National Football League

Saints on record scoring pace

Published Oct. 27, 2009 12:34 a.m. ET

foxsports

Drew Brees had four turnovers, was sacked five times, and his team was down by three touchdowns in the waning moments of the first half. The Saints still won. On the road. By double digits. Generally, teams can't win that way in the NFL. Then again, conventional wisdom goes out the window when a club is on pace to break the league's all-time single-season scoring record. "Honest to God, we knew it was going to happen," Brees said, recalling the locker room mood at halftime of the Saints' 46-34 comeback win at Miami on Sunday. "Sure enough, it did." New Orleans has scored 45 or more points in a game four times this season. The Saints have averaged 39.7 points through their first six games. That puts them on pace to challenge the single-season scoring record owned by the 2007 New England Patriots, who averaged 36.8 points. Those Patriots went 16-0. And it hasn't just been the Saints' vaunted offense putting up all the points during their 6-0 start. Big plays by the defense were part of the reason New Orleans scored 43 points in the last 30:02 at Miami. New Orleans' first touchdown in the final seconds of the first half was set up by safety Roman Harper's forced fumble and linebacker Scott Shanle's recovery. Then came two interceptions returned for scores in the second half by safety Darren Sharper and cornerback Tracy Porter - with Porter's coming in the final minutes and keeping New Orleans perfect against the point spread as well. "Our mentality on this defense is, 'Why can't we make a big play and score?' and we did that," Shanle said. "Obviously you only get so many possessions in a game for your offense and if you can score on defense, that is a huge momentum swing." It was the second time this season the Saints had two defensive touchdowns in one game, the first being their 24-10 victory over the New York Jets in Week 4. The Dolphins game marked the first time all season the Saints were forced to come from behind, and they appeared to be on the ropes, down 24-3 late in the first half. Known best for Brees' prolific passing, New Orleans won in Miami with more guts and muscle than finesse. While Brees passed for 298 yards and one touchdown to Marques Colston, he scored twice on quarterback sneaks and also made a key block on Reggie Bush's 10-yard touchdown, helping the running back get to the corner on a reverse. Mike Bell rushed for 80 punishing yards in the second half, knocking tacklers flat on their backs and preventing the Dolphins from pressuring Brees as much as they had in the first half. "Everyone thinks we're a finesse team and we're always up early, but here we showed that we can come from behind," Bell said. "There was a major (deficit) at halftime, and we came back, and persevered, and we stuck together." In the end, the Saints provided more proof they are anything but one-dimensional, that their powerful ground game and big-play defense can play major roles in their success. Whether they can run the table in the regular season and set a single-season scoring record is another matter. The '07 Patriots twice scored more than 50 en route to a season total of 589 points, including 52 against Washington and 56 at Buffalo. They also scored 48 at Dallas, 49 at Miami and scored 38 points four times. Fittingly, if the Saints continue their torrid pace and truly threaten to equal the Patriots' perfect '07 regular season record or challenge their all-time scoring mark, New England will have a say in the matter: Tom Brady's bunch is scheduled to visit New Orleans on Monday night, Nov. 30.