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New Orleans rookie punter Thomas Morstead has been named the NFC’s special teams player of the week.

Morstead had for punts for a 48.8-yard gross average and a 46.0 net in a victory against Tampa Bay. Morstead had one punt downed at the Tampa Bay 1-yard line and another at the 5. He also handled kickoff duties and had three touchbacks.

TAMPA, Fla. -- If you had looked at and listened to New Orleans Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey in the locker room at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, you wouldn’t have recognized him.

He was certainly unrecognizable if you already had a preconceived scouting report from his long-ago days with the New York Giants. He was a mouthy brat, so selfish that he chose to disappear rather than join his teammates. You read about in all the tabloids and heard about it on all the talk-radio shows.

“Bad guy all the way around,’’ was the universal scouting report on Shockey.

Well, guess what? All that’s changed. The Shockey I saw after that game and after many other games this season sure appears to be the exact opposite. He’s courteous, insightful and most all, it seems every sentence involves talk of how the Saints are having a special season and how much he wants to be a part of it.

If ever we were going to see the Shockey of old, this was going to be the time. He had caught just two passes against a horrible Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense. In each of the previous two games, he had three receptions. If the man who used to get ripped for caring more about his individual stats was going to truly resurface, this had to be the moment.

And it sure seemed like it was coming when Shockey invited the media to his locker and said, “You guys ready?’’

This was the precise moment when you realized the guy who was made out to be a major-league whiner definitely is not that now. And it makes you wonder if he ever truly was as he was painted in his tumultuous New York days.

The chance to complain about the two catches was there, waiting for a shot into the upper deck. Shockey kept the bat on his shoulder.

“The last two games, sure, I would have liked to be a little bit more of a part of our success,’’ Shockey said.

But from there it didn’t evolve into the train wreck the New York media thrived on. From there, it turned into talk from a team player.

Yes, Jeremy Shockey has turned into a team player. Seriously. Maybe it’s maturity. Maybe it’s the fact that this is Drew Brees’ team and you can’t push him around like a young Eli Manning. Or maybe it’s simply that Shockey realizes he could be on his way to the Super Bowl –- a Super Bowl he desperately wants to play in – and is making sure to do and say all the right things.

“It’s a great feeling,’’ Shockey said. “Being 10-0 is something special and we’re having a special season. But I know we can play better.’’

Catch the last part about “we can play better"? That’s not Shockey complaining about a lack of passes being thrown his way -- you’d have no doubt if that was what he wanted to say. That last part was another sign that Shockey is more content in New Orleans. It’s a sign he’s become something else he never was -- a leader.

Seriously.

I then asked Shockey if he’s happier than he’s ever been in his career. He gave one of those half smiles that you never saw when he was so banged up in his first season in New Orleans -- or just about any time during his days in New York.

“That’s probably true,’’ Shockey said. “Winning is always good.’’

But things like winning and being a leader never were in Shockey’s arsenal in his New York days. When Shockey was injured late in the 2007 and the Giants were on their way to winning a Super Bowl, he chose to keep his distance from the team. He took a public beating for that one and the organization was so concerned about Shockey’s ability to ever be a team player that he was dealt to New Orleans right before the start of the 2008 season.

Shockey feels it’s time to set the record straight on the whole Super Bowl thing.

“There’s the competitive nature in me that would have loved to have been out there,’’ Shockey said. “But I was depressed. I had a broken leg. I couldn’t be out there contributing, so I didn’t think I’d be any help to the team.’’

If Shockey felt like an outcast then, he doesn’t know. He came to the Saints last year and put up respectable numbers, but failed to catch a touchdown pass in a season in which he dealt with several injuries. He seemed to be going down the wrong road again when he wasn’t a regular at team workouts in the offseason.

Then, there was the infamous incident in Vegas, where Shockey was taken from a pool party to the hospital because he was “dehydrated’’. Whatever happened there might have been the best thing to ever happen to Shockey.

He came back to New Orleans, took place in every workout from there on out, fell under the wing of quarterback Drew Brees and nobody’s questioning his work ethic or team spirit at all these days.

Aside from the last three games, he’s been productive and a big part of the offense. He has 39 catches for 461 yards and three touchdowns. He and the Saints seem to understand the last three games were the exception. The Saints need more from Shockey if they’re going to go undefeated.

“You walk out of this game and you ask, “Why did Jeremy Shockey only have two catches today?’’ Brees said. “Well, look at the other guys who ended up making big plays. So one guy maybe who has gotten a lot of action all of the sudden for some reason gets taken out of the game because of their scheme or just because the ball is not coming his way, it opens up opportunities for other people.’’

The current-day Shockey is bright enough to realize that’s true. He’s also patient enough to wait for the days where the ball comes to him frequently because he knows those days are coming.

He’s got a personal goal in mind, but, more than that, it’s a team goal.

“I didn’t get to be a part of that Super Bowl with the New York football Giants and that still bothers me,’’ Shockey said. “But, here, we’ve really got a chance to do something special and I’m doing everything I can to be a part of that. I think I’ve got a chance to finally get to my Super Bowl with this team.’’

Here’s a stat (courtesy of ESPN Stats & Information) that I find amazing when you consider that the Carolina Panthers have one of the league’s best backfields in DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart.

When it comes to passing off play-action fakes, the Panthers do it a lot, but they’ve had very little success with it. Quarterback Jake Delhomme ranks 38th in the league among quarterbacks who have thrown at least 10 passes off of play-action with a 54.0 rating.

