While quarterback Drew Brees was smashing the single-season record for passing yards, the New Orleans Saints’ running backs were putting together an impressive season of their own.

In fact, it may surprise you to find out the Saints’ running game finished sixth in the NFL, gaining 129.9 yards per game. On a per carry basis they checked in at fourth in the league with a 4.9-yard average.

“It’s a huge part of our offense,” Brees said. “Typically, I’d say when you look at an offense, it would probably be hard to be top ten passing and rushing because there are only so many plays in a game and so you’re running it more you’re throwing it more. I think it’s great that we’ve been able to sustain the efficiency in both and create for the other, especially when you look at the overall yardage, both passing and rushing. It’s pretty unique.”

Perhaps the biggest reason the New Orleans’ rushing attack doesn’t get the proper attention — aside from Brees dominating the headlines — is because the team doesn’t have a traditional featured back. Instead they had a committee of four players sharing the load over the course of the season, ranging from 79-122 carries.

In terms of carries, the Saints were led by rookie Mark Ingram, yet he had the lowest yardage per carry (3.9) of the four players. New Orleans will be without Ingram on Saturday after the team was forced to place him on IR with a toe injury.

Picking up in Ingram’s absence is Chris Ivory. 

Ivory, who burst onto the scene last year as an undrafted rookie out of Tiffin University, missed the first seven weeks this year while recovering from  lisfranque and sports hernia surgeries. Since returning to the lineup, he has rushed for 374 yards on 79 carries, including a 127-yard performance in the Saints’ Week 17 win over the Carolina Panthers. 

In addition to Ivory, the Saints have Pierre Thomas (562 yards, 110 carries) and the always-explosive Darren Sproles. 

A versatile free agent pick up from San Diego, Sproles has effectively replaced Reggie Bush in the Saints offense. He finished the regular season with 1,303 total yards, 86 receptions and a ridiculous 6.9 yards per carry. 

Not much else going on in the NFL world today.

New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees

Media Availability

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

So much has been made of how good you and the team is in play action. Can you talk about it and how happy you are to have that weapon in your arsenal?

“Typically the run game is what creates good play action. If you run the ball well, teams have to respect it. If you don’t, it’s going to be a long day and then your ability to run play action off of that, I think they just complement one another. The better you are at the play action, the better you are at the naked bootlegs and that kind of thing then the more opportunities that will open up in the run game. The combination of the two complement each other. Typically a great run game is what sets it up too.”

Even though you’ve run the ball successfully, people don’t consider you guys a run team. What do you do to make it work so well?

“Fundamentally there are certain things. You talk about your body language making it look like the run, the way you extend your hand out, the way you keep your off-hand closer to your belly. They’re not sure if the ball is in your hands or the running back’s hands. Timing. Timing of understanding when routes are going to open up down the field and being able to get a good pre-snap read, get your eyes back around, confirm what you saw pre-snap, see the adjustments being made and just be prepared for anything the defense is doing to you.”

It seems like you had four running backs all capable of doing different things. Now with Mark Ingram being placed on Injured Reserve, you have to feel very fortunate with the spot you were in last year that you have guys that are rolling. How fortunate do you feel about that?

“We feel real fortunate. Going into the last playoff game, we had quite a few backs on IR. We lost Julius (Jones) and Reggie (Bush) during the game. I’m not even sure if they would have been able to play in the next game.”

Would Joique Bell have been the starter the next week?

“Yes, or Heath Evans would have gone back to his college days and then carrying the rock as a running back. You obviously go with what you have. Right now we have at least three really healthy backs. That’s the opportunity where you want to work every guy in the mix, realize their strengths. That’s helpful.”

Do you feel that unit has been underplayed a little this year, considering they are a top ten unit running the football?

“Yes, it’s a huge part of our offense. Typically, I’d say when you look at an offense, it would probably be hard to be top ten passing and rushing because there are only so many plays in a game and so you’re running it more you’re throwing it more. I think it’s great that we’ve been able to sustain the efficiency in both and create for the other, especially when you look at the overall yardage, both passing and rushing. It’s pretty unique.”

Can you talk about some of the offensive differences with the 2009 team, considering that Jimmy Graham and Darren Sproles weren’t even members of that team?

