METAIRIE ― Poll Reggie Bush, Deuce McAllister or Pierre Thomas about New Orleans’ run game, or lack of, and you’ll likely get the same answer.

The three Saints running backs run the plays that are called, they’ll say.

In Sunday’s gut-wrenching 23-20 loss to division-leading Tampa Bay, that meant running only 18 times while letting quarterback Drew Brees air it out on 47 plays.

Balanced?

Photo by Chris O'Meara / The Associated Press

Pierre Thomas (23) outruns Tampa's Kevin Carter in the Saints' 23-20 loss to the Bucs Sunday. New Orleans ran the ball only 18 times as opposed to 47 passes.

Not exactly.

And it’s that unbalanced play-calling that has everyone from media to fans to players questioning New Orleans, which fell to 6-6 in the loss to the Buccaneers.

“Yeah, it did surprise me a little bit,” said Bush, who ran three times for zero yards. “Normally when it rains, you figure you have more of an advantage with the running game. Surprised? A little bit. We just run the plays that are called.”

New Orleans ran the ball on only 27.7 percent of its plays against Tampa. That normally points to a game where the Saints would be trying to throw their way back in it.

But that wasn’t the case. New Orleans was in the game throughout, never trailing by more than 10 points.

The defense held the Buccaneers to 2-of-15 on third down conversions and forced punts on Tampa’s first two possessions of the fourth quarter. And even on their third drive, the Bucs were forced into a field goal after starting at the Saints’ 17.

While the defense was playing well, the offense couldn’t get out of its own way. On New Orleans’ final two possessions, Drew Brees threw two interceptions, the first leading to the game-winning Tampa Bay field goal.

Instead of running the ball down the field and burning clock, New Orleans passed the game right into the Buccaneers’ hands.

Asked if he remembered a game that was so close and yet, so unbalanced from a play-calling standpoint, McAllister couldn’t.

AP Photo / Chris O'Meara

New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush (25) turns up field against Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Phillip Buchanon (31) during the first quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008 in Tampa, Fla.

“Obviously you want to be as balanced as possible,” he said. “We really weren’t. But at the same time, we had some opportunities in the passing game that we kind of let slip away.”

Head coach Sean Payton, who doubles as New Orleans’ offensive coordinator, blamed a poor first half run game on why the offense became so unbalanced.

“I was frustrated a little bit early with some minus plays we took in the run game and I thought we found a little bit of a rhythm in the third quarter, both with Pierre and Deuce,” Payton said.

But it has been this way all season long for the Saints.

In New Orleans’ six wins, it ran the ball a minimum of 26 times. In the Saints’ six losses, Payton called 25 or fewer run plays, including three games with fewer than 20 run plays.

Several of those game, of course, came with New Orleans playing from behind, forcing Brees into more throwing situations.

Still, there’s a correlation. New Orleans’ wins all have come with balance – the Saints average 46.6 percent called runs in wins and haven’t lost when calling at least 39 percent running plays.

All the losses have come with a 69-to-31 percent pass-to-run average.

“At the end of the day, the coaches are going to call what they want to call,” Bush said. “We’ve just got to make it happen. It comes down to players at the end of the day. The coaches aren’t on the field. We’ve got to make the plays.”

It’s not just about the players, however, Bush said.

“At the end of the day, it is a team effort and the team involves the coaches, too,” he said.

Payton, at least, admits that running the ball would help his offense.

“I think so, no question,” he said. “We want to have balance and there’s a lot that goes into that. I don’t disagree with the idea part of winning is being able to stop the run and being able to effectively run the football.

“At times this season when we’ve been able to effectively run the football it’s led to us winning football games and when we haven’t, it’s led to us not winning football games.”

With five games left and the Saints two games out of third in the NFC South, Payton needs to find that balance soon.

Bradley Handwerger can be reached at bhandwerger@wwltv.com or 504-529-6439.