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Just found a stat that makes the Saints’ 10-0 start even more impressive. The Saints have managed to stay undefeated while accumulating a league-high 12 players on the injured-reserve list.

They’re tied with Buffalo and Detroit in that category. Tampa Bay is tied for fourth with eight players out for the season. Carolina is tied for ninth with seven players on injured reserve. Atlanta is tied for 16 with six players done for the year.

What’s really impressive about the Saints ability to win despite this many injuries is that they had a similar situation last year and that team finished out of the playoffs.

That experience prompted general manager Mickey Loomis and coach Sean Payton to put a lot of emphasis on acquiring depth in the offseason, and they’ve found enough quality backups that they’ve been able to weather the injury storm quite nicely.

Trent Dilfer discusses whether the Saints should move Reggie Bush to wide receiver.

As we reported earlier Monday, the New Orleans Saints were closing in on a deal to bring back veteran cornerback Mike McKenzie. That’s now been finalized.

The Saints just sent out the official announcement of the deal. The Saints placed cornerback Leigh Torrence on injured reserve to make room for McKenzie.

A 10-year veteran, McKenzie was a fan favorite when he played for the Saints from 2004 through 2008. With the Saints, McKenzie started 62 of the 63 games he played in and had 12 interceptions and 225 tackles.

Her suffered major knee injuries in each of last two seasons and, at 33, it appeared his career was over. But McKenzie continued to work out on his own and when the Saints began a run of injuries at cornerback, they got back in touch with their former player. Besides Torrence, the Saints played without starters Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter on Sunday and were forced to start rookie Malcolm Jenkins and veteran Randall Gay, who had to leave the game with what he said was a hamstring injury.

The Saints also added veteran cornerback Chris McAlister last week. There is hope Greer, Porter and Gay will be able to play against New England next Monday, but coach Sean Payton said he wouldn’t have a clear picture on all the injuries until later in the week.

Before we even get to December, the New Orleans Saints might have the NFC South title and the playoff berth that goes with it officially wrapped up.

For the first time this season, the NFL just sent out playoff-clinching scenarios. The Saints can clinch the NFC South with a win against New England, and either a loss or tie by Atlanta against Tampa Bay. Technically, the Saints also could clinch if they tie with New England and Atlanta loses to Tampa Bay.

The only other team that has a shot to clinch anything this early is Indianapolis. The Colts can clinch the AFC South title with a victory this week and a loss by Jacksonville.

Although there was some speculation that the Saints were being intentionally cautious as they rested some injured starters in Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay, coach Sean Payton said Monday he wasn’t looking ahead to next week’s Monday night game against New England when he made the decisions.

Defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, running back Reggie Bush, cornerbacks Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter and receiver Lance Moore were among the key players the Saints made inactive against the Buccaneers.

“No, we haven’t held anyone,’’ Payton said. “We try to play guys when they’re ready. That’s what we’re trying to do and last week you had some guys that were close. If a guy’s ready they’re going to play. We don’t look at a game and target a game because of a game. We hope to be as healthy as possible each week and this is certainly a game where it’s a real good opponent.”

Bush and Ellis didn’t travel with the team to Tampa and Payton said part of the logic for that was because the team decided their recoveries would be helped more by receiving treatment at home, instead of getting on a plane.

“It was really where they were at on Saturday,’’ Payton said. “No. 1, they’re both leg-related injuries so if we’re not going to play a player and Saturday we come in and there’s still some swelling and some uncertainty, we typically will leave a player and let them rest and get the treatment at home as opposed to getting on a plane. We typically don’t take players that aren’t going to play. Sometimes if they’re questionable we take them and work them out there and we’ve done that before, but in their case, after working them out on Saturday morning and observing where they were at, we went ahead and did that.’’

That 2010 first-round draft pick that the Carolina Panthers traded to San Francisco to move up to get defensive end Everette Brown in the second round of this year's draft seems to be getting more valuable.

With the Panthers at 4-6, NFC West colleague Mike Sando has a chart that shows there’s a growing chance the 49ers could end up with a pick in the upper half of the draft.

We all know the Saints, who don’t exactly have a storied history, are off to the best start in franchise history. They’re 10-0 and that already ties them for the fourth-most wins in a season in franchise history

They’ve got a huge game coming up next Monday with New England, and getting to 11-0 would make them the first NFC team to reach that mark since the 1991 Washington Redskins. And we must point out Washington won the Super Bowl that season.

With six regular-season games to go and plenty of room for the Saints to keep climbing, here’s a look at the best seasons in team history.

The Saints reportedly are close to bringing back longtime New Orleans cornerback Mike McKenzie.

The move comes as the Saints have been hit hard by injuries in the secondary in recent weeks. Starting cornerbacks Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter sat out Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay. Randall Gay, who moved into a starting role along with rookie Malcolm Jenkins, had to leave the game with a hamstring injury.

Gay said after Sunday's win that he hopes to be able to play next Monday against New England. The Saints also are hopeful that Greer and Porter may be ready for that game, but they’re not taking any chances.

McKenzie left the team after last season and some thought his career might be over because of age and knee problems. But McKenzie has continued to work out. And although the Saints have switched defensive schemes under new coordinator Gregg Williams, McKenzie likely would be able to pick up the system quickly.

The Saints also brought in veteran cornerback Chris McAlister last week. McAlister was inactive Sunday and coach Sean Payton said the veteran still was working his way into "football shape."

I’m planning out the week ahead and it should be a very good one as we get ready for next Monday night’s huge game between the Saints and Patriots, the NFC South game between Tampa Bay and Atlanta and Carolina’s trip to New York to play the Jets.

As you probably expect, I’m working on a lot of preview stuff for the Saints and Patriots and I’ll be covering that game from the Superdome.

Some other things to look forward to: We’ll have our weekly stock watch and power rankings Tuesday, and I’m guessing that the Saints will remain at No. 1.

The Thanksgiving holiday is going to throw some things off a bit and I’ve just been informed by chat control in Bristol that there will be no NFC South chat this week. But I’ll do my best to make up for it. If you’ve got a question, send it to the mailbag.

I’m planning to do a series of team-by-team mailbags for this weekend.

Time for a trip through the NFC South with the local columnists.

Mark Bradley writes that, although the Falcons lost a game, they got quarterback Matt Ryan back. After struggling for the last month or so, Ryan bounced back and played the way he did last year. If that continues, Atlanta has a shot at a playoff spot.

After Atlanta’s overtime loss, Daniel Cox wonders if the NFL’s coin-toss, sudden-death system is fair.

Joe Henderson takes a look at how Tampa Bay’s Josh Freeman came back to earth after playing so well in the first two starts of his rookie season.

Carolina Huddle has a good overview on the situation with coach John Fox and his future with the Panthers. I heard two national radio guys debating this over the weekend. One said it’s ridiculous to say Fox is on the hot seat because owner Jerry Richardson has never said that. Umm, other than Al Davis and Jerry Jones, what owner ever has come out and said a coach is on the hot seat? I’m not ready to say Fox is gone, but he’s definitely on the hot seat. There’s disappointment in the fan base that the Panthers have been mediocre after going 12-4 last year. I also know ownership is painfully aware that Fox never has been able to put together back-to-back winning seasons.

Jeff Duncan writes about how the Saints and their fans took over Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.

In his new role at NewOrleans.com, Brian Allee-Walsh has a detailed account of the Saints’ victory Sunday.