And then there's that bunch from Tampa Bay.

Heard any studio talking heads chatting the Buccaneers up lately?

"Who cares?" nose tackle Chris Hovan asked. "All we have to do is keep on winning and we'll give them plenty to talk about."

In these parts -- to no one's surprise -- defense is dominating the conversations after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made mortals out of red-hot quarterback Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints in a 23-20 victory in front of a rain-soaked sellout crowd of 64,430 at Raymond James Stadium.

Strong safety Jermaine Phillips' interception set up Matt Bryant's go-ahead field goal with two minutes to play and cornerback Phillip Buchanon's diving interception with 1:36 remaining preserved a huge NFC South victory for the Bucs (9-3), who won their fourth straight, equaled the best 12-game start in the team's 33-season history and remained in a tie with Carolina for first place in the NFC South and in line for the conference's No. 2 postseason seed.

And guess who the Bucs play next?

On Monday night, no less.

People will be talking.

"We've set the stage for an exciting finish to the season," Tampa Bay Coach Jon Gruden said.

Tailback Carnell "Cadillac" Williams, in his second game back from a devastating knee injury that ended his '07 season, scored on an 8-yard run, Jeff Garcia hit wideout Antonio Bryant for a 39-yard touchdown pass and Bryant kicked three field goals in sloppy conditions to account for the scoring.

But chalk up another win for the Tampa Bay defense.

Facing Brees, an MVP candidate, and an offense ranked first in the NFL (411.9 yards per game) and coming off a 51-point eruption six days earlier, the Bucs limited the Saints (6-6) to 332 total yards (their second-fewest of the season) and intercepted Brees three times, including the decisive two in the final 2:33 to ice the game.

"Both of them were balls I tried to force in there," Brees said.

Pressure will do that to a quarterback -- even a great one.

"We were relentless," Bucs defensive end Greg White said.

They had the collective backs of their offensive teammates, that's for sure.

Garcia fought the elements most of the day, completing just nine of his 23 pass attempts for 119 yards, and was sacked four times. Unlike Brees, though, Garcia did not throw any interceptions and got some help from a running game that netted 149 yards (compared to 44 for New Orleans).

"It wasn't happening easily through the air," said Garcia, who pitched in with 42 rushing yards of his own. "We needed to battle through and do what we could do."

The Bucs led 20-10 after scoring TDs on consecutive possessions to open the second half, but went three-and-out the next three times they had the ball. The Saints, meanwhile, got a Brees-to-Pierre Thomas touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter and 43-yard field goal from Garrett Hartley to tie the score at 20 with 5:34 to play.

Tampa Bay was forced to punt on the subsequent possession, but not until it had moved into New Orleans territory. Josh Bidwell's kick pinned the Saints at their 7 and Phillips' interception came three plays later.

Bryant's field goal came three plays after that.

Then Buchanon's interception.

"This defense is built on that type of situation, where we have to bring the closers out," Tampa Bay linebacker Derrick Brooks said. "When our offense gives us a lead, they expect us to slam the door. And we expect that of ourselves."

Expectations are high for this team.

But only, it seems, within this team.