Delhomme has completed 42 of 75 passes off play-action for 534 yards with six touchdowns and four interceptions.

For context, New Orleans’ Drew Brees ranks 12th with a 112.9 rating. Brees has completed 57 of 86 passes for 728 yards off play-action with nine touchdowns and three interceptions. Atlanta’s Matt Ryan has an 86.3 rating, which ranks him No. 26 and he’s thrown off play-action 63 times.

Tampa Bay’s Josh Freeman hasn’t thrown off play-action enough to appear on the list yet, but the Bucs didn’t have much success earlier. Josh Johnson had a 59.9 rating while he was playing.

After the first two starts of his career, we were showing you numbers of how good Josh Freeman was out of the shotgun formation.

After Sunday’s loss to New Orleans, Freeman no longer is even close to the league leaders in passer rating out of that formation. Freeman’s dismal day against the Saints dropped him from No. 2 in that category to No. 23. He now has a 77.1 rating out of the shotgun.

San Diego’s Philip Rivers leads the league with a 106.8 rating. New Orleans’ Drew Brees is tops among NFC South quarterback and third in the NFL at 103.6. Atlanta’s Matt Ryan (84.8) is No. 19. Carolina’s Jake Delhomme (69.5) is No. 30.

Here’s the latest out of a long and crazy day in Tampa Bay. After ousting Jim Bates as defensive coordinator, they reportedly have turned around and given offensive coordinator Greg Olson a contract extension.

Olson first was hired as quarterbacks coach, but was promoted when the team fired coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski just before the start of the season. Olson’s contract was set to expire at the end of this season, but the Bucs have gone ahead and added on to it.

I guess the logic is to let rookie quarterback Josh Freeman start building on the continuity he’s started with Olson. But you can make the argument that Olson’s offense has been no better than Bates’ defense.

The extension is nice, but it may not mean much. If head coach Raheem Morris doesn’t make it past this season, a new coach could bring in his own coordinator.

All season long we’ve been talking about how different the New Orleans Saints are from a year ago.

As they do every afternoon, the fine folks at ESPN’s Stats & Information, send out a massive numbers package about all sports. We’ve been using words to say how different the Saints have been. They boiled it down to numbers -- quite concisely:

On a day when the New Orleans Saints were busy being undefeated, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were ousting defensive coordinator Jim Bates and continuing their endless roster turnover and the Atlanta Falcons were working out kickers, the NFC South’s quietest team made a little bit of noise.

No, this move isn’t going to suddenly right all that’s been wrong with the Carolina Panthers. But they signed linebacker Jordan Senn and placed linebacker Landon Johnson on injured reserve. Senn’s probably going to be a backup and special teams player the rest of the way.

The Panthers likely will go with James Anderson as the replacement for Johnson, who replaced the injured Thomas Davis in the starting lineup. But, unlike some of the other moves in the NFC South today, this one at least comes with some logic.

Senn spent last season with the Indianapolis Colts. Carolina defensive coordinator Ron Meeks was in that role with Indianapolis last year.

Raheem Morris spent quite a long time talking about the demotion (maybe even firing) of defensive coordinator Jim Bates when he met with the Tampa Bay media Tuesday afternoon.

You can read the whole transcript here, courtesy of the guys at Pewter Report. Although there’s been speculation that ownership might have demanded this move or players requested it, Morris said several times the shakeup was his decision. Then again, can he really say anything else?

"It's my call,’’ Morris said. “It's my call and my job to make sure we progress. I'm doing everything I can to make that happen."

“There is no turncoat in this building,’’ Morris said in response to another question. “There is nobody coming to me complaining about what Jim Bates has to do, or wants to do.’’

Morris will take on the role of defensive coordinator. Bates may or may not stay with the team in a consulting role through the end of the season. Morris was asked if linebackers coach Joe Barry was considered as a possible coordinator, a role he’s previously held in the NFL.

“Why throw Joe Barry out there to try and fix it the last six weeks when you feel like you can?’’ Morris said. “I feel like it is my responsibility. I feel like I have to do it. I feel like it is what I'm supposed to do as a head coach, and as a man for this football team. I feel like it is what I owe this organization. What I owe this town. What I owe (general manager) Mark Dominik. What I owe this ownership. It is my job to fix it, and that is what I have to go out there and do."

Bottom line here? Morris just canned the most experienced and respected man on his staff. People in very high places are painfully aware things are a mess. Morris is right in saying his job is to fix the defense (and the offense and everything else). He’s got six weeks to do it.

The weekly power rankings are out and the Saints are holding steady at No. 1 while the rest of the NFC South tumbled.

The Falcons, Panthers and Buccaneers all dropped after losses. Atlanta’s down to No. 16 and Carolina’s at No. 21. The Bucs are No. 30 and they’re very lucky the Rams and Browns are so bad because the Bucs are doing their best to look like a No. 32 team.

The Saints hold the top ranking for the fourth straight week. Pretty impressive for a team that was ranked No. 19 as training camps started.

Just got a tidbit from a very reliable league source. The Atlanta Falcons worked out four kickers on Tuesday.

They had Brandon Coutu, Sam Swank, Shane Andrus and Steve Hauschka in for workouts. This is highly interesting because the Falcons have veteran (and Georgia native) Jason Elam as their kicker.

The league source said no moves are imminent and the Falcons plan to stick with Elam this week. But the team apparently is assembling a list of possible replacements.

That’s not a bad idea because the normally-reliable Elam hasn’t been very accurate on field goals this season and has been listed on the injury report much of this year.