METAIRIE, La. -- Corey White is sporting a new look this week. The New Orleans Saints cornerback shaved off his familiar mohawk (which had gone through various shades of orange, gold, black and even pink for breast cancer awareness this year). White said it was "time for a change."

It's not hard to understand his mindset. The third-year pro has had some rough moments since taking over as a full-time starter in Week 2 -- none rougher than this past week, when he allowed Detroit Lions receiver Golden Tate to spring free for a 73-yard touchdown.

And White stressed that there is no more important trait for a cornerback than being able to move past those low points.

"It's about having short-term memory, play by play, game by game. You gotta let it go," said White, who insisted that's not just some cliché that's easier said than done. "At this point of your career it should be easy to move forward from. I'm not a rookie anymore. You've gotta be able to move forward."

It will be interesting to see if the Saints consider another change themselves, with previously-benched veteran Patrick Robinson coming back this week from a hamstring injury and rookies Brian Dixon and Stanley Jean-Baptiste having started to get their feet wet in the NFL.

None is an especially enticing option against the Green Bay Packers and their sizzling-hot passing offense, which will visit the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Sunday night.

But just like the corners themselves, the Saints need to keep the faith moving forward and hope to build off the progress their secondary showed in wins over Minnesota and Tampa Bay and the first 56 minutes of the Detroit game.

"The big thing, and it's no different than the rest of our team, is looking for some consistency," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "You're mixing up coverages, so there's times where there's a little bit more stress on that position, and then there's times where maybe you're playing a cloud or safety help over the top. But everyone of us, we're all looking to have that consistency week in and week out."

At some point, the Saints might consider getting Jean-Baptiste more involved. But so far they've been treating their second-round draft pick out of Nebraska as more of a developmental prospect. And he was riding that same roller coaster with highs and lows in the preseason and training camp.

"He's a real raw guy. We got a raw kid, a piece of clay there, but he has a lot of ability," Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan said of the 6-foot-3, 218-pounder last week. "These big corners are in vogue now because they do some many things to take away the vertical ball and things like that. We're excited about his progression. He's worked really hard, but again we took a piece of clay there and we're betting on the come with him."

Jean-Baptiste wound up playing his first eight snaps of the season at Detroit since Robinson was hurt and No. 1 cornerback Keenan Lewis left the game late in the fourth quarter with an injury.

Jean-Baptiste quickly got his welcome-to-the-NFL moment when he was part of the blown coverage on Corey Fuller's go-ahead 5-yard touchdown catch in the final minutes. Although Jean-Baptiste was covering Fuller to start the play, Payton alluded that there may have been a blown assignment elsewhere, saying, "There's more than just Stanley on that play."

"We've felt like he's come along in the kicking game, and we want to get him some work in the red zone," Payton said. "He's making progress and we've been encouraged with what he is doing."

As for Jean-Baptiste, he too said he's following the cornerback mantra of moving forward.

"That's something you've gotta know. If something happens, you've gotta forget about it and move on. If you let it linger on you, you're just gonna keep having bad plays," Jean-Baptiste said. "I feel like I'm getting better every day. Every time I come to work, I feel like I'm learning something new and just trying to put everything together."