--Saints coach Sean Payton completed his third season with the team by nearly matching the record his predecessor, Jim Haslett, had during his first three years.
In his first season with the Saints in 2000, Haslett took over a 3-13 team and turned it into a division winner with a 10-6 record and went 1-1 in the playoffs. He followed that with records of 7-9 and 9-7.
Payton also inherited a 3-13 team, and proceeded to go 10-6 in winning the NFC South title in 2006. He was 7-9 a year ago, but came up just short of Haslett's 9-7 third-year mark in going 8-8 this season -- with a loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday preventing him from mirroring his predecessor's first three years with the organization.
--Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who came within 16 yards of breaking Dan Marino's 24-year-old NFL record for passing yards in a single season, did tie one league mark in the loss to the Panthers on Sunday.
When Brees threw for 386 yards in a 33-31 setback to the Panthers, he notched his 10th 300-yard game of the season. That tied the league mark set by Rich Gannon of the Oakland Raiders in 2002.
Brees had been tied with Marino, Warren Moon and Kurt Warner, who all threw for 300 yards nine times in a season. Warner actually did it twice in 1999 and 2001.
--One of the reasons Brees passed for 5,069 yards this season and became only the second quarterback in league history to reach the 5,000-yard mark was explosive pass plays.
Brees completed 16 passes of 40 yards or longer, hitting speedster Devery Henderson with six of them. Robert Meachem and Marques Colston grabbed three each, while Lance Moore recorded two. Reggie Bush and Billy Miller each had one.
In 2007, the Saints had only eight pass plays of 40 yards or longer.
--After dropping a 33-31 decision to the Panthers on Sunday, Payton is now 0-3 in season finales since taking over the Saints in 2006.
He lost to the Panthers in 2006 in a game in which he rested most of his starters because they had already clinched the NFC South title and a first-round playoff bye. In 2007, he dropped a 33-25 decision to the Chicago Bears.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I'm the head coach of the team that finished 8-8. That evaluation right off the bat is clear. That's the easiest way to say right now it wasn't good enough." -- Saints coach Sean Payton, on taking the blame for a second straight non-playoff season.
