November 27, 2006 in Sports

Saints march past the Falcons

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The New Orleans Saints managed to catch two long touchdown passes, even though their best receiver wasn’t on the field.

The Atlanta Falcons couldn’t catch anything.

Drew Brees threw a 76-yard touchdown to Devery Henderson on the third play of the game, then lofted a 48-yarder to Terrance Copper on the final play of the first half, leading the Saints past the bumbling Falcons 31-13 on Sunday.

Even though Michael Vick ran for 166 yards, Atlanta couldn’t overcome five dropped passes and a shocking defensive breakdown just before halftime.

Rams 20, 49ers 17: At St. Louis, Marc Bulger threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Curtis with 27 seconds to go for a victory over San Francisco.

Frank Gore had 134 yards on 21 carries for the 49ers. Bulger was 9 for 9 for 66 yards during the final drive. He finished 23 of 43 for 201 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Alex Smith finished the day 13 of 25 for 148 yards, a touchdown, and a pair of interceptions for the 49ers.

Vikings 31, Cardinals 26: At Minneapolis, Brad Johnson threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Arizona. Chester Taylor added 136 yards rushing and a touchdown for the Vikings.

Rookie Matt Leinart played well for Arizona, completing 31 of 52 passes for a career-high 401 yards and two interceptions, but managed only one TD.

Colts 45, Eagles 21: At Indianapolis, Joseph Addai tied a franchise record with four touchdowns, to lead Indianapolis to victory over Philadelphia.

Peyton Manning finished 14 of 20 for 183 yards and one interception, becoming the fastest player in league history (139 games) to 3,000 completions.

Jeff Garcia, Donavan McNabb’s replacement, was 19 of 23 for 140 yards and threw two TDs.

Brian Westbrook ran 20 times for 124 yards and one touchdown.

Bengals 30, Browns 0: At Cleveland, Cincinnati picked off Cleveland quarterback Charlie Frye four times, and Carson Palmer threw three touchdown passes as the Bengals embarrassed Cleveland.

Palmer finished 25 of 32 for 275 yards and connected with Chris Henry for two TD passes for the Bengals.

Chargers 21, Raiders 14: At San Diego, LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another to lead San Diego over Oakland.

Tomlinson threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Antonio Gates to tie the game at 14.

Philip Rivers finished with his worst game as a starter in the NFL going 14 of 31 for 133 yards.

Ravens 27, Steelers 0: At Baltimore, the Ravens sacked Ben Roethlisberger nine times and coasted to a blowout that left the Steelers with only a mathematical chance of reaching the playoffs.

Baltimore limited the defending NFL champions to 36 yards in the decisive first half. The nine sacks, which totaled 73 yards and matched a Ravens franchise record, included a vicious hit by Bart Scott that forced Roethlisberger out of the game for one play in the second quarter.

Bills 27, Jaguars 24: At Orchard Park, N.Y., J.P. Losman hit Roscoe Parrish for a 30-yard completion to set up Rian Lindell’s 42-yard field goal as time ran out, lifting Buffalo to a win over Jacksonville.

The Bills, who never trailed, scored 28 seconds after the Jaguars tied the game when David Garrard hit Matt Jones for a 3-yard touchdown.

Losman, who finished 21 of 28 for 169 yards, rallied the Bills back.

Jets 26, Texans 11: At East Rutherford, N.J., Chad Pennington had his finest passing day in weeks, throwing for 286 yards and a touchdown in New York’s victory over Houston. The quarterback also had to leave briefly in the third quarter when he was hit by two Texans and left writhing in pain on the Meadowlands turf.

After several nervous moments, Pennington got up under his own power as the fans cheered wildly.

Pennington finished 24 of 31.

Redskins 17, Panthers 13: At Landover, Md., Jason Campbell had only 52 yards passing when he hit Chris Cooley on a third-and-8 at the Washington 34 which eventually led to the touchdown that got Washington past Carolina.

Campbell finished 11 for 23 for 118 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

Ladell Betts, the Redskins featured running back now that Clinton Portis is out for the year, ran for 104 yards on 24 carries.

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