METAIRIE, La. -- Perhaps the most promising part of the New Orleans Saints’ big win at Pittsburgh last Sunday was the return of the four-man pass rush.

That was the secret to the Saints’ defensive success last year. And it’s absolutely vital to their fortunes this year -- especially with a less-experienced secondary.

Both outside linebacker Junior Galette and defensive end Cameron Jordan have said over the past week that they put that responsibility on their shoulders. And they lived up to their own demands this past week by harassing Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger (two batted passes, one interception and one sack by Jordan, a forced holding penalty by Galette and several forced incompletions by both). The interior linemen also got a consistent push.

Now they have to do the same against the Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton on Sunday.

In their previous meeting, a 28-10 Saints victory at Carolina in Week 9, Newton was sacked four times and he was woefully off target with his throws, completing just 10 of 28. But Newton still managed to burn the Saints with five runs of eight yards or more -- including a touchdown.

"Going into this game, of course I want to start with the D-line putting pressure on Cam and at the same time keep him contained,” Jordan said. "We’ve gotta do a great job of keeping contain, and I think we’ve done a decent job of keeping contain this whole year with the mobile quarterbacks that we have faced.”

The Saints were great in that regard against Roethlisberger, allowing him to escape for only one 8-yard run and very few completed passes outside the pocket.

Although they weren’t perfect against Newton last time, the Saints were obviously happy with their end result. And they also did a decent job against elusive San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick -- sacking him four times and allowing him to run for only 24 yards on four carries. However, one of the Saints’ lowest moments of the year came when they allowed Kaepernick to escape the pocket and buy extra time for a 51-yard pass on a fourth-and-10 prayer late in the fourth quarter.

And oddly enough, the Saints’ worst job of QB containment might have come against Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton, who made several big throws outside the pocket.

Galette took the blame for not keeping containment in that game -- admitting that he didn’t expect it from watching film on Dalton.

I asked Galette when it’s his responsibility to keep outside containment and when it’s his job just to go all-out to get to the QB -- and he said it’s a fine line. He said he has the "green light” to gamble with an inside rush, but when he does, he says "I gotta make it.”

Galette explained that it’s key for him to be aware of who’s lined up next to him. When it’s a faster pass-rusher like Jordan or Glenn Foster (who’s now on injured reserve), then Galette feels like he can take more chances. But when it’s a bigger "pocket pusher” like Akiem Hicks or a nose tackle, Galette said he puts them "in a bad predicament” if he lets a QB escape and forces them to go on the chase.

"So it probably would be better for me to push the line into (the quarterback) or power rush and have him step up into our pocket pushers (in those situations),” Galette explained.

Those are the kinds of decisions that become even more critical when facing an elusive QB like Newton, which makes Galette and Jordan even more important this week than usual.