blacksaint

N.O. dominant in 30-7 win

By SHELDON MICKLES
Advocate sportswriter
Published: Aug 24, 2007

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Despite working on a short week, the New Orleans Saints’ starting offense picked up where it left off five nights earlier against the Kansas City Chiefs.

And they did it with authority.

After rolling over the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday night, quarterback Drew Brees came out firing again and shredded the Chiefs’ defense in his team’s 30-7 rout in Arrowhead Stadium.

Brees completed 17 of 19 passes for 182 yards in just less than a half of work and threw his first touchdown pass of the preseason — a 4-yard strike to wide receiver David Patten — before retiring for the night.

After he left the game, the Saints didn’t miss a beat.

Unlike last week’s win over the Bengals, the second- and third-teamers weren’t sloppy. Backup quarterback Jamie Martin was 10 of 13 for 94 yards and third-stringer Tyler Palko hit on both of his attempts for 19 yards.

The three Saints quarterbacks completed 29 of 34 passes for 295 yards with one TD and one interception. They led the Saints (2-2) to 479 total yards, while the Chiefs were held to 91 yards until their final drive of the night.

The Chiefs (0-3) finished the game with 153 total yards and their only score — a 2-yard TD run by Marcus O’Keith — came with 1:53 remaining.

Second-year quarterback Brodie Croyle struggled in completing just 3 of 14 passes for 40 yards with one interception in the first half against the Saints’ first-team defense. He was sacked twice and had a passer rating of 9.8.

He didn’t fare much better against the Saints reserves. Croyle, who was booed late in the first half and again after halftime, was mercifully removed from the game by coach Herm Edwards at the end of the third quarter — finishing 5-of-17 for 45 yards with an interception.

The Saints, on the other hand, were solid on both sides of the ball.

After their spectacular passing display, the Saints worked on their running game. They finished with 197 yards on 37 carries, with rookie Pierre Thomas leading the way with 90 yards on 11 attempts.

Thomas had TD runs of 6 and 19 yards in the fourth quarter after Olindo Mare kicked field goals of 28, 31 and 44 yards.

The Saints scored 30 points even though they were stopped inside the Chiefs 5 twice in the first half. Their first drive ended when Deuce McAllister was stopped on a fourth-and-goal at the Chiefs 1.

Later, Antonio Pittman was stopped on a fourth-and-1 play at the Chiefs’ 3.

But the Saints were still quiet effective as Reggie Bush had 51 yards on six carries. In the passing game, Lance Moore caught six passes for 88 yards and Patten caught six balls for 75 yards.

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