“Sure, (it’s) obviously a huge credit to them for the type of players they are and have become. I think it’s a huge credit to our coaching staff in helping to integrate those guys into our system and really build around their strengths, because I think that’s a huge part of being great coaches and part of a coach’s job is to put people in the position to succeed and it’s harder than it seems. Especially with the number of guys we have to be able to balance it out, get everybody their touches and opportunities. That’s something that takes a lot of time and a lot of planning.”

There is an argument that the Lions have an edge because they have a hunger because they haven’t been to the playoffs in 11 years. Do you remember when this team was like that in 2006?

“Both teams have played in a lot of big games, especially this year and I don’t think that one side necessarily has the advantage over the other in either regard. Both sides have some big time players that have played in some big time games. It’s the most important game of the season. It doesn’t get any bigger than this Saturday night just because we all have the same hope, dream and aspiration of continuing on and that’s what makes the playoffs so great to watch.”

When you found out the game would be on Saturday night, were you pleased about that?

“It doesn’t matter. Worry about the things you can control. We can’t control what day we play or what time we play at. Obviously it’s another short week coming off a Monday night game, Sunday going into Saturday. I think that we have a good plan in place, a good routine established.”

I know the Lions aren’t a division team, but do they become like a division opponent since you played them already? What kind of advantage and disadvantage is there to that?

“The fact that we played them only four weeks ago, I guess there’s some carryover from that game where you remember how the game unfolded, the type of talent that you were going up against, but then again a lot’s happened in the last four weeks. I feel like we’re playing better football than we were then. I feel like they’re playing better football than they were then. Certainly they’re healthier. Other than that, you go off by what you seen on film, your experiences playing them and you understand there’s going to be some new stuff too.”

That’s all for today.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Chase Daniel played an essential role on the night that Drew Brees broke Dan Marino’s passing yardage record. Daniel was the go-to guy on the sideline for teammates who wanted to know how close Brees was to the record.

Or as Brees often calls him, he was “Statman.”

During the season, Daniel said he always kept up with the various records that Brees and the team were chasing, since he’s so active on Twitter and follows various media reports.

“Then he’ll always come up to me and say, ‘Do you want to know what record you just set,’” Brees said, chiding Daniel from the next locker.

Daniel said he found out how many yards Brees needed during halftime of the Saints’ Week 16 game against the Atlanta Falcons, then he kept the running tally in his head after that. He said teammates kept coming up to him to find out the target number.

Brees outed Daniel as the team’s mathematician during pregame interviews last week with FOX, which then revealed the details during last week’s broadcast.

What do you guys think about this.

The New Orleans Saints placed running back Mark Ingram and linebacker Will Herring on the injured reserve list on Tuesday.

The moves are expected to be announced by Saints Coach Sean Payton at his press briefing later today.

Offensive gaurd Eric Olsen and linebacker Nate Bussey are expected to take the rosters spots created by the transactions. Olsen was signed from the Washington Redskins practice squad. Bussey was promoted from the Saints practice squad.

Ingram is expected to have season-ending surgery on Wednesday to repair a toe injury he suffered earlier this season and aggravated in practice last week.

Herring suffered an undisclosed injury in the Saints’ 45-17 win against the Panthers on Sunday.

What do you guys think about this.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees will meet with the local media after this evening’s practice. But here’s a transcript from his conference call Tuesday with teh Detroit media:

On this potentially being a shoot-out type game: “Well, obviously I know how explosive Detroit is offensively. I also know that I think we feel like we’re playing (good) football as a team and as an offense, but you know, it seems like, typically, when you get weeks like this where everybody’s hyping up one side of the ball or the other, and you know, kind of predicting it to be a shoot-out or whatever–the defenses are off kind of quietly in the corner making sure they come out with their best performance and they take that as motivation. So, listen, I think what these are two very good teams going up against each other, two teams that have earned the right to be here.

“When I look at Detroit’s defense, I see a playmaking defense, one that creates a lot of turnovers, one that can really rush the passer, and obviously we’ve got to have a plan for all those things. So, I don’t know it could be a back and forth shoot-out. It could also be a defensive struggle, but I think you go into the game just with the mindset that it’s certainly going to take all 60 minutes and maybe more.”

