National Football League

Likely road playoff games don't concern Saints

Published Dec. 21, 2010 1:26 a.m. ET

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Saints linebacker Scott Shanle saw no cause for alarm on Monday after getting a chance to review how New Orleans allowed 208 yards rushing during a loss at Baltimore.

Likewise, coach Sean Payton showed little interest in criticizing his running backs or offensive line following a season-low 27 yards on the ground.

With the likelihood of road playoff games increasing for the defending champion Saints, they'll probably have to run the ball and stop the run far better than they did in a 30-24 loss to the Ravens on Sunday that snapped New Orleans' six-game winning streak. Otherwise, it could be a quick title defense.

Confidence remains high at team headquarters that they can fix both problems.

Shanle noted that the Saints usually do not miss as many tackles as they did against Baltimore and specifically against Ray Rice, who rushed 31 times for 153 yards, including one 50-yard scamper.

''It's a concern when you give up as many rushing yards as we did, but the one thing is that it's not a week-to-week occurrence,'' Shanle said. ''I think we'll get things squared away and we'll have to get them squared away against a really good rushing team'' in Atlanta.

If the Saints defeat the Falcons next Monday night, they'll remain in the NFC South race. To win the division, however, the Saints also will have to beat Tampa Bay in their regular-season finale - and get help in the form of a Carolina upset at Atlanta.

Short of that unlikely scenario, the Saints will have to win playoff games on the road to get back to the Super Bowl.

In their previous 43 seasons, the Saints have never won a playoff game on an opponent's field. But after winning their first NFL title last season, the 2010 Saints don't concern themselves much with the franchise's star-crossed past.

Rather, they look at how the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers and 2007 New York Giants both turned wild-card berths into Super Bowl glory.

''It's a huge advantage to have that bye and have that home game, but there's been teams that haven't had that luxury and moved on to do special things,'' Shanle said. ''I won't deny that (playing on the road) does make your job harder. But it's not impossible.''

Generally, NFL teams find it easier to win on the road with a solid running game. The Saints currently rank 26th in the NFL in rushing with 95.8 yards per game. Four times this season, the Saints have rushed for 50 or fewer yards in a game. However, they beat Pittsburgh in the Superdome despite rushing for only 30 yards.

At Baltimore, Payton said, the Saints wanted to force an uptempo game with a lot of offensive snaps, as opposed to a clock-consuming ball control approach.

''Each game takes on a certain personality,'' Payton said. ''We've been able to get to 10 wins now and certainly (we would) like to be rushing the ball better and more efficiently. ... Part of it is me calling more run opportunities.''

Payton added that the Saints demonstrated during their recent winning streak that they could run the ball. In four of those victories, they had rushing totals of 165, 146, 132 and 112 yards. The Saints also had 212 yards rushing in a Week 6 win at Tampa Bay.

Fullback Heath Evans said he remains confident in the Saints' running back corps, but also would not fault anyone for criticizing rushing numbers that are far behind last season's pace of 131.6 yards per game, which ranked sixth in the league.

''You look at last year's numbers and you look at the same team and you're going, 'What's the issue?''' Evans said. ''You can't blame Sean because he's positioned a team that was the 'Aints into the Super Bowl in four years. He's 99 percent right and yesterday's game plan was good enough to win. It just comes down to execution.''

NOTES: Payton said kickoff returner Courtney Roby has been cleared to return to practice this week from a concussion that kept him out of last week's practices and the game at Baltimore. ... Payton said scans done on starting cornerback Jabari Greer's left knee did not show any structural damage. Greer injured his knee during Sunday's game and did not return to the field afterward.