting the pressure on Brees this week.

"Anytime you get pressure on a quarterback - great quarterback, average quarterback - they get a little frustrated," Howard said. "You want to get him, knock him down a lot. Get around the ball."

-- Posted by Chris McPherson, 9:57 a.m., September 16