One statistic clearly stood out from all others in the New Orleans Saints’ 26-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday: turnovers. The Saints had four, the Bucs had zero and that summed up the game.

The Saints are now minus-7 in turnover differential, and when the league rankings are released Monday they likely will be in 26th place or lower. Not good.

Some other key numbers:

Red-zone efficiency: Saints, 1 for 4 (25 percent). Bucs, 1 for 1 (100 percent).

Third-down efficiency: Saints, 5 of 12 ( 42 percent). Bucs, 4 of 14 (29 percent).

Net yards rushing: Saints, 70. Bucs, 117.

Sacks: Saints, 0. Bucs, 0.

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Both New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said Friday they do not believe the team’s reputation for physical play has made it a target of scrutiny by NFL officials. The topic arose this week after Saints safety Roman Harper was fined $15,000 by the league for a late hit on Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith in the end zone, and the Saints also drew two roughing-the-passer penalties that kept alive Carolina touchdown drives. In particular, the first of those roughing-the-passer calls on New Orleans defensive end Turk McBride seemed dubious.

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By Pat Yasinskas

You can make a case that New Orleans’ Drew Brees is the best quarterback in the NFL. But some people are going to blur that argument by bringing up Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. But there’s one specific — and very important — area where Brees unquestionably is the best in the business.

That’s third-down passing. Brees’ stats in that department are far and away the best in the NFL.

According to ESPN Stats & Information. Brees has attempted 54 third-down passes and completed 42 of them. That’s a 77.8 completion percentage, which is the best in the league. On third downs, Brees has thrown for 566 yards, No. 1 in the league. He’s also thrown for a league-high seven touchdowns and has not been intercepted.

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The New Orleans Saints’ injury report continues to look positive. Only tight end David Thomas (concussion), right tackle Zach Strief (knee) and linebacker Will Herring (hamstring) were held out of Wednesday’s practice.

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Bradley Handwerger / WWLTV.com Sports Reporter

CHARLOTTE, N.C.  – As the clock wound down to triple zeroes on the scoreboard Sunday in New Orleans’ dramatic 30-27 win over Carolina, most players streamed onto the field, shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries with the afternoon’s opponent.

Well, most people did.

Carolina tight end Jeremy Shockey, formerly of the Saints, darted away from the field, immediately heading for the home team’s tunnel.

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Thoughts on the New Orleans Saints’ 30-27 victory against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium:

What it means: The gap in competitive balance between the top and bottom of the NFC South has narrowed. The gap in the standings has not. As they’ve been doing most of the season, the Panthers kept things very close. They played a New Orleans team that’s been to the playoffs the past two seasons very tightly. But, ultimately, Drew Brees and the Saints rallied to score (on a touchdown pass to Pierre Thomas) with 50 seconds remaining. That puts the Saints at 4-1 and, depending on how Tampa Bay does in its later game at San Francisco, no worse than a share of first place in the division. The Panthers are much improved and there’s little doubt they’ll pull off some upsets later in the year. But the bottom line is Carolina is 1-4.

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