On QB Matthew Stafford’s season: “I’m very impressed. I think he’s had a phenomenal season. I don’t think he’s received the credit that he deserves. I know he’s battled some injuries as well, so he’s displayed some toughness and obviously he’s fought through a lot. As a young player in this league, too, especially starting as a rookie, there’s a lot of…there’s a big learning curve and I know that he has seemed to handle that very well and he’s obviously been a big part of the turnaround there.”

On if Stafford reminds him of himself at 23: “He’s a much better player than I was at 23 (laughs). You know, obviously he was a top draft pick and so obviously there was a lot of expectation coming into the league for him and that brings a lot of pressure, but I think he’s handled that very well.

“You know, we’re both Texas high school quarterbacks that kind of went on different paths to get to the NFL, but regardless of how we got here, we’re all trying to make our mark and definitely have been impressed with what he’s been able to do.”

On the difference in the Lions with Louis Delmas, Chris Houston, and Ndamukong Suh: “They’re playmakers. Obviously they make their defense better, so we expect a Lions defense at full strength. I believe we’re going to be at full strength and so, it should be a heck of a game.”

On last year’s playoff game motivating the Saints this season: “Well, it’s two different situations you know, and it’s two different teams. From the team we were last year, to the team we are right now, but certainly that was a game we were favored in, even though we were going on the road and playing in a pretty hostile environment. And then, obviously, got upset by Seattle, so I think just what we understand and what we learn from that is that once you get to the playoffs, it doesn’t matter what your record is or how you got there, it’s all about how you’re playing when you do get there and obviously, who’s able to rise to the occasion.”

On records not mattering once you’re in the playoffs: “That’s absolutely true. It doesn’t matter how you got there, it’s all about how you’re playing when you do get there. I looked through the last decade, there’s been three six seeds that have won the whole thing.

“You look at Pittsburgh, I believe, back in (’05), Giants in ’07, Green Bay last year, so it just shows (that) once you’re there, anything can happen.”

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Posted: Tuesday, January 03, 2012, 9:19 AM

Following their eighth consecutive win, New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith talks about how the team is playing going into the playoffs.

That’s all the news for today.

NEW ORLEANS (AP)—If Sean Payton’s New Orleans Saints are inclined to
reflect back on anything from 2011, it’s not so much their recently concluded
record-breaking regular season as their disappointing first-round playoff loss
to Seattle last January.

“You understand in our game that when you line up in the postseason,
there’s a finality to it,” Payton said Monday as the Saints began preparations
for their playoff opener against Detroit.

“There’s a lot of things that were positive and a lot of things that were
accomplished with the season we just had, and yet the reason you try to win as
many games as you can is to prepare yourself for what we’re getting ready to
accomplish now,” Payton continued. “I don’t think you reflect now. You are
still driven by the challenge ahead.”

The 2011 Saints might be better than the 2009 team that won the Super Bowl.
Both were 13-3 in the regular season, and this season’s squad set several NFL
and franchise records, mostly on offense.

The Saints 7,474 offensive yards set a new league mark by 399 yards. Drew
Brees’ 5,476 yards passing was the most for any quarterback by more than 200
yards, while his 468 completions and 71.2 completion rate also set new league
highs. Darren Sproles’ 2,696 combined yards rushing, receiving and on returns
also established a new NFL single-season best.

Those records were only a sampling of the history New Orleans made this
season, though all that will mean a lot less if they suffer an early exit from
the playoffs.

Last season, the Saints won 11 games and were expected to roll past a
Seahawks squad that was the first division winner in NFL history with a losing
record. The Seahawks wound up celebrating an upset, and the Saints like to think
now that they learned from it.

“It helps that you’ve been through it and experienced a tough loss in a
game you were expected to win in a crucial time,” safety Roman Harper said.
“If you don’t show up and play with a sense of urgency and discipline, a team
can beat you. … If you don’t come prepared with a sense of urgency, you will
get your tail kicked in this league.”

The Saints have been building momentum for two months now, winning eight
straight games, including six by double digits. They’ve outscored their last
three opponents 132-53 combined. Two of those victories came against division
foes who had been playing well lately in Atlanta and Carolina.

