Coach Jim Schwartz has found a couple signs of encouragement in the first two games, both losses. He likes the fight in his team. Even though they were down 14-0 at New Orleans in the first quarter they never quit.

“We sort of rallied a little bit and sort of held our own. We didn’t completely fold right there. We came out in this game (against Minnesota) and established some things that we wanted to do and, at times, looked like the team that we’re going to be, that we want to be,’’ Schwartz said on Monday.

The coach was also pleased that they got the running game going against the Vikings when they finished with 129 rushing yards. Kevin Smith had 83 of those.

“There were times that we were rolling 8-, 9-yard runs after 8-, 9-yard runs. You’re going to have a couple of bad runs in there that look bad there, but I was pleased with that mentality of ‘we can run against anything.’ The mentality of, ‘Hey look, we’re down and still fight.’ Those are all positive signs,’’ Schwartz said.
— PAULA PASCHE