For only the third time in franchise history, the Saints have reached 5-0, winning games by an average of 19.8 points per game (18, 26, 20, 14, 21).

You’re wondering how we got to this point.

What follows are some notes and numbers that put the Saints in this position.

It’s All History
New Orleans and Miami seem like old friends, having met the past two seasons in the preseason.

But the all-time series isn’t all that old – only nine prior meetings.

And Miami is 6-3 in those games.

The last time these two groups got together in the regular season was Katrina year and the Dolphins won 21-6 in a game played at LSU’s Tiger Stadium.

Three of the games in the series have been decided by a touchdown or less and one was won by a field goal.

Meanwhile, New Orleans has never won in Miami. But this is only the fourth time the Saints have played in Miami.

New Orleans’ largest margin of victory is 11 points (24-13 in 1992 in New Orleans) while the largest Miami win was by 21 points (21-0 in 1974 in New Orleans).

The Saints’ most points came in a 33-30 win in 1995 (in New Orleans) while the fewest points were in the 1974 shutout.

Miami’s most points were 30, done twice – once in a win, once in a loss. The fewest Dolphins points is 7 in 1983.

Talking Points
We knew the offense was good. But (OK, in unison), just how good is it?

Well, New Orleans is scoring 38.4 points per game. Minnesota, No. 2 in scoring offense, is at 31.5 points and the Giants, No. 3 in scoring, are at 29.7. That’s a huge difference.

The Saints are at 430 yards per game, nearly 10 yards more than the Cowboys, No. 2 at 420.4 yards per game. The Colts are No. 3 at 404.8 yards per game.

New Orleans is fifth in the league in the Red Zone, converting 63 percent of its trips into touchdowns and its fourth in third-down percentage, converting 46.3 percent.

There’s more: New Orleans is at 23.6 first downs per game, less than one first down behind the Patriots, who lead the league.

And on those first downs, New Orleans is moving the ball, averaging 6.41 yards per first down. That’s good for fourth in the entire NFL.

Catching a Col(ston)
Wide receiver Marques Colston re-emerged this past week against the Giants, coming up with a huge game, catching eight passes for a season-high 166 yards.

Since 2006, Colston’s first season, he has 28 touchdown grabs. That’s good for fifth in the NFL. But it’s also good enough for fourth in Saints history. Only Joe Horn (50), Eric Martin (48) and Danny Abromowicz (37) have more touchdown catches.

He had 215 catches in his first three seasons, the most ever by a Saints draft pick in his first three years and good for seventh in NFL history.

He has 28 catches of 25 yards or more and 42 of 20 or more yards.

Saints Under Payton
The Saints PR staff puts together a game week manual that includes such tasty things as how the Saints do in certain scenarios.

• ·    For your viewing pleasure, here they are:
• ·    Leading after 1st Quarter: 17-2
• ·    Leading at halftime: 28-4
• ·    Leading after 3rd Quarter: 28-3
• ·    When scoring 1st: 19-5
• ·    When having a 200-plus yard passer: 24-19
• ·    When holding an opponent to fewer than 200 passing yards: 13-9
• ·    When having a 100-plus yard rusher: 23-6
• ·    When forcing 3-plus turnovers: 10-2
• ·    When defense has three or more sacks: 13-4
• ·    Indoors: 18-14
• ·    Outdoors: 12-9
• ·    At home: 16-11
• ·    On the road: 14-12
• ·    On artificial turf: 22-13
• ·    When scoring 20-or-more points: 30-14
• ·    When allowing 20-or-fewer points: 19-2
• ·    Committing no turnovers: 11-0

3's Company (third-down analysis)
67 plays overall of which 19 were runs and 48 were passes. They have averaged 4.05 yards per run and 8.35 yards per pass play.

• • Third-and-short (1-2 yards) - 8 runs, 7 first downs; 9 passes, 3 first downs
• • Third-and-(3-5) - 3 run, 1 first down; 11 passes, 9 first downs
• • Third-and-(6-10) - 1 runs, 0 first downs; 18 passes, 7 first downs
• • Third-and-(11-15) - 5 run, 0 first downs; 6 passes, 3 first downs
• • Third-and-(16-plus) - 0 runs, 0 first downs; 4 passes, 1 first downs.
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The Saints missed their first third-and-short run last week against the Giants, but they’re still on an unbelievable pace. In all, New Orleans is 31 of 67 on third down, good for fourth in the NFL.