On Sunday against the Panthers, the Saints could have begun resting starters
early in the second half, when their chances of improving their No. 3 seeding
diminished as second-seed San Francisco pulled away from St. Louis. Instead, the
Saints chose an aggressive approach that turned a one-score halftime lead into a
45-17 blowout.

In the process, they solidified their credentials as a playoff favorite,
even if they didn’t get a top-two seeding in the NFC and will have to win three
postseason games to get back to the Super Bowl.

“Sean’s been saying for a couple of weeks now that if we just continue to
play like we’re playing and continue in the path we’re on, that a lot of teams
are not going to want to face us,” Harper said. “You can say that now, but
then if we go out and lose a game, it doesn’t really mean anything.”

Saints right tackle Zach Strief also was guarded about the significance of
the Saints’ recent sting of lopsided wins.

“This is a game that can turn quickly on you,” Strief said. “Us playing
well the last few weeks doesn’t give us anything but confidence going in. It
doesn’t give us a win.”

Payton said he was happy to see his players being recognized both for
individual and team records. For now, though, his message to his players is that
they need to maintain the team chemistry that helped them win big lately and
forget about the accolades already accrued—at least until the postseason ends.

“It’s such a team sport,” Payton said. “It seems like the last two weeks
there’s been a lot of talk about individual accomplishments, as there should be
with the passing record, Darren Sproles. … (But) this is the time of year when
the focus really shifts to us playing our best football as a team.”

Gotta run!.

It comes up a lot, the comparisons to the 2009 team, but this year’s New Orleans Saints are different in a lot of ways than that team that won the franchise’s first Super Bowl.

The Saints lost three straight to end the ’09 regular season and didn’t seem to be playing their best football.

“We kind of had our crisis situation at the end of the season,” said linebacker Scott Shanle. “This year it was early in the season against St. Louis. i think since that game we’ve gotten better every week. It feels good to be peaking right now, but we have a whole new season ahead of us. We’ll have to put this season behind us and get ready for the new season.”

That will probably be easy to do, at least according to Carolina coach Ron Rivera.

He says the Saints are a team nobody wants to face at this point.

“We caught a football team that is on a roll,” he said. “When you put the tape on and watch how they played against Atlanta and watch how they played against us and the first thing you say to yourself is ‘I hope that we don’t have to play them.’ That’s what’s going to happen.

“Whoever is playing them is playing a very good football team on a hot roll right now. They are gong to have a lot of momentum going forward.”

Thanks for reading! .

NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees and the record-setting Saints held nothing back in their season finale, heading into the playoffs in dominant fashion.

Brees passed for 389 yards and five touchdowns, and the New Orleans Saints set a slew of NFL and club records in a 45-17 blowout of the Carolina Panthers today.

The NFL single-season records set by the Saints (13-3), who head into the playoffs on an eight-game winning streak, included offensive yards with 7,474, team yards passing with 5,347 and first downs with 416.

New Orleans will host the Lions in the opening round of the NFC playoffs.

Brees, who was 28 of 35, finished with a record 468 completions this season, breaking Peyton Manning’s 2010 mark of 450. He finished the season completing 71.6 percent of his passes, breaking his own 2009 NFL record 70.6 completion percentage.

Jimmy Graham had 97 yards receiving to finish with 1,310, exceeding Kellen Winslow’s 1980 record for a tight end. But New England’s Rob Gronkowski finished with 1,327 yards, establishing a new mark.

Darren Sproles had 40 yards rushing, 29 yards receiving and 99 yards on kickoff and punt returns to finish with season with an NFL record 2,969 combined yards, easily breaking the previous mark of 2,690, set by Derrick Mason with Tennessee in 2000.

Carolina (6-10), which had won four of five, kept up for much of the first half but wilted over the final two quarters.

Marques Colston caught Brees’ first two scoring passes, making a spectacular, spinning catch with arms outstretched on the first one from 15 yards out.

Colston’s second touchdown went for 42 yards, and he finished with seven catches for 145 yards. He broke the 1,000-yard mark for the fifth time in his six pro seasons.

Brees also connected with Graham on a 19-yard scoring strike, and added TD passes of 9 yards to Darren Sproles and 1 yard to fullback Jed Collins.

Graham’s TD catch was his 11th, matching a club record also reached by Joe Horn in 2004 and Colston in 2007.

