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Payton watches Brees light up Cowboys in return to Dallas

Dec 11, 2006 - 4:41 AM IRVING, Texas (Ticker) -- Sean Payton outwitted Bill Parcells.

Payton watched his high-powered offense led by Drew Brees light up the Texas night as the New Orleans Saints made a loud statement with a 42-17 thrashing of the Dallas Cowboys in a battle of first-place teams.

Payton is in his first season as Saints coach after serving as an assistant under Parcells in Dallas the previous three years. He was the Cowboys' passing game coordinator last season.

"I have a ton of respect for Bill and all he's accomplished in Dallas," Payton said. "This was two good 8-4 teams playing a big game. It wasn't me competing against Bill. It was about the teams, not the head coaches."

Now Payton has Brees - a Texas native - directing the Saints (9-4), who came into the contest ranked first in the NFL in total offense at 400.2 yards per game.

Brees thoroughly dismantled the Cowboys, matching a career high with five touchdowns and completing 26-of-38 passes for 384 yards. His monster night gave him a league-high 4,033 passing yards on the season.

"I could tell it was very special for him," Brees said. "He didn't put a lot of added pressure on us this week. He just went on with his business. But I could see in the gleam in his eye at the end of the game. ... I could tell it meant a lot."

New Orleans (9-4), which rolled up 536 total yards and 28 first downs, has a two-game lead over Atlanta in the NFC South with three games left. The Saints, who last won a division in 2000, went just 3-13 last season

"That was a pretty good licking," Parcells said. "I can't think of anything we did very well."

Payton also unveiled third-year fullback Mike Karney, who had not had a touchdown in his previous 43 games. Karney rushed for a TD