A brief overview of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees' Wednesday news conference leading up to the 49ers game:

1. Even when the Saints were losing their first three games, Brees was unwavering in his belief that the team was better than its record. Now that it has won three of its last four, the task is to maintain consistency. "We want to see constant improvement," he said. "We know that there's ebb and flow in every season, but we don't want to be one of those teams that is really good one week, and then not so good the next week. We want to constantly be trending upward, we want to constantly be making improvements. That doesn't mean that every game is going to be where you increase the amount you win by, because each game presents new challenges. But the bottom line is, we know the areas where we can get better and I think we also know that's the next step in our development. So there's a great sense of urgency around here. It's kind of the philosophy of maybe where you would be at the very beginning of a season, from Week 1 to Week 2. Where you know the amount of improvement you have to make, that's where you need to show the greatest sign of improvement. I feel like the sense of urgency is at that level going into this week, (and) that's really kind of the way it's been the last few week in regard to continuing to strive forward."

2. The Niners are 1-6 and losers of six straight. And they have Brees' undivided attention. "I turn on the film and I look at that defense and I say, 'What do we need to do to attack this defense?' They've got a lot of good players on defense. They fly around and they've made a lot of plays, so that's what I see. I know the challenge that we have ahead of us. This league, each and every week you have to be at your very best. There's no bye week besides your actual bye week. Everybody plays hard, everybody is playing to win."