Brees surpassed 300 yards passing for the seventh straight game and 13th time this season, both NFL records he already held and simply extended.

The records come one week after Brees passed Dan Marino’s 27-yard-old single-season record of 5,084 yards passing.

Brees finished the season with 5,476 yards to go with 46 touchdown passes.
Remarkably, Brees didn’t even play most of the fourth quarter for the second time in three games. As was the case in a 42-20 win at Minnesota two weeks earlier, Brees was relieved by Chase Daniel after the Saints had built a commanding lead.

Although San Francisco’s lopsided victory means the Saints could not improve their No. 3 seeding in the NFC playoffs, coach Sean Payton had said during the past week that he wanted his team to continue building on the torrid pace it established during its second-half winning streak. He was true to his word, with aggressive play calling that produced a franchise record 617 yards of total offense. It was the 13th 400-yard game for the Saints this season.

With six touchdowns against Carolina, the Saints finished with 66 this season breaking the 2009 record of 64.

Cam Newton closed out an otherwise spectacular rookie season 15 of 25 for 158 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

The Saints had 360 yards of total offense in the first half, when they easily blew past the Rams’ 2000 yardage mark.

Brees passed for 249 yards in the half, when he hit Colston for the Saints’ first two passing touchdowns.

Both defenses struggled for much of the half, and the each time might have scored more if not for Patrick Robinson’s interception of Newton in the Saints’ end zone and R.J. Stanford’s interception of Brees deep in Panthers territory.

Chris Ivory gave the Saints a 7-0 lead on the opening series of the game with his 35-yard touchdown.

The improving Panthers hit right back with Newton’s 12-yard timing pass to Smith to tie it. Later, Jonathan Stewart’s 29-yard scoring run pulled the Panthers into a tie at 17 with 1:18 to go in the second quarter.

That was too much time for Brees and the Saints’ high-flying offense, as Brees connected on his long TD pass to Colston with 7 seconds on the clock to make it 24-17 at halftime.

If anybody needs tickets to games, remember to click the tickets link at the top.

That’s all the news for today.

New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints have played at such a high level lately that there’s been more drama about which records would be broken rather than whether or not the Saints would win. As a Saints fan, the last two weeks have been surreal as one NFL record after another fell by the wayside. That trend continued on Sunday as the Saints dominated the Panthers 45-17 and laid waste to more records.

New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers

Despite the incessant stat watch that took place during the FOX broadcast of the Saints vs. Panthers game, I was much more interested in scoreboard watching. As nice as it is for the Saints to now own all these records, it was more important for New Orleans to keep their fleeting chances at a first round bye alive.

Personally, I was glad to see New Orleans give 100% because I despise the Panthers loud-mouths Steve Smith and Jeremy Shockey. Also, it seems like every year, an NFC South also-ran picks up a cheap win over the Saints in the last game because New Orleans rests its starters. However, the Panthers received no such gift from the Saints today.

I believe New Orleans has been playing so well that Sean Payton wanted to keep that momentum going against the Panthers. Brees was on fire and torched the Panthers for 389 yards and 5 TDs. He finished the regular season with 5,476 passing yards. And it was nice seeing the Atlanta Falcons and Panthers get humbled in the last two games.

I was also happy to see New Orleans feed the ball to Darren Sproles so he could break the NFL all-purpose yardage record. I wonder if the critics will complain about that too. All in all, it was a great day for the Saints. New Orleans stayed sharp by dismantling the Panthers, they broke some more records and most importantly they stayed healthy.

Looking ahead

Thanks to the St. Louis Rams, the Saints will have to play next week. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Detroit Lions and the Falcons embarrassed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who quit a long time ago. So now the Saints get to face the Lions as New Orleans begins its quest to win a second Super Bowl in three years.

Patrick Michael was born and raised in New Orleans and currently resides in the Big Easy. As such, he is a lifelong, diehard New Orleans Saints fan. His highlight as a Saints fan was experiencing the magical Super Bowl season of 2009.

Sources

FOX broadcast of Carolina Panthers vs. New Orleans Saints

“Week 17 Scoreboard,” yahoo.com

More from this contributor

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Game summary of Super Bowl 48

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Top 5 NFL players in the Hall of Fame who should not be

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Bree’s records set on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.

