More than a stirring pregame speech like the ones consistently delivered to teammates, New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis offered perspective on a team that has lost five straight games entering Sunday's matchup against the Chargers in Los Angeles.

"The difference in success and failure is the person kept going. That's it," Davis said Monday. "Everybody is going to have highs, everybody is going to have lows, that's part of being a human being. And that's what we've got – right now in this game we're having a low.

"We've got to keep going, we've got to figure it out and that's what I know we're going to put on display for the last 10 weeks. We're going to find a way. There's a lot of football that's still got to be played. There has to be urgency; that's the reality.

"There's has to be urgency to get it fixed, because the football that we're putting out right now doesn't have to be what we put on display for the next 10 weeks. We can change that. It's just going to be about getting in, doing the work, and putting it on display."

New Orleans (2-5) hasn't lost six straight in a season since 2005, when it had separate streaks of five and six losses. The Chargers (3-2 entering their Monday night game against the Cardinals) will present an element that the Saints defense hasn't handled well the last three games – a solid run game.

Los Angeles entered Monday averaging 127.8 rushing yards per game and 4.2 yards per carry. In losses to Kansas City, Tampa Bay and Denver, the Saints allowed an average of 214 rushing yards, 5.9 yards per carry and two touchdowns.

"I don't think you can play good defense in this football league without being a really good run defense," Davis said. "We've got to find a way to get that done on all three levels, whether it's alignment, assignment, technique, getting back to the fundamentals.

"I think the encouraging thing is we've played good run defense here for a long time. So we know how to do it. We've just got to find our way home."

Saints Coach Dennis Allen said communication is one of several areas that the defense hopes to successfully address in the time it has had, and will have, available since playing last Thursday.

"Our communication has to be better," Allen said Monday. "I think that has to start with me. Our execution – knowing what to do, knowing how to do it – I think that's an area we need to improve on.

"The physicality and the violence of the game, I think that's an area that we can still improve on. Those are just areas that I looked at and identified, things that we have to be better at. Our strike and shed at all levels of our defense has to be better.

"We've done those things at times. We have not done that very well in the last few weeks and we have to get back to doing those things."

Davis said a "noisy" defense is the best defense and New Orleans hasn't been chatty enough.

"Whether you're playing at home or the road, what makes a defense great is being a loud defense," he said. "Whether it's personnel or whether it's the play call, or it's checks inside of the defense or it's post-snap communication, a noisy defense is always going to be a great defense."

Because the Saints overall haven't played to their expectation, it has left open the opportunity for a different kind of noise.

"I've always been proud to be a part of this organization, just because whether we're up or we're down, we always still show up the same," Davis said. "And we always show up in a way, with a mind-set, to find an opportunity to get better and weather the storm.

"I think it's reflective of who we are, it's reflective of the city that we play for. That's why I took it kind of personal when it was conversations about the effort.

"That's like questioning personality, that's like questioning character. And as long as I've been here, I've never seen a drop off of effort. If you look at the tape, you're not going to see that. Even on the last snap you've got guys flying to the ball.

"You can anticipate there's always going to be different opinions that are out there, because everybody is disappointed. Everybody is disappointed when you're not winning. But that's a good thing. That means you're accustomed to winning.

"We're not the only team in the league that's in this spot, but what we can control is how we handle being in this spot. And I think it's a great opportunity to search ourselves, find a way to get better, weather the storm and learn from the adversity, and looking forward to coming out of it."

MVS: Free agent receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling was set to meet with Allen on Monday afternoon, following his morning workout for New Orleans. In six games this season with Buffalo the 6-foot-4, 201-pounder had two catches for 26 yards; in six previous seasons, he totaled 186 catches for 3,155 yards and 16 touchdowns.

"He had a good workout this morning and he ran around pretty good," Allen said. "He's played in our league. He's a bigger receiver, got a good speed element to him. He's somebody that can fit some of the things that we might be needing, particularly with the loss of (receiver Rashid) Shaheed. Another speed element I think is something that we would consider."

INJURY UPDATES: Several injured Saints might return against the Chargers, including right guard Cesar Ruiz (knee) and tight end Taysom Hill (chest). Quarterback Derek Carr (oblique) had a throwing session Monday and is scheduled to do so again Tuesday, but rookie Spencer Rattler is poised to make his third consecutive start.

"I think Spencer has done some good things," Allen said. "Obviously, there are some rookie mistakes – got to do a better job of protecting the football, that would be probably the biggest thing that we have to do a better job of. But I felt like when you go back and you watch the tape and he's got protection, I thought he did a good job of throwing the football. I thought he created some things with his feet when he was outside the pocket. So I see a lot of really good things out of that player."

Receiver Chris Olave remains in concussion protocol, and cornerback Alontae Taylor will start outside with Paulson Adebo (broken femur) lost for the season. When the Saints open defensively in nickel, Taylor will start back at slot and rookie Kool-Aid McKinstry will start outside.