Saints DE Will Smith knows the team doesn’t need a helping hand, it needs a change in mindset. (US Presswire)

Interim coach Aaron Kromer has said repeatedly this week the Saints are practicing faster in an attempt to climb out of their 0-3 hole. For starters, they did not wear shoulder pads on Wednesday, a change from their routine in the first three weeks.

DE Will Smith said the change in tempo is one thing, but the real need is a change in mindset.

“Usually when a team gets 0-3 everyone is kind of bailing out,” he said. “He’s saying we’re picking up our tempo because we know whatever we were doing in the past wasn’t cutting it. Stay here an extra hour or do whatever we need to do to get this W.”

LB Jonathan Casillas took Kromer’s comments more literally.

“It’s how we run to the ball,” he said. “Maybe it was overlooked in the first few weeks. I’m not sure. But now we’re going to run to the ball and make sure we get 11 guys to the ball. This guy (Kansas City’s Jamaal Charles) was breaking 90-yard runs on us. Maybe if we had that extra hat on the ball, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Upon Further review: Saints players are happy the regular officials will be back for Sunday’s game against Green Bay, but LB Scott Shanle jokingly mentioned one possible negative. With the defense on the field for almost all of the fourth quarter and overtime against Kansas City, he enjoyed the constant breaks caused by repeated replay reviews from the replacement refs.

“When you’re tired, you love the breaks and them being confused," Shanle said. "I don’t think a lot of guys had an issue with them disrupting the flow of the game when it happened.”

Still, Shanle made his overall position clear. The huge advantage of having the real refs back is to prevent a blown call like the one that changed the outcome of the Green Bay-Seattle game on Monday night.

“Guys’ futures in the NFL could be determined by the playoffs,” he said. “If Green Bay misses out on the playoffs by one game, they’ll be sick. Even though you compete against Green Bay and don’t care if they win or lose, you feel for them. Stealing a win like that when you only play 16 games is huge.”

Injury Update: The same three players who missed practice Wednesday sat out Thursday -- LBs David Hawthorne (hamstring) and Casillas (neck) and reserve DE Turk McBride.

Hawthorne started the first three games. If he and Casillas are unavailable Sunday, Will Herringlikely will start. Herring started twice last year after coming to the Saints from Seattle, where he was primarily a backup for four seasons.

Casillas, who has 10 tackles, is not sure whether he will be able to play Sunday against Green Bay. He hurt his neck in the third quarter against Kansas City and did not return.

“It’s day to day for me,” he said. “I’m always thinking positive, so I’m thinking yes, but at the same time I’ve got to be cautious about this injury.”

Follow Saints reporter Guerry Smith on twitter @CBSSaints.