· Brees, who set the NFL single-season record for passing yards last Monday night against Atlanta, set two more single-season marks Sunday, for completions and completion percentage. Brees’ final season totals: 468 completions (an NFL record), 657 attempts, 71.2 percent completion percentage (NFL record), 5,476 yards (NFL record) and 46 touchdowns.

· Brees broke his own record for completion percentage (70.6, 2009) and topped Peyton Manning’s mark for completions (450, 2010).

· Sunday marked Brees’ 13th 300-yard passing game of the season, extending his own NFL record, and his seventh consecutive 300-yard game, another NFL mark. Brees has 50 games of 300 yards or more in six seasons with the Saints.

· Brees’ franchise-record 46 touchdown passes are the most in the NFL this season and the fourth most in NFL history (Tom Brady 50, 2007; Peyton Manning 49, 2004; Dan Marino 48, 1984).

· Brees will take a streak of 43 consecutive games with a touchdown pass, second-longest in NFL history, into the 2012 season. Johnny Unitas holds the NFL record of 47 consecutive games.

· Brees also extended his NFL-record streak of games with 20 or more completions to 35.

· Brees’ big day elevated his season passer rating to 110.6, breaking his own franchise record of 109.4 set in 2009.

Thanks for reading! .

New Orleans Saints individual records (non-Drew Brees) and notes from the win against Carolina on Sunday.

· TE Jimmy Graham had eight receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown. He set a franchise record for receptions in a season with 99 and tied another mark with his 11th touchdown reception. The previous mark for catches was 98 by Marques Colston in 2007. Colston, in 2007, and Joe Horn, in 2004, are the other receivers in Saints history with 11 touchdown catches.

· For a brief moment, Graham held the NFL record for receiving yards in a season by a tight end (1,310), before New England’s Rob Gronkowski caught a 23-yard pass in the final two minutes to up his season total to 1,327.

· Running back Darren Sproles had 168 combined net yards (40 rushing, 29 receiving, 45 punt returns, 54 kickoff returns) Sunday to improve his season total to 2,696, an NFL single-season record. The previous mark of 2,690 was set by the Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Mason in 2000, and the second-highest total (and previous Saints franchise mark) of 2,647 was set by Michael Lewis in 2002.

· Colston caught Brees’ first pass on Sunday to go past the 1,000-yard mark in receiving yards for the fifth time in his six seasons with the Saints. Colston, who had 10 catches for 145 yards against the Panthers, ends 2011 with 80 receptions for 1,143 yards.

· Graham, Sproles and Colston all finished with 80 or more receptions.

· Colston and Graham are only the second set of teammates in franchise history to each have 1,000 or more yards receiving. In 2001, Joe Horn finished with 1,265 receiving yards and Willie Jackson 1,046.

· Cornerback Patrick Robinson’s second-quarter interception was his team-leading fourth of the season, two of which came off Carolina’s Cam Newton. Robinson is the seventh different Saints defender to lead or co-lead the team in interceptions since 2007.

· Rookie linebacker Martez Wilson’s third-quarter sack of Newton was the first of his career.

· Punder Thomas Morstead broke his own franchise history for punting average at 47.9. He averaged 45.9 yards per punt a year ago.

· Kicker John Kasay’s 144 points scored and 63 points after touchdown extended his own franchise records

What are your opinions.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana — Coach Sean Payton has spent the past year regretting how he handled the Saints’ 2010 regular-season finale. He hopes he can get it right this time when New Orleans (12-3) hosts the Carolina Panthers (6-9).

As the 2011 season comes to a close, Payton’s dilemma is similar to one he faced when the Saints closed last season with a loss to Tampa Bay that turned out to have no effect on playoff seeding, but was costly nonetheless because of injuries to emerging tight end Jimmy Graham, starting safety Malcolm Jenkins and then-leading rusher Chris Ivory.

The next week, the short-handed Saints opened the playoffs in Seattle and went home with a loss.

Today, the Saints could climb as high as the No. 2 seed in the NFC — worth a bye and a second-round home game — if they win, but only if heavily favored San Francisco also loses at 2-13 St. Louis in a game going on at the same time as the Saints’.

