New Orleans Saints Report Card

NEW ORLEANS - Blasted off his feet as he threw, Steve McNair lay on his back for a moment, then propped up his head, grinning after another first-down pass.

In his return from a concussion and strained neck two weeks ago, McNair never shied away from contact, throwing accurately in the face of penetrating defenders or scrambling for key first downs.

By the time the New Orleans Saints figured out how to slow him down, McNair had run for one touchdown and thrown for two more as the Baltimore Ravens snapped a two-game losing streak with a 35-22 victory on Sunday.

“Feeling confident and having the will to go out there and execute” got him off to the fast start, McNair said. “Our offense has been struggling and today was a good day.”

The Ravens’ defense was dominant as well, accounting for two touchdowns on a pair of 12-yard interception returns by Louisiana natives Ronnie Prude and Dawan Landry. They also knocked Reggie Bush out of the game in the fourth quarter. Bush went to the locker room favoring his left ankle, but later said he did not expect to miss a game.

Baltimore (5-2) became the first team to beat the Saints in the Louisiana Superdome this season and made it look easy, despite coach Brian Billick only recently taking over the play-calling after firing offensive coordinator Jim Fassel following the Ravens’ last game two weeks ago.

“I particularly like the play calls of the two interceptions for touchdowns,” Billick joked. “Today was players knowing what it is they needed to do, having worked it properly in practice.”

Still, the play-calling wasn’t bad, and several Saints said the Ravens surprised them by how often and when they threw.

The Ravens used crisp play-action fakes out of running formations to pass for several key first downs and took a 7-0 lead on a 5-yard quarterback draw.

McNair gave Baltimore a 14-0 lead on a quick third-down slant to Clarence Moore early in the second quarter. He finished 17-of-23 for 159 yards, which was more than enough with Ravens running back Jamal Lewis gaining 109 yards on 31 carries.

“He is running hard and physical and that’s the style running game we’re going to have,” Billick said. “It’s great to get him cranked up.”

Even when McNair made a mistake that should have resulted in an interception, it worked out for a score. Late in the first half, his pass for tight end Todd Heap was underthrown and linebacker Scott Fujita was set to intercept it. But cornerback Jason Craft got a finger on it, tipping it over Fujita and straight to Heap, resulting in a 28-7 lead for the Ravens at halftime.

“It was a combination of them kind of beating our butt a little bit and us not getting any breaks,” Fujita said.

New Orleans (5-2) kept fighting, but the deficit was far too large against Baltimore’s hard-hitting defense.

Drew Brees was intercepted three times, twice on deflections, and sacked twice. Ray Lewis, who made six tackles, also thwarted the Saints’ first decent scoring chance when he intercepted Bush’s halfback pass intended for Marques Colston in the end zone. That was the second turnover for Bush, who fumbled at the Saints 43 when he was hit by blitzing safety Gerome Sapp as he took a handoff on the Saints’ opening drive.

“When you make mistakes on your end of the field, they result in points” for the opponent, Saints coach Sean Payton said. “In this case, if you look at the turnovers, that’s what happened. It’s not any magic formula. It went against everything we’ve been trying to accomplish and we’ve just got to go back and make the corrections.”

The Saints could not run the ball, however, finishing with only 35 yards on 14 carries.

The Baltimore secondary, meanwhile, did not miss an opportunity to punish the Saints for making mistakes.

Landry’s touchdown on the first of his two interceptions made the score 35-7 about midway through the third quarter, prompting an initial flow of disappointed fans to the exits. His second interception early in the fourth quarter all but cleared out the place.

Notes: The Ravens’ fumble recovery in the first quarter was their 14th of the season. Their four interceptions gave them five for the season. ... Saints kick return specialist Michael Lewis played for the first time since Sept. 19, 2005. He had a 46-yard kickoff return in the first half.

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