When: 8:30 p.m. ET Monday Where: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans TV: ESPN

The New Orleans Saints (4-6) have perhaps never appeared less intimidating in the Sean Payton-Drew Brees era than they do right now after limping away from a 27-10 loss at home to the Cincinnati Bengals.

But the "Monday Night Football" stage offers New Orleans its best chance to bounce back against the Baltimore Ravens (6-4). The Saints have won 14 straight prime-time games at home, including the playoffs, by nearly 20 points per game.

The Ravens, however, have dominated the woeful NFC South with a 3-0 record. They will try to make it a clean sweep coming out of their bye week.

ESPN Saints reporter Mike Triplett and ESPN Ravens reporter Jamison Hensley discuss this week's matchup:

Triplett: Jamison, the Saints' pass defense has been struggling all season -- especially on third-and-long -- and now they have big injury concerns. Is Joe Flacco capable of taking advantage like fellow up-and-down quarterback Andy Dalton did last week against the Saints?

Hensley: It certainly would follow Flacco's trend of exploiting bad secondaries this season. In four games against pass defenses ranked in the bottom 10, Flacco has completed 65.9 percent of his throws and has averaged 281.5 yards passing. He has thrown 10 touchdowns and three interceptions for a 112.0 passer rating. The Saints are the NFL's ninth-worst pass defense, and they looked even worse in allowing Dalton to regain his confidence.

The biggest concern with Flacco's inconsistency is he typically has his "down" games on the road. Since the start of the 2013 season, Flacco's passer rating on the road is 73.1, the fifth worst in the NFL over that span. Only Jason Campbell, Kirk Cousins, EJ Manuel and Geno Smith have been worse. This isn't exactly elite company. Beyond these numbers, the Ravens' ability to pick up blitzes and Flacco's poise under pressure will ultimately determine whether he keeps the Ravens in this game.

Mike, Flacco is 2-of-10 on passes of 25 yards or more over his past three games. Based on the current state of the Saints' secondary, what are the chances that Flacco gets back on track with the deep pass?

Triplett: He has a great chance -- especially if the Saints' top cornerback, Keenan Lewis, continues to be limited by a knee injury. Lewis is underrated as one of the NFL's best cover men, but the rest of the Saints' cornerbacks have been inconsistent. Now they are down to their third option at free safety with veteran Rafael Bush suffering a season-ending leg injury last week.

The Saints will have to rely heavily on their pass rush, which should be their strength, led by Cameron Jordan and Junior Galette. They have been inconsistent, too, this season. But it's worth noting that Dalton's success last week came almost exclusively on quick, short throws. He attempted only four throws of 15 yards or more (completing three).

On the flip side, the Saints' passing offense has had two of its worst performances against AFC North teams this season, in losses to Cleveland and Cincinnati. But it looks like Baltimore is much stronger against the run than the pass. What do you expect in that matchup, and how will the Ravens handle tight end Jimmy Graham?

Hensley: You are exactly right about the Ravens' run defense. That has been a major strength of the team because of the front seven. Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata and nose tackle Brandon Williams clog up the middle, and rookie inside linebacker C.J. Mosley has great instincts. This is why the Ravens have allowed 100 rushing yards twice this season, and they are allowing 2.9 yards per rush since Week 8, the second fewest in the NFL over that span. They have not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 20 straight games, the longest current streak in the NFL.

Where the Ravens are vulnerable is the deep pass. Teams have thrown six passes of more than 40 yards against the Ravens this season, and they have completed five (tied for most in the NFL). The Ravens are hoping that free safety Will Hill, who has started the past two games, develops into a ball hawk and cuts down on the big plays.

As far as Graham, the Ravens believe the best way to match up against him is to change how they match up. Coach John Harbaugh said the Ravens will use man coverage as well as zone coverage. They will jam Graham at the line and then back off. The Ravens don't want him to feel comfortable.

How committed to the run do you expect the Saints to be?

Triplett: Based on this matchup, I don't expect the Saints to be too stubborn with the run -- especially after their run game was surprisingly shut down by Cincinnati last week. But in general, the Saints have relied on the run game more this season than ever in the Payton-Brees era. They are eighth in the NFL in rushing yards per game, and Mark Ingram had three straight 100-yard games before last week.

But the offense is really stuck in a sort of identity crisis that we haven't seen before. The efficiency stats are up: Brees leads the NFL in completion percentage and the Saints lead the NFL in third-down success. But Brees also has turned the ball over too much (10 interceptions, two fumbles). And the deep ball has been hit or miss -- even before they lost their best deep threat, Brandin Cooks, to a broken thumb. I'm guessing we will see the Saints get pretty aggressive to try to get out of their rut Monday night.

The other complicating factor is Baltimore's pass rush. How disruptive have guys such as Elvis Dumervil, Terrell Suggs and Ngata been this season?

Hensley: With the injuries to the Ravens' secondary, the only way they are going to slow down a top quarterback like Brees is to get pressure on him. Few teams can get to the quarterback like the Ravens. Over the past seven games, the Ravens have 23 sacks, which is tied for the third most in the NFL. Dumervil and Suggs get most of the attention crashing the edges. They have acknowledged there is a competition on who can get the most sacks. What often goes unnoticed is the pressure the Ravens get up the middle. Ngata and Pernell McPhee constantly collapse the pocket. It's difficult for teams to shift their protections, because the Ravens win their one-on-one battles so often. In total, these four rushers have combined for 67 quarterback hurries this season. The Ravens need to rush quarterbacks so they don't have enough time to pick apart a secondary that has started six cornerbacks in the first 10 games.

The Saints have been surprisingly vulnerable at home recently, but they have been dominant in prime-time games at the Superdome. Why is it so tough to beat the Saints in those home night games?

Triplett: It really is uncanny how dominant they are in these games. They don't just win them. They routinely score in the 40s and win by 20 points. Obviously the atmosphere has a lot to do with it. The crowd is even more frenzied from the start in night games, and the Dome is one of the louder venues in the league. The conditions obviously favor New Orleans' offense (fast track, no weather, no crowd noise). And the Saints defense probably benefits even more because of that volume, which forces a lot of timeouts and false starts.

All of that being said, it's up to the Saints to keep that crowd in a frenzy with big plays. And it was really stunning to see how lifeless both the team and the fans were last week. The Saints have lost two straight home games now, after having won 11 straight before that. And their 10 points against Cincinnati was the lowest total at home since 2006.