I know a lot of you have been in off-season mode since the second Drew's final pass hit the turf against Carolina on December 28th and you could care less about the NFL playoffs. That's cool. We've got a long way to go until the draft and even longer until 2009 training camp starts. That means we have plenty of time to analyze and over-analyze what went wrong this year with the Saints and believe you me, we will definitely get into all of that. Hopefully you haven't thought I was dragging my feet.
I thought before we got started on all of that however, we should all know just what the hell we're talking about instead of throwing bogus stats around. Below you will find a detailed breakdown of the Saints offensive performance in 2008. This will, of course, be followed be defensive figures. This is the Saints season in number form. So when we get into the inevitable Reggie Bush/Pierre Thomas debate this summer (and you know it's coming!), we will all have facts and figures to reference and call each other out on. Give these a look over and commit them to memory. Learn 'em. Live 'em. Love 'em.
Make the jump for all the rest. Feel free to comment on these stats and discuss anything you find interesting or surprising.
Team Stats
| New Orleans | Opponent | |
| Total First Downs | 354 | 299 |
| Rushing | 103 | 100 |
| Passing | 232 | 180 |
| Penalty | 19 | 19 |
| 3rd Down: Made/Att | 97/200 | 82/206 |
| 3rd Down Pct. | 48.5% | 39.8% |
| 4th Down: Made/Att | 10/18 | 8/14 |
| 4th Down Pct. | 55.6% | 57.1% |
| Possession Avg. | 30:23 | 29:37 |
| Total Net Yards | 6571 | 5432 |
| Avg. Per Game | 410.7 | 339.5 |
| Total Plays | 1047 | 999 |
| Avg. Per Play | 6.3 | 5.4 |
| Net Yards Rushing | 1594 | 1885 |
| Avg. Per Game | 99.6 | 117.8 |
| Total Rushes | 398 | 445 |
| Net Yards Passing | 4977 | 3547 |
| Avg. Per Game | 311.1 | 221.7 |
| Sacked/Yards Lost | 13/92 | 28/161 |
| Gross Yards | 5069 | 3708 |
| Attempts/Completions | 636/413 | 526/299 |
| Completion Pct. | 64.9% | 56.8% |
| Had Intercepted | 18 | 15 |
| Punts/Average | 53/44.6 | 66/41.1 |
| Net Punting Avg. | 35.9 | 35.2 |
| Penalties/Yards | 86/797 | 84/637 |
| Fumbles/Ball Lost | 18/8 | 16/7 |
| Touchdowns | 57 | 41 |
| Rushing | 20 | 14 |
| Passing | 34 | 21 |
| Returns | 3 | 6 |
Offensive Rankings
| Team | Yds / Game | Yds / Play | Rush Yards / Game | Rush Yds / Play | Pass Yds / Game | Pass Yds / Play | Int. Rate | Sacks / Pass Attempt | First Downs / Game | Punt Return Avg | Kickoff Return Avg | Field Goals Made | 3rd Down Pct | 4th Down Pct | Red Zone Pct | Goal to Go% | Avg Time of Poss. | Pts. / Game |
| NO | 410.7 | 6.28 | 99.6 | 4.01 | 311.1 | 7.83 | 2.83% | 2.04% | 22.1 | 11.9 | 24.1 | 81.48% | 48.50% | 55.56% | 61.29% | 75.00% | 30:23 | 28.9 |
| Rank | 1 | 1 | 28 | 23 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 2 | 2t | 4 | 8 | 23 | 2 | 12t | 4t | 8t | 15 | 1 |
Scoring
| Score By Periods | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | OT | Pts |
| Team | 67 | 154 | 115 | 127 | 0 | 463 |
| Opponents | 80 | 141 | 69 | 100 | 3 | 393 |
| Scoring | TD | Run | Pass | Return | PAT | FG | 2Pt | Pts |
| P.Thomas | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 72 |
| G.Hartley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28/28 | 13/13 | 0 | 67 |
| L.Moore | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 60 |
| R.Bush | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 54 |
| D.McAllister | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 36 |
| M.Gramatica | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16/16 | 6/10 | 0 | 34 |
| M.Colston | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 30 |
| R.Meachem | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 24 |
