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. 

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

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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

The New Orleans Saints host the Carolina Panthers today at noon at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The game will be televised by Fox and broadcast by WWL-870 and 105.3.

Coaches: Sean Payton (61-34 regular season; 4-2 postseason in six seasons, all with the Saints), Ron Rivera (6-9 in first season with Panthers)

TV: Fox-8; Joe Buck play-by-play, Troy Aikman color.

Radio: WWL-870, 105.3.

KEEP AN EYE ON

PANTHERS QB CAM NEWTON

Well, duh, but according to Saints defenders, Newton is a rare, complete package. First, he can run (14 rushing touchdowns this season). “Normally there are a lot of plays where, on defense, you’re 11 going on 10 because you don’t have to account for the quarterback,” linebacker Scott Shanle said. “That’s not the case here. It’s almost like he creates another gap.” In the example Shanle cited, an old school run has the fullback leading a halfback through the hole. One linebacker takes on the fullback, another makes the tackle. But the Panthers can line up their fullback like a wingback and, when the defense adjusts to account for that, the unit is a man short if Newton runs off a play-action fake. In the passing game, Newton’s howitzer arm creates problems. Even in the NFL, many quarterbacks can’t make all the throws once they break containment, safety Malcolm Jenkins said. That means in most games, safeties can cheat, give up on receivers on the far side and collapse the field toward the quarterback. But because Newton can make the deep throw back across, Jenkins said the secondary has to hold its ground even when Newton is on the move, which creates more space for Newton to exploit once he crosses the line of scrimmage and makes it more likely defenders Newton does encounter have to take him on one on one. And if there is another thing that sets Newton apart, Shanle and Jenkins both said, it is his size. At 6 feet 5, 248 pounds, Newton is an intimidating and difficult man to tackle.

PANTHERS WR STEVE SMITH

This is partly a football judgment, because Smith is a very good receiver who has hurt the Saints in the past. He has eight touchdown catches against New Orleans in his career. During his 11 years in the NFL, Smith has averaged better than six yards after the catch, and New Orleans comes into the game allowing the highest yards after the catch in the NFL. Smith credits rookie quarterback Cam Newton with rejuvenating what appeared to be a career in embers, and Smith, an 11-year veteran, has enjoyed a Pro Bowl season with 73 catches for 1,308 yards and six touchdowns. But what will also bear close watching today is Smith’s relationship with the New Orleans secondary because Smith got a nice chunk of his 2011 statistics — along with a post-TD end zone smash — when the Saints visited Charlotte, N.C. In that game, Smith had three catches for 79 yards, 54 of which came on a scoring grab that ended with him sauntering in the end zone and taking a blind side late hit from safety Roman Harper. Harper absorbed a $15,000 fine from the league for his message, and Smith is known to be a brash, outspoken sort of player. Taking the safe route, perhaps, Coach Sean Payton and several players insist that sort of thing rarely carries over even though some tension has always existed between Smith and the Saints since they play each other often as division rivals. As might be expected, Payton had nothing but high praise for Smith, whom he coached in the Pro Bowl after the 2006 season. In particular, Payton said that setting gives insight into the things a player brings to the game that don’t show up on tape, and Smith’s dedication and superb conditioning are what make him “explosive” to this day.

KEY MATCHUP

SAINTS S ROMAN HARPER vs.

CAROLINA TEs JEREMY SHOCKEY and GREG OLSEN

Carolina will rely on its ground attack — the Panthers are on the cusp of becoming the first team in NFL history with three players rushing for more than 700 yards in a season — but the reliable tight end tandem has proved the rookie quarterback’s best friend. Olsen, acquired in an off-season trade with the Bears, is second on the team with 45 catches for 540 yards and five scores. Shockey, the former Saint, carries a streak of 135 regular-season games played with a reception and has caught 34 passes for 437 yards and four touchdowns. Twice this year, most recently against the Falcons on Dec. 11, each has caught a touchdown pass in a game. Though he will have help, Harper is likely to be the main defender on the pair. “I wouldn’t say, ‘old times,’” Harper laughed when asked about playing Shockey. “Shock’s always good to go up against, he’s always teaching me stuff when he was here, and I still use a lot of those tactics today. So it’s always a fun matchup with him because he talks and he’s, he’s just Shockey. Olsen is also a very talented guy. I think Olsen is younger so he probably runs a little bit better than Shockey does now, that’s just downfieldwise. But I would also say Shockey is a little bit more savvy in his routes and doing some things like that. They’re both big and can run. So you look at them and there’s not a lot that’s different, and you have to respect both of their games.”

