From 3rd to 1st: Saints run game producing in short yardage

METAIRIE, La. ? Twice through the first five games of 2008, New Orleans tried and failed to get a first down on third-and-short.

Against Washington, the failure resulted in extra possessions that the Redskins turned into game-winning points.

Against Denver, the failure turned into a missed field goal by Martin Gramatica and the Saints lost by two points.

With the turn of the calendar, New Orleans Head Coach Sean Payton looked within. He saw that changes needed to be made. The emphasis this offseason was on the run game.

It worked.

New Orleans now ranks in the top five of the NFL in rushing.

And that comes with one added bonus - the Saints are getting it done on third-and-short.

"We know it was a big letdown that caused a lot of problems last year," center Jonathan Goodwin said. "We didn't want to go through that. We didn't want to be the line or offense that couldn't' get third-and-short like last year where we had to depend on maybe throwing the ball on third-and-short.

"That's kind of a bad thing to go through, especially on the line. You don't want to hear you can't get third-and-short by running the ball."

The numbers bear out the improvement.

Through five games in 2009, the Saints are 7-of-8 running the ball on third-and-one or two. In 2008, New Orleans was 7-of-10, including those two costly misses against Washington and Denver.

But the numbers that really show the difference are in the average gains on those run plays. A year ago, New Orleans finished the year averaging only 2.84 yards on third-and-short runs. This year, on the back of Mike Bell, the Saints are getting 6.5 yards on those runs.

Even more, the Saints are 3-for-9 this year passing the ball on third-and-short while a year ago, they were 3-for-5.

"We're getting a better push up front," running back Pierre Thomas said. "We're getting Mike Bell doing a heck of a job with getting tough yardage. We see him as our third down guy, our goal line guy. He's more of a bigger back now. Heath (Evans) has been allowing us to get an extra push also in our line. And our offensive line has been doing a heck of a job of pushing guys back."

In Sunday's 48-27 win over the Giants, Bell scored a touchdown fourth-and-two when he dove into the end zone to put the Saints up 7-0.

Yet, problems still exist. The Saints aren't perfect, as? Evans points out.

"I feel like in the open field we've been great," Evans said. "But the past two weeks down on the goal line, you can say this and say that, but at the end of the day, we've gotten stopped twice. In close games those things kill you. I've been there."

Against the Jets, quarterback Drew Brees passed for tight end Jeremy Shockey, but it fell incomplete. Against the Giants, the Saints failed twice from inside the 2-yard line to get into the end zone on runs.

Nevertheless, the run game as a whole has gotten better - the Saints are averaging nearly 80 more yards rushing per game in 2009 - and that has helped correct any short-yardage issues.

"That was a big problem we had from this offense last year," Goodwin said. "Guys are going out and running backs are running hard and we're blocking better and we're making them and that's key."