updated 12:00 a.m. ET Sept. 24, 2007

NEW ORLEANS - Saints linebacker Scott Fujita lives in New Orleans’ warehouse district, where he routinely gets out in public to walk his dogs or dine in a sushi restaurant that named its Mount Fujita roll after him.

A few days ago, the 6-foot-5, 250-pound Fujita was out with his wife when someone came rushing out of a shop with bag of footballs, asking the Saints’ defensive co-captain to sign them.

“So after I’m done signing for him, he says, ’You guys gotta wake up this week,”’ Fujita recalled.

The Saints, who entered this season with all the build-up of a Super Bowl contender, could have been accused of sleepwalking through their first two games — blowout losses in Indianapolis and Tampa Bay.

An 0-2 hole was the last thing they needed coming into their home opener Monday night against the improving Tennessee Titans (1-1), whose lone loss was by two points to the same Colts team that stomped New Orleans 41-10 on opening night.

But as this week has progressed, the Saints have begun to exude a sense of confidence and calm, as if they’ve figured something out.

“We tried to be too perfect — paralysis by analysis,” said Saints quarterback Drew Brees, leader of an offense that has produced only two touchdowns and turned the ball over five times.

Last year, Brees led the league in passing, and the Saints led the league in total offense.

“Guys have been trying to do too much. I’m guilty of it myself,” said Saints running back Reggie Bush, who has a surprisingly low 117 yards on runs, receptions and punt returns combined. “I know a lot of people are ready to jump off the bandwagon right now because we’re 0-2, but we still believe in ourselves and that’s really all that matters.”

The Saints expect to be back in the playoffs, but it only gets harder if they fall to 0-3.

“They were a lot of people’s preseason Super Bowl pick. They still have those same guys,” Tennessee defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said. “We know we’re going to get a different team because it is their home opener and it’s going to be a big emotional boost for them.”

So far, however, Tennessee has looked like the better team.

LenDale White may have been overshadowed by Bush when they were teammates at Southern California, where Bush won the Heisman Trophy in 2005. But after two games this season, White has the better numbers, running the ball 33 times for 130 yards and teaming with fellow running back Chris Brown to help the Titans accumulate the best rushing totals in the NFL (211.5 yards per game).

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Versatile Vince Young has aided the Titans’ success on the ground, scrambling for 75 yards and a touchdown. His passing numbers have been less impressive at 262 yards and one touchdown, but Titans coach Jeff Fisher isn’t getting too caught up in statistics so much as the intangibles Young demonstrates: poise and the ability to make clutch plays.

“He’s a young quarterback that’s yet to play a full season. There are a lot of things that he can improve on, no differently than anybody else that young in their career,” Fisher said. “I think the thing that is special about Vince is that he finds ways to win ballgames.”

And Young seems to thrive in big games.

“This is the stage to show the whole world what type of team we have on Monday night,” Young said.

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