With their record-smashing blowout of the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night, the Saints moved up several spots in the NFL rankings that were released Tuesday morning.
The Saints, who return to practice on Wednesday to begin preparing for Sunday’s game against a second straight winless opponent in the 0-6 St. Louis Rams, were expected to climb in the rankings after their 62-7 drubbing of the Colts.
It’s no surprise that the biggest gains on offense came in scoring and rushing.
The Saints matched the highest-scoring output since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger with their 62 points and they also piled up 236 rushing yards, which equaled the most productive game of the Sean Payton era. They also had 236 in a win over the New York Giants on Dec. 24, 2006.
They now lead the NFL in scoring with 34.1 points per game after ranking sixth a week ago at 29.5 points a game. They climbed nine spots in rushing, landing in ninth place with 126.1 yards per game after improving their seasonal average by 18.3 yards to 126.1 per game.
The Saints remained second in total offense (467.1 ypg) despite adding nearly 15 yards to their season’s average and in passing offense (341.0).
Defensively, the Saints continued to drop their scoring average as they moved from 26th to 17th after allowing the Colts just seven points. The Saints are allowing 22.6 points a game after limiting three of their last seven opponents to 13 points or less.
They also moved up three spots in total defense (349.3) to 14th and three spots in pass defense (233.6) and nudged up one spot in rushing defense (115.7) to 15th.
The Rams rank 28th in total offense (301.2) and 29th in total defense (410.3). As a result, they’re at the bottom of the league in points scored (9.3) and are second-to-last in points allowed (28.5).
They’re also tied with the Seattle Seahawks for the most sacks allowed with 23 in just six games.
Here are the pertinent rankings for the 5-2 Saints and 0-6 Rams going into Sunday’s game in the Edward Jones Dome:
SAINTS
Offense: Total yards, 467.1 (2nd); rushing, 126.1 (9th); passing, 341.0 (2nd); scoring, 34.1 (1st).
Defense: Total yards, 349.3 (14th); rushing, 115.7 (15th); passing, 233.6 (16th); scoring, 22.6 (17th).
RAMS
Offense: Total yards, 301.2 (28th); rushing, 93.0 (26th); passing, 208.2 (23rd); scoring, 9.3 (32nd).
Defense: Total yards, 410.3 (29th); rushing, 183.8 (32nd); passing, 226.5 (13th); scoring, 28.5 (31st).
