In a press conference before the Giants-Saints game Monday night, New Orleans coach Jim Haslett told reporter in no uncertain terms, “Don’t feel sorry for us. We don’t want any special treatment.” Okay, Jim: Your team stinks.

The broadcast of the Giants’ easy 27-10 victory over the Saints seemed like a cross between a preseason exhibition and a Jerry Lewis telethon, with constant cuts to former NFL stars and miscellaneous celebrities like Regis Philbin taking phone calls and donations for Katrina relief. This created numerous late cuts back to the game, but, trust me, based on the evidence of what we did see, it’s hard to believe anything was missed. The Saints, who have not scored on an opening possession in nearly two seasons, fumbled away the opening kickoff on a bungled double reverse.

The Giants recovered at the New Orleans 11, forced the ball in for a cheap touchdown, and that was pretty much it. To paraphrase George Clemenceau on Brazil, the Saints are the team of the future, and always will be.

As the commentators are fond of telling us, the Saints have talent, but always seem to be in a state of continual flux. The pieces never quite fit. Play-byplay man Mike Patrick noted that Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks has one of the strongest throwing arms in the NFL and that offensive coordinator Mike Sheppard had “simplified the New Orleans offense to better emphasize Brooks’s talents.” Fair enough, but simplifying your offense by definition means the other team has less to defend against, and no matter how fast your quarterback can bring it, sooner or later defenses are going to stop you when they know what’s coming.

As a result, Brooks is one of those passers who piles up a lot of yards but precious few points. On Monday, he threw for 375 yards to Eli Manning’s 165, but never looked close to getting his offense into gear. The fault is far from his own: The perennially disorganized Saints, who led the NFL in penalty yardage last season, drew 16 against the Giants. There’s a rumor that officials who have recently worked Saints games need rotator cuff surgery.

Right now, it’s hard to cut through all the pious blather about the Saints to get at what is really wrong with this team. It’s easy to say that they’re emotionally unfocused right now, but that overlooks the fact that they have seemed that way since their inaugural season of 1967.Yes, they are a team without a home, but have they ever really had one? Before Katrina, their season ticket sales had dropped for the third straight year, and in five seasons under Jim Haslett, they have been a better team on the road than at home – and they haven’t played all that well on the road.

As for the Giants, they may have caught a break by playing the Saints in the Meadowlands, though it’s hard to imagine that the final score would have been much different wherever the teams played. The Giants are better than the Saints and better than they were last year, though right now it’s impossible to say how much better. In two games, a combination of timely kick returns and offensive mistakes from the opposing teams have given them the luxury of playing mostly with a lead. As Joe Theismann astutely observed on Monday night, this plays to the strengths of the Giants’ defense.

Michael Strahan, slimmer and sleeker at about 255 pounds, spent most of the game ignoring the Saints running backs and storming after Brooks; as long as the Giants can afford to let him do this, the odds will swing dramatically in their favor. How often they can continue to do that without unleashing Eli Manning, though, is up in the air.

So far, the Giants have used Manning sparingly, as if afraid to ask him to do too much too early. In two games, the second year signal caller has completed 23 of just 47 passes for a lousy completion rate of 48%. Fortunately for the Giants, this is largely irrelevant; what is relevant is his perfectly respectable 7.2 yards per pass average. But Eli Manning was designed by God to increase leads, not to protect them.

The Giants spent a bundle of their salary cap reserve on a six-year, $25 million contract for receiver Plaxico Burress, who might be the team’s best deep threat since … Homer Jones? Del Shofner? Throwin Jeremy Shockey, and the Giants have the best wide receiver-tight end tandem in the team’s history. They shouldn’t have to rely on kick returns or opponents’ goofs to establish their leads. If Manning can hit on his passes early and often, he’ll not only improve the Giants’ offense, but allow the Giants to play their defensive strong suit as well.

It might seem a little early for a bellwether game, but next weekend’s matchup with the San Diego Chargers may well set the tone for the Giants’ entire season. San Diego, one of the AFC’s better teams a year ago, has inexplicably started the season at 0-2. The Chargers are desperate, and they’ll be playing on their home turf. Despite their poor start, they are a better team than the Giants until the Giants prove otherwise.

Quarterback Drew Brees is likely to test the Giants’ pass rush and coverage – particularly with All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates – more than any passer until Donovan McNabb and the Eagles welcome the Giants to Philadelphia on November 20.

If the Giants can emerge from San Diego with a win, a successful run through subsequent games against the mediocre Rams, Cowboys, Broncos, Redskins, and 49ers could leave them in prime playoff position at the season’s midpoint.