"You have to," said Jake Delhomme of Carolina's 27-3 loss at Tampa Bay. "I mean, overall we're not happy about the way we played, it was, after watching film it was what I thought after the game -- it wasn't worth a darn. But you've got to move on and get ready for a division opponent."

When asked if he was surprised by how tough the division has been - Tampa Bay, Atlanta and Carolina are all 4-2 with New Orleans 3-3.

"You just don't know," Delhomme said. "I think for the most part, besides a few special teams in certain areas, it's kind of a mix and match every year. No one gave Atlanta a chance this year and here they are playing great football. Tampa's the defending champs. New Orleans, they started off rough last year but they probably finished the season better than anyone else. So you've just got to come out and play good football. I mean, you're battle tested in my opinion in this division. They're all tough."

--QB Jake Delhomme, who is from Louisiana, was asked if playing the Saints is still special after all of these years.

"You know what, it's not," Delhomme said. "I don't mean to sound that way. In the first year or two, absolutely. You know, you want to go up, that's the team you're playing for, or played with I should say, I didn't play for them basically. You want it, it's not the same coaching staff, and besides Charles Grant and Deuce McAllister and Kevin Houser, the deep snapper, I don't think I played with any other one of those guys. ... But really it's just another big game. It's the next game in the division."

--In his last six starts against the Saints, Delhomme has completed 61.4 percent of his passes and averaged 241.2 yards per game with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions.

After a miserable outing last week (3 INTs, 0 TDs), look for Delhomme to have a breakout game this week at home.

Delhomme is 6-2 overall against his former team.

--Coach John Fox talked about defending Reggie Bush.

"He creates problems, because you've got a running back that's like a very mobile quarterback," Fox said. "It's a dimension - he's got receiver skills much like Marshall Faulk did when they were rolling in St. Louis. Coach (Sean) Peyton is doing a good job of getting him out, but he is also catching a lot of those balls from out of the backfield even on check downs.

"He's been an outlet guy, not a primary guy, and I've seen him running for touchdowns. He's a tremendous athlete at that position in the Marshall Faulk mold."

BY THE NUMBERS: 22-16 -- Coach John Fox's all-time record against the NFC South.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "Our body of work is not done yet. I think he's played very well for us, good enough for us to be 4-2. I think right now we are the third-ranked defense in the league and I think he's been a big part of that." -- Panthers coach John Fox when asked to evaluate the play of defensive end Julius Peppers (three sacks) through six games.