Tom E. Curran • E-mail

The historic accomplishments of the 2007 Patriots were supposed to stand the test of time. And one season wasn’t the length of time one expected.

Through five games in 2009, the New Orleans Saints are virtually matching the output of the ‘07 Pats — the first team to go 16-0. And while the Saints remarkable start is just that, it’s eye-opening to see just how similar the ’07 Patriots and ’09 Saints are statistically and in terms of personnel.

“The biggest similarities are that they both have multiple weapons so there are a lot of different places to go,” says Ross Tucker, a former player and current NFL analyst for SI.com and SIRIUS. “But the No. 1 fact is that the quarterback is playing at a ridiculously high level. Total command. It’s really been amazing to watch.”

The Patriots set the NFL record for touchdowns in a season back in 2007 when they scored 75. They broke the mark of 70 set by the 1984 Dolphins. The Saints have so far scored 25 touchdowns, putting them on pace for 80. New Orleans has scored 192 points. The Patriots at this point had 182.

Getting even deeper inside the numbers reveals even more similarities. Let’s go position-by-position on offense first.

Quarterback
The passing stats of Tom Brady in the first five games of 2007 and Saints quarterback Drew Brees so far this year are uncanny. Brees is 110 for 159 (69.2 completion percentage) with 13 touchdowns, two picks, four sacks and a yards-per-attempt of 8.81. He’s thrown for 1,400 yards.

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Through the first five games of 2007, Brady was 117 for 158 (74.1 completion percentage) with 16 touchdowns, two picks, three sacks and a yards-per-attempt of 8.75. He’d thrown for 1,383 yards.

Like Brady in 2007, Brees has the ball out so quickly defenses are failing to put any significant pressure on him. And Brees’ accuracy on intermediate throws — on display in the Saints’ 48-27 shellacking of the Giants last week — has been the strongest part of his game. He and his receivers are so good it hardly seems fair to defenses. Like Brady in 2007.

Running back
So far, the Saints’ committee of running backs, Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell and Reggie Bush, have combined for 712 yards. The Saints as a team have gained 798 yards on 173 carries (4.6 yards per carry) and nine touchdowns.

The 2007 Patriots got 672 yards from Sammy Morris, Laurence Maroney and Kevin Faulk. And as a team, New England had the same number of carries as New Orleans — 173 — for 775 yards (4.5 average) and four touchdowns.

The Saints’ rushing attack is, according to Tucker, what’s making the offense go from very good to truly great.

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“The running game is why I love the Saints this year,” he explained. “People think they’re a finesse team but against the Bills (in a 27-7 win) they just lined up and ran the hell out of the ball.”

The Maroney-Morris tandem is similar to the Thomas-Bell pairing. But the Patriots had the edge at third-down back with Kevin Faulk over Reggie Bush.

“In terms of production. Kevin Faulk is one of favorite all-time NFL players,” said Tucker. “I can’t believe people don’t talk about him more. All he does is exactly what they want done for the past 11 years running. He might be the best third-down back ever. I think it’s amazing what he brought and still brings to that team.”

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