| T.Mehlhaff | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9/10 | 3/4 | 0 | 18 |
| D.Henderson | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 18 |
| M.Campbell | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 12 |
| M.Karney | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 12 |
| B.Miller | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 6 |
| D.Patten | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 6 |
| A.Stecker | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 6 |
| M.Bell | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 6 |
| C.Grant | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 |
| Team | 57 | 20 | 34 | 3 | 53/54 | 22/27 | 0 | 463 |
| Opponents | 41 | 14 | 21 | 6 | 37/37 | 34/39 | 3 | 393 |
Individual Stats
| Passing | Att | Cmp | Yds | Cmp% | Yds/Att | TD | TD% | Int | Int% | Long | Sack | Lost | Rating |
| D.Brees | 635 | 413 | 5069 | 65.0% | 8.0 | 34 | 5.4% | 17 | 2.7% | 84t | 13/ | 92 | 96.3 |
| L.Moore | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0% | 1 | 100.0% | 0 | 0/ | 0 | 0.0 |
| Rushing | No. | Yds | Avg | Long | TD |
| P.Thomas | 129 | 625 | 4.8 | 42t | 9 |
| D.McAllister | 107 | 418 | 3.9 | 19 | 5 |
| R.Bush | 106 | 404 | 3.8 | 43 | 2 |
| A.Stecker | 8 | 43 | 5.4 | 12 | 0 |
| M.Bell | 13 | 42 | 3.2 | 15 | 1 |
| D.Henderson | 4 | 33 | 8.3 | 30 | 0 |
| R.Meachem | 1 | 20 | 20.0 | 20t | 1 |
| M.Karney | 8 | 10 | 1.3 | 3 | 2 |
| D.Brees | 22 | -1 | 0.0 | 9 | 0 |
| Team | 398 | 1594 | 4.0 | 43 | 20 |
| Opponents | 445 | 1885 | 4.2 | 46 | 14 |
| Receiving | No. | Yds | Avg | Long | TD |
| L.Moore | 79 | 928 | 11.7 | 70t | 10 |
| R.Bush | 52 | 440 | 8.5 | 42t | 4 |
| J.Shockey | 50 | 483 | 9.7 | 26 | 0 |
| M.Colston | 47 | 760 | 16.2 | 70t | 5 |
| B.Miller | 45 | 579 | 12.9 | 41 | 1 |
| D.Henderson | 32 | 793 | 24.8 | 84t | 3 |
| P.Thomas | 31 | 284 | 9.2 | 24 | 3 |
| D.McAllister | 18 | 128 | 7.1 | 20 | 1 |
| R.Meachem | 12 | 289 | 24.1 | 74 | 3 |
| M.Campbell | 12 | 121 | 10.1 | 29 | 2 |
| D.Patten | 11 | 162 | 14.7 | 39t | 1 |
| A.Stecker | 9 | 52 | 5.8 | 12 | 1 |
| M.Karney | 9 | 18 | 2.0 | 7 | 0 |
| O.Sobomehin | 2 | 8 | 4.0 | 10 | 0 |
| S.Ryan | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 5 | 0 |
| M.Bell | 1 | 14 | 14.0 | 14 | 0 |
| B.Ortega | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 3 | 0 |
| Team | 413 | 5069 | 12.3 | 84t | 34 |
| Opponents | 299 | 3708 | 12.4 | 67t | 21 |
| Combined Yards | Rush Yds | Recv Yds | KO Rt Yds | Pt Rt Yds | Cmb Yds |
| Thomas, Pierre | 625 | 284 | 793 | 0 | 1702 |
| Bush, Reggie | 404 | 440 | 0 | 270 | 1114 |
| Moore, Lance | 0 | 928 | 36 | 40 | 1004 |
| Henderson, Devery | 33 | 793 | 0 | 0 | 826 |
| Colston, Marques | 0 | 760 | 0 | 0 | 760 |
| Miller, Billy | 0 | 579 | 0 | 0 | 579 |
| McAllister, Deuce | 418 | 128 | 0 | 0 | 546 |
| Shockey, Jeremy | 0 | 483 | 0 | 0 | 483 |
| Roby, Courtney | 0 | 0 | 472 | 0 | 472 |
| Meachem, Robert | 20 | 289 | 9 | 0 | 318 |
| Patten, David | 0 | 162 | 0 | 0 | 162 |
| Green, Skyler | 0 | 0 | 133 | 0 | 133 |
| Campbell, Mark | 0 | 121 | 0 | 0 | 121 |
| Stecker, Aaron | 43 | 52 | 10 | 0 | 105 |
| Bell, Mike | 42 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 56 |
| Copper, Terrance | 0 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 35 |
| Karney, Mike | 10 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| Ortega, Buck | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 11 |
| Sobomehin, Olaniyi | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Ryan, Sean | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Brees, Drew | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| Total | 1594 | 5069 | 1496 | 310 | 8469 |
| Opponents | 1885 | 3708 | 1827 | 365 | 7785 |