New Orleans Saints receiver Michael Thomas (13) has helped the New Orleans Saints improve on their offensive production late in the season. Thomas, who caught Drew rees’ first touchdown pass Monday, leads the NFL in receptions (133) and yards (1,552) and is closing in on former Colt Marvin Harrison’s single-season record of 143 catches. Both the number of receptions and yards are Saints franchise records.

METAIRIE — The New Orleans Saints offense dropped off in productivity down the stretch last season.

It averaged 37.8 points during the first 10 games, then 21.0 in the final six regular-season games and 21.5 in two playoff games.

This season the Saints are experiencing a surge in offensive productivity as the regular season winds down.

The Saints (11-3) have averaged 35 points per game in their last five games heading into a game at Tennessee (8-6) at noon today. They reached that point total just once in their previous nine games.

“We’re a little healthier,” coach Sean Payton said. “We’re constantly working to improve. There were weeks where we won, but we still weren’t on point and that doesn’t mean anything’s guaranteed this next week.

“This week will present a different challenge, a different defense. We’re working to improve and by no means feel like we’ve arrived.”

Quarterback Drew Brees missed five straight games early in the season after undergoing thumb surgery. Teddy Bridgewater played well filling in and the defense and special teams helped New Orleans win each game Brees missed.

Brees is now more than three months removed from surgery and playing as well as ever. He broke the NFL record for completion percentage in a game when he completed 29 of 30 passes (96.7 percent) in a 34-7 victory against Indianapolis on Monday night in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

He also broke the NFL record for career touchdown passes, which now stands at 541 after he threw four to four different receivers.

“I felt like we were hitting on all cylinders both in the run game and in the pass game,” Brees said. “Of course, there’s still some meat left on the bone and every game is a little different.”

Tre’Quan Smith, who was sidelined by injury earlier in the season, caught one of Brees’ touchdown passes against the Colts and had another a week earlier in a 48-46 loss to San Francisco.

“It definitely starts with Sean,” Smith said of the offenses’ resurgence. “Every time we meet he always will say we’re still not there yet. We still have more to prove. There’s a ripple effect, (to) the coaches, then with Drew, then we all believe in ourselves and know that we have a lot more to prove. We’ve still got to fine tune some things.”

The Saints will be without starting right guard Larry Warford against the Titans because of a knee injury he suffered against the Colts, but they might get back left guard Andrus Peat, who has been sidelined by a broken arm suffered last month.

Tennessee also has found offensive improvement as the season has gone along. The Titans are 6-2 since former Dolphin Ryan Tannehill replaced Marcus Mariota as the starting quarterback.

They had won four in row before a 24-21 home loss to Houston last Sunday dropped them to second place in the AFC South and scrambling to make the playoffs, especially after the Texans clinched the division title by beating Tampa Bay on Saturday.

“When they went on that four-game winning streak, they were playing a complementary game offensively and defensively, in the special teams,” Payton said. “They were doing all the things necessary to win football games and (Tannehill) was part of that.”

Titans running back Derrick Henry was voted to the Pro Bowl on Tuesday and rookie wide receiver J.J. Brown has had four 100-yard receiving games, including the last two.

New Orleans, unlike Tennessee, already is in the payoffs having clinched the NFC South title more than three weeks ago. But this game has significant meaning for the Saints in terms of their seeding.

They are No. 3 in the NFC, but could climb higher, which would mean a first-round bye, if they can get some help with regards to San Francisco and Green Bay, which both have the same record as the Saints but hold the tiebreaker.