BY THE NUMBERS

17-16 – Panthers lead all-time vs. New Orleans. 3-0 – Saints’ active win streak against Carolina. 32 – Saints’ NFL rank in surrendering yards after catch. 2 – Saints’ NFL rank in yards gained after catch. 48.1 – Saints’ third-down conversion rate since 2006, best in the NFL. 56.3 – Saints’ third-down conversion rate in 2011. 4 – NFL records Brees has set and is still adding to thus far in 2011.

FROM THE COACH’S MOUTH

“There’s a lot of improvement statistically. We try to do a PowerPoint every Wednesday on the things we see with the opponent, and statistically there are a ton of areas that they’re playing better than they were the last time we played them. The last time we played them I think we were only three or four games into the season. There’s some uniqueness to what they do offensively, certainly it starts with the quarterback and his ability to hurt you with his arm and hurt you with his legs. He’s very talented. The players around him are playing exceptionally well. They’re doing a better job with the football, so there are a lot of areas where they’ve improved in, and it showed up when you look at their recent games. I think it’s a big test for us.” – Sean Payton on the Panthers.

New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton met with the media Friday to preview Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.

Opening statement:

“Mark Ingram (right toe) did not practice; he’s out for this game. Lance Moore (left hamstring) did not practice; he’s out for this game. John Gilmore (right toe) did not practice; he’s out. Malcolm Jenkins (neck) was limited; he’s questionable. Jon Vilma (left knee) was limited; he’s questionable. Patrick Robinson (right hip) was full; he’s probable. Jon Casillas (right knee) was full; he’s probable.”

Do you think some of the guys you mentioned on the injury list might not be available for the playoffs?

“Each week, I think you just deal with it on a daily basis. Yesterday I mentioned Mark (Ingram) kind of had a setback and we just treat and rehab it. With Lance (Moore’s) hamstring, you do the same thing and you treat it day-by-day. Same thing goes with John Gilmore. It’s really just those three players that are listed out for this game. I think the only thing you really can do is hit the rehab hard, pay attention to how they’re feeling and just recognize it’s really no different than if we were in week seven getting ready to head to week eight. Obviously the importance of the playoff game is significant, and yet the player has to be healthy, so there aren’t any decisions really. It’s just staying on top of the rehab and communication.”

Does a potential upcoming playoff game next week affect your decision on whether you play a player in this week’s game?

“I think it would have to be very simple: does he help the team in playing well enough to win a game? If the answer is no, if it’s something that is potentially not full speed and it could hurt the team, then you can’t play them. If the answer is yes, that would be a lot like week eight or week nine. It happened last week where Lance (Moore) as recovering and it seemed like he was doing well and then on the third catch all of a sudden he pulled up and now you’re at 45 (players) on game day. You’re always trying to gauge where that player is and is he healthy enough to help us. If the answer is yes, then that’s one thing. If it’s no, sometimes that’s a difficult decision.”

Was there any thought to not put the scores of the 49ers-Rams game this weekend on the scoreboard in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome?

“Honestly there are so many thoughts that come ahead of that, but I understand the question. I think we’re treating it like we would (any game). This is a chance for us to win a 13th game, which has really been done once in this organization’s history. We just got done talking at the end of practice, we feel like we’ve been playing good football and yet there are areas that we feel like we can improve on. We feel like that could help us heading into the postseason. We want to finish strong and we want to play well. I think that is separate entirely from what happens with any of the other games. It’s always this last week where there are a handful of scenarios. I think maybe it’s a little clearer in the NFC because it really just comes down to one game with either the Giants or Cowboys winning, but other than that the field is set. I think we’re going to really pay closer attention to how we’re doing rather than how anyone else is doing.”

Is the NFL getting what they wanted in terms of fascinating finishes with playing divisional games later on in the year?

“Probably a little bit, and yet if our game wasn’t in the division it wouldn’t be any different. In other words, they’re units — the wins and losses. Certainly you understand the goal was to try to create more meaningful games in late December and January and I understand that.”

Does the possibility of Drew Brees’ single-season passing yardage record come into consideration at all with playing him?

“Not really. There are a lot of statistical little things that could be achieved or not achieved in this game, but not really. I think the focus is playing our best game against a team that we feel like is playing very well and is very hot and very difficult to defend. They’re a team that’s gotten better and better certainly since we played them last, which seems like such a long time ago. I think our focus is really on what we need to do to play our best football game and play these guys and finish the season on the right note.”

Will there be any different routine the night before with it being New Year’s eve?

“For us, we’re so routine and schedule-oriented, whether it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s, the challenges really become a little more difficult when you’re playing at home and have family and friends in. We check into a hotel and have meetings and bed-check. It’s much more structured. The trick is the logistics of noise and traffic. There’s a lot going on in the city and making sure players allow themselves enough time to get to the hotel and dealing with all the other distractions that can come up. Internally, we’re on a pretty good and tight schedule.”