Eyes were on the Jets as usual for their journey to New Orleans to play the Saints on Sunday, but a good percentage of those eyes were on the Green & White defense. Especially after two difficult starts against Miami and Jacksonville followed by the installation of Chris Harris as the team's defensive coordinator in time for the Saints.

On the surface, the 29-6 loss may have looked like more of the same. But there were a number of plays and stretches and series that showed promise for the highway ahead, as head coach Aaron Glenn pointed out.

"I thought Chris did a really good job at calling his first game," Glenn told reporters. "I thought he was patient. I don't think there was anything within what he was calling where he was frazzled at all. And [New Orleans] does a ton of up-tempo, so that really gave me an opportunity to evaluate how he had calls in his head going on to the next play, if that makes sense.

" There was no panic, there was no second-guessing, from what I know, and I'm proud of the way he operated. I thought he did a really good job going into this week to be able to call a game against an operation like they have with so much tempo."

To be sure, the Saints' tempo was molto allegro at times as they moved the ball on multiple drives with multiple first downs and scoring chances. They had 231 yards at the half and 412 for the game, and while rookie Tyler Shough was vulnerable on some plays, he looked like a young veteran on others as he completed 32 of 49 passes for 308 yards — his first 300-yard game in his seventh pro start — and WR Chris Olave caught 10 passes for 148 yards and both Saints touchdowns.

But beneath those gaudy numbers, the Jets showed a bend-but-don't-break-ability that had been missing in some games this season. Besides Shough's only TD throw, they managed six field goal tries (five successful) and they were held to three red zone FGs after yielding eight RZ touchdowns the previous two games combined.

"I thought we were really sound for the most part," Glenn said of the defense. "That first half, I thought our guys did a really good job of understanding exactly what Chris was trying to do, and there were some calls that we just put in that our guys executed really well. I think the one fumble we got was outstanding, the one third-down play in the red zone was outstanding and Chris called it at the right time when we really needed it."

"The last two weeks we didn't play good at all," LB Jamien Sherwood "I do feel like today we did execute better. ... I feel like we were ready because of everything that happened. We wanted to do a good job for Coach Harris and just our team in general."

Besides several plays, there were several members of the Jets D who flashed:

■ CB Qwan'tez Stiggers pounced on the fumble caused by rookie S Malachi Moore's force on Taysom Hill on the second offensive play of the game at the NO-37, setting the offense up for the first of what turned out to be only two scores both short Nick Folk field goals. Then Stiggers notched two pass defenses, the second probably the one Glenn referred to, a second-quarter third-down sideline route from the Jets 18 that Stiggers denied to Olave in the end zone.

■ Also in the second frame, MLB Jamien Sherwood came up big on back-to-back crunch-down plays, sacking Shough on third down to force a field goal, then leaping over the line and taking down Hill for no gain on fourth-and-1 at the NO-45. Sherwood had nine tackles at the half and 11 for the game, with LB Quincy Williams also contributing 11 tackles.

■ Edge Will McDonald IV wasn't listed by Glenn with injury but the CBS crew reported he was limping a little during the game. But McDonald didn't need any walking aids on the Saints' drive that started with 9:08 left on the Jets 44. He sacked Shough for zero yards on the first play, a few players later drew a holding penalty that wiped out a Shough-to-Hill TD pass, then a play after that drove his blocker into Shough as he threw downfield, again for Hill, for an incompletion.

On that series, the Saints had to settle for their last field goal by Charlie Smyth. In a closer game, McDonald's late surge plus the heroics of Sherwood, Stiggers and others might have turned the tide in the Caesars Superdome. But that FG made it 22-6 and the Saints were pulling away.

The Jets also went another game without an interception, setting the NFL record for most consecutive games in-season without an INT in NFL history. But Glenn saw the silver lining to another pick-less outing.

"I hate the fact that we didn't get an interception," he said. "But the thing is we got a turnover, and then we got a fourth-down stop, so these are some things we can build on, and our guys will continue to build on that. I want the interceptions like everybody else, but to me, if we can get a turnover, that's all I care about."

The losses haven't abated as Glenn and his staff and players have wanted, and two tough division finishing games, home for New England (11-3 before Sunday night at Baltimore) and away vs. Buffalo (11-4) won't be easy. But the head coach set his jaw and calmly laid out what everyone knows has to be attempted these final two weeks before another offseason begins.

"We have to get back to work next week, continue to play with effort, and continue to find ways to help put our guys in positions to be successful," he said. "Really the one thing we have to do as a staff is to be able to do that.

"We're going to flush this one. ... We'll clean some stuff up and we'll move on."