ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz knows that his patchwork defense will face a massive challenge Sunday against the high-powered New Orleans Saints.Schwartz, though, thinks that the very nature of Detroit’s new-look defense will present a challenge to Saints quarterback Drew Brees.”He’s not going to know what we are going to do, and I think that gives us an advantage,” Schwartz said. “There’s not tape from last year on this group, and what we did in the preseason is not what we are going to do at the Superdome. He’s not going to be sure what he’s going to be seeing, and that will help us.”Not only have the Lions replaced most of last season’s defensive starters, they will also be using a multi-formation system developed by new defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham.”We were pretty vanilla in the preseason — we played a lot of cover two and a little bit of man — but we’re going to be bringing the whole package on Sunday,” linebacker Julian Peterson said. “We don’t want to let him get comfortable and feel like he can be prepared for what we’re going to do.”Of course, Detroit’s defensive overhaul was made out of necessity. Last year’s 0-16 record happened, in great part, because of one of the worst defenses in NFL history. Detroit allowed 517 points, the second-most in league history, and its secondary only intercepted one pass.Only one defensive back from last year’s roster, Kalvin Pearson, will be playing against New Orleans and his major contributions come on special teams.Schwartz realizes the defense will face the ultimate test right out of the box.”Drew Brees is one of the best players in the National Football League,” he said. “He’s mobile and he’s very accurate — that’s how he threw for over 5,000 yards and 34 touchdowns last year, and why they were the top-ranked offense in the league. They didn’t run the ball all that well, but they didn’t have to because he was so good.”One of Detroit’s new defensive backs, cornerback Phillip Buchanon, thinks that Brees’ patience is his biggest virtue.”He scans the field really well, and he loves his checkdowns,” Buchanon said. “He’ll take five or six yards against you over and over, and then he’ll hit one over the top on you. That’s what we’ve got to keep him from doing.”Schwartz has also added to other parts of the defense, picking up players like Peterson, Larry Foote and Grady Jackson. Foote said it will take every one of them to stop Brees.”What he does so well is to find the weak link in your defense,” said Foote, who joined his hometown team after winning his second Super Bowl with Pittsburgh. “The key is that everyone has to do their jobs, and we have to dictate what he does. We can’t let him dictate things and just react or he’ll beat us.”Jason Hanson kicked field goals at practice after missing the final three preseason games following knee surgery. His status is still unclear for the Saints game.”At this point, I expect that he’ll be able to kick field goals, but we’ll have to see how he feels after doing some kickoffs today,” Schwartz said. “If we need to, we’ll bring in someone later this week to handle kickoffs.” Schwartz said that he doesn’t feel any extra pressure to win a game early in the season to snap Detroit’s 17-game losing streak. “We’re not worried about what happened last year or in 2007. When I got this job, I called every player on the roster, and I never mentioned last year. I feel an obligation to our fans to try to win every game, but that would be true no matter what happened last season.”—-Contact The Daily Reveille’s Sports Staff at [email protected]