METAIRIE, La. -- Sean Payton saw it again on the sideline this past Sunday, when reviewing the game tape.

Payton loved the way players reacted on the bench when New Orleans Saints running back Tim Hightower converted the first down that cinched their 24-17 victory over the Buccaneers.

“Defense, offense, guys just fired up,” said Payton, who compared it to a photo he brought up earlier this year of the Saints' sideline in a tough loss at Carolina that showed just how invested the players were despite an 0-3 start.

Payton said that level of investment continued, even when the Saints (5-8) lost four straight games recently to fall out of realistic playoff contention.

“I’ve said this all season: We’ve got a young, hungry group of players that are coming to work, and they want to please, and they want to be coached hard,” Payton said. “Obviously there’s areas that we’re gonna have to improve in. ... But that gets back to the makeup of the guys you’re lookin’ to sign. And you get enough of those guys, then all of a sudden you turn the corner, and we’ve seen it happen before.

“But it’s entirely different than last season.”

The difference between six and eight wins might seem insignificant for a non-playoff team. But Payton believes strongly in the idea of maintaining the winning “culture” that the Saints have worked hard to create in the past decade.

And that message of turning the corner resonated with players a couple weeks ago, when coaches pointed out that the Panthers were 3-8-1 around this time last year and have not lost a game since.

The Saints have been determined not to let this season or this locker room unravel the way it did last year, starting with an overhaul of nearly half the roster in the offseason. Players who've been part of both teams have stressed the difference. And players who came from elsewhere have noticed the same.

Hightower stressed how this Saints team has shown more “fight” than others he has been on.

“We mentioned this last week, this is our livelihood. What we put on tape as players and coaches, every week you get measured in our league,” Payton said. “You’ve gotta be excited and be passionate to play this game well. And if not, then you just turn over, then all of a sudden that becomes accepted. And that becomes the case in life, that’s not just football.”

Payton said the big concern last week was that players might be deflated after they came so close to beating those undefeated Panthers, losing 41-38.

“The concern that we all had, and we talked about it last week, was, ‘Man, they laid it out there.’ We played with great effort. And it wasn’t flawless, obviously, in a high-scoring game. And we felt like we were gonna win the game and had a great work week and then lost. It’s easy to be discouraged coming back,” Payton said. “But you’ve gotta find a way, we collectively have to find a way to regroup and do that again. And there’s some mental toughness involved in it.”