I think ALL teams try to "put a hurt" on the other teams offense. The mental part of a game is very important. If you can get a guy to fear you, you are one up on him.
Look at how "gun shy" Favre was near the end of his career. He was "hearing footsteps" all the time, and it affected his performance.
The only difference was, the Saints were STUPID enough to make it verbally known that they were actually trying to take guys out of the game.
I'm 100% against trying to purposely hurt other players. That's upsportsmanship at it's worst. And in pro sports, you could end a guy's career and take away his livelyhood all in one second.
I'm not against hard hits, as it's FOOTBALL after all, a contact sport. Injury is part of the consequences if you get into that line of work. But trying to hurt a guy on purpose? That's assalt in my opinion.