While Payton has been known to say one thing during the week and do another on game day, it sounds as though he’s preparing his top players for significant action — regardless of the San Francisco score — with the aim of riding the momentum of an eight-game winning streak into the playoffs.

“We talked about it at length,” Payton said. “We’re going to play all of our guys. There’s still seeding at stake. I know it’s similar to a year ago. I think we’re getting better as a team week to week right now, and there’s a value in that. … That progress might be something we need going into this postseason.”

There are also matters of pride.

The Saints’ offense has been a history-making group this season. Drew Brees on Monday night took over the NFL single-season record for passing yards with 5,087, eclipsing Dan Marino’s 1984 mark of 5,084.

Although it took 27 years for Marino’s mark to fall, New England’s Tom Brady is one game away from passing Brees if the Saints quarterback either doesn’t play well or sits out a significant portion today.

Meanwhile, the Saints also are only 219 yards from breaking the 2000 Rams’ NFL record of 7,075 offensive yards in a season.

The Saints also have a chance to finish a regular season with a perfect home record for the first time.

Panthers coach Ron Rivera said he will prepare for New Orleans’ best, but would understand if Payton played it safe and limited playing time for some of his stars.

“They’ve got a chance to do all those things, but he’s got to look at what happened last year (when) they had a couple guys getting nicked up before their playoff game,” Rivera said. “He’s got to make a decision, and whatever decision he makes is what he believes is right for his team. Believe me, it’s a hard decision, too.”

Rivera said his experience shows there is no definite pattern, which makes finding the right answer so difficult.

Rivera was defensive coordinator for the 2009 San Diego Chargers, who finished the regular season on an 11-game winning streak, then came off their bye week flat and lost their first playoff game.

“It’s all about winning,” Rivera said. “There’s only going to be one happy team out of 32, and I think what (Payton is) thinking about is that (playoff) run.”

Rivera is thinking about next season, which looks increasingly promising for his club. Quarterback Cam Newton has set a rookie record with 3,893 passing yards and the Panthers have the third-best running game in the NFL with DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart and the dynamic Newton leading the way.

Earlier this season, the Panthers were competitive in several close games that got away from them in crunch time. Lately, they’ve been able to close out games, winning four of five.

“It’s just kind of things developing and coming together and our maturing process,” Rivera said, adding that a win over the Saints could send his players into the offseason with the belief that they’re on the cusp of contention.

“You can help set a tempo for your team going into next year by playing well against a playoff-caliber team.”

Payton and Brees agreed that recent game film of Carolina shows a team that has improved since losing to the Saints 30-27 in October.

Payton said Newton is a unique quarterback whose running ability is nearly impossible to simulate in practice.

Brees said Carolina’s recent ascent is all the more reason for the Saints to take today’s game seriously.

“We understand how good this Carolina team is coming here and how even though we don’t necessarily control our own destiny … our mindset is we want to go into the playoffs playing our best football,” Brees said. “We don’t feel like we did that last year.”

The Panthers may be 6-9 entering today’s game, but one thing in certain — they have plenty of optimism.

The team is buoyed by the thought of what Newton might accomplish with a full offseason to work with coaches. What’s more, 16 players are coming off injuries and the bulk of the roster is under contract.

“I don’t think there’s any question, everyone in this locker room is excited about next year,” tight end Greg Olsen said.

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The New Orleans Saints’ 45-16 demolition of the visiting Atlanta Falcons on Dec. 26 took me to another place and time. As ESPN aired footage of the 1984 Miami Dolphins and quarterback Dan Marino’s record-setting season, my mind was stuck elsewhere.

It felt like 2009 all over again.

The relentless and precise passing attack.

The power running game.

The opportunistic defense.

The steady special teams.

And the aggressive attitude from start to finish.

The formula was devastatingly effective in 2009, and it’s working for the Saints again this season. Build big leads with the high-powered offense, force the opponent to play a one-dimensional game of catch-up, turn the defense loose and finish the job with a power rushing attack.

“It’s the same thing we did in 2009,” linebacker Scott Shanle said. “I’m seeing the chemistry and the confidence that we had when we were going on that run in 2009.”

And that should be a scary thought for the rest of the NFL.

A win against the visiting Carolina Panthers today would vault the Saints into select company, matching the Super Bowl XLIV champs for the best mark in club history at 13-3.

