METAIRIE, La. (AP) — When the Saints’ defense needs to make a stop, it has — all season.

The last five minutes of the New Orleans-Tennessee game Sunday were a microcosm of the season for the Saints’ defense.

Titans rookie quarterback Jake Locker shredded the NFL’s 27th-ranked defense for 113 yards and two big plays, but no points. When they had to make a stop, the Saints did. Again.

The defense preserved New Orleans’ 22-17 victory.

“That’s what we really hang our hat on,” said New Orleans safety Malcolm Jenkins, who helped blanket Tennessee’s receivers on the last snap. “The pressure of the game will never be too much for us to handle. When plays need to be made, we will rise up.”

They certainly have in the last month.

While Drew Brees and the NFL’s top-rated offense deserve the bulk of the credit for New Orleans being 10-3 and in contention for a bye in the first round of the playoffs, the defense has come up huge when it counted during the Saints’ current five-game win streak.

“A lot of people pay too much attention to total defense,” Saints linebacker Scott Shanle said. “I looked at the total defense the other day and I saw that the Patriots were last and Green Bay was second-to-last and we were close to the bottom.

“You can’t put a whole lot of stock in those numbers.”

Against Atlanta in week 10, New Orleans forced three consecutive incomplete passes when the Falcons had first-and-goal at the 9 near the end of regulation. Atlanta settled for a tying field goal, and the Saints won in overtime soon after stopping running back Michael Turner on fourth-and-inches at the Falcons’ 29.

In week 12, they held Detroit scoreless on four fourth-quarter possessions after the Lions pulled within 24-17 late in the third.

Against Tennessee, cornerback Tracy Porter made a textbook deflection of a pass to Marc Mariani on a slant route that appeared ticketed for a touchdown on the Titans’ second-to-last snap.

“He had no help,” Jenkins said. “It was just him and that receiver. If they get that completed, they win the game. For him to knock that down, with that type of pressure, was huge.”