The New Orleans Saints improved to 4-1 with their 30-27 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Here are some of the key statistics from the game.

Third-down conversions: The Saints were an amazing 12 of 17, a 71 percent rate. With that high of a success rate it really is a bit surprising the game was as close as it was except … the Panthers were 7 of 12 for 58 percent on third downs. The Saints’ defense definitely wants to be able to get off the field better than that.

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Jeremy Shockey doesn’t plan to let a mild concussion keep him out of Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints. Especially since he hasn’t completely gotten over the Saints releasing him.

The four-time Pro Bowl tight end returned to practice Thursday for the Carolina Panthers and said he expects to play against his former team.

“This game can’t come fast enough for me,” Shockey said, who’s also dealing with a broken finger he suffered in the season opener against Arizona.

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Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune

One of the most common tweets from pro athletes is “Rise and grind.”

Indeed, some days in life you shine and others you grind. The New Orleans Saints’ 23-10 victory in Jacksonville definitely fell under the “grind” category.

This was a hard-hat game. Nothing fancy or pretty. Just a workmanlike effort that produced a third consecutive victory.

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Thoughts on New Orleans’ 23-10 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars:

What it means: The bottom line is the Saints are 3-1 and in first place in the NFC South. They could have sole possession of first place if Tampa Bay loses Monday night. That’s all you really can ask for in the first quarter of the season. This wasn’t a particularly impressive or dominating performance by the Saints. The Jaguars, who are by no means a good team and were starting rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert, were very much in the game in the first half. But the Saints did what they had to do and got a road win as they began a stretch of three straight games on the road.

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Jacksonville, Fla. — The New Orleans Saints beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 23-10 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville on Sunday with a methodical offense and good, timely defensive stops.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees was 31-of-44 for 351 yards and a touchdown. He had two interceptions, one a bad throw, one tipped off Robert Meachem’s hands.

Darren Sproles had a big game, rushing for 75 yards and 56 yards receiving. Jimmy Graham had 132 yards receiving and a touchdown.

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