And while this season’s team might never be as special as the 2009 group, they might be better. They’re unquestionably deeper, but whether they can play with the same raison d’être the 2009 bunch did remains to be seen.

Regardless, you can make a strong case that the Saints are the best team in the NFL, and the league is much stronger top to bottom than it was two years ago. The Saints’ running game is better than the Green Bay Packers’ running game, their defense is better than the New England Patriots’ defense, and their offense is better than the San Francisco 49ers’ offense.

These Saints have followed a different arc then they did in 2009, when they opened with 13 consecutive wins and stumbled home with three consecutive losses.

This season the Saints are doing exactly the opposite. They piddled around for much of the first half of the season, going 5-3, which included a stunning loss at woeful St. Louis on Oct. 30.

Since then, the Saints have been unbeatable. They’ve blitzed through the second half of their schedule, outscoring their opponents by an eye-popping average of two touchdowns per game. Their current seven-game winning streak is tied for the best in the NFL. Moreover, they might be healthier than any team in the league.

“We’re extremely confident,” quarterback Drew Brees said.

They should be. The past two months have been the most consistent stretch of dominant football we’ve seen since the first two months of 2009.

The offense is scary good. The Saints have converted an astonishing 56.3 percent of their third downs and will eclipse the 2000 Rams’ NFL record for most yards gained in a season during today’s game.

The passing attack is more prolific, and the running game has transformed from afterthought to weapon. The Saints have rushed for 100 or more yards in six of seven games since the ugly loss to the Rams in Week 8. They’ve topped 160 yards the past two weeks. They’re averaging 4.8 yards per carry, fifth best in the NFL. Their fourth running back, Chris Ivory, led them in rushing a year ago and would start for many teams.

Likewise, the defense has improved dramatically. The Saints have allowed just three first-half touchdowns in the second half of the season and have once again become stout in the red zone. The only teams to score more than 20 points on them in regulation were the Falcons in Atlanta (23) and the Giants (24), and most of New York’s damage was done in fourth-quarter mop-up time.

Once a sieve, the Saints’ run defense now is a stone wall. In successive weeks, they’ve rendered Tennessee’s Chris Johnson, Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson and Atlanta’s Michael Turner non-factors, while holding their past four opponents to just 71.5 rushing yards per game.

“We’re swarming to the ball as well as we have all year,” Shanle said. “You know you’re playing good defense when you come out of the game saying, ‘Man, I didn’t have any open-field tackles in this game.’”

The improved defense and running game have elevated the Saints into the league’s elite ranks. They now stand toe to toe with anyone, including Green Bay.

Make no mistake, the Packers remain the team to beat. They’ve secured a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Someone will have to beat them at Lambeau Field, where they’ve won 12 consecutive games and beaten their seven opponents this season by an average of 20.5 points. And they’ll have to do it in January, when the tundra almost surely will be frozen.

But the second half of the season has shown the Packers are vulnerable. A Week 15 loss to the woeful Kansas City Chiefs exposed cracks in the armor. Injuries continue to be an issue, as does Green Bay’s leaky run defense.

As the Packers have regressed, albeit ever so slightly, the Saints have surged. The hallmark of a good team is the improvement it makes over the course of the season, and the Saints are much stronger than they were in Week 1. And they’ll need to be because unlike 2009, they’ll likely have to go on the road in inclement conditions to reach the big game. Their improved defense and running game will make them a much tougher out than they were a year ago.

Indeed, if anyone can knock off the Packers in Green Bay, it’s the Saints. The teams have been a collision course with the NFC championship game since opening night.

But first, the Saints must handle the Panthers.

For all of the records, awards and accomplishments of the Sean Payton era, one relatively simple feat has eluded them. They’ve never won a regular-season finale. Amazingly, they’re 0-5 in season finales during the Payton-Brees era. Three of those losses came to Panthers, a fact Payton undoubtedly has mentioned this week.

That’s not the reason why Payton said he plans to play his regulars today, but it’s certainly a worthy incentive. The Saints proved in 2009 late-season momentum is overrated. For this team at this time, though, it’s imperative they maintain their upward arc.

For the Saints to accomplish what the 2009 team did, they must keep their foot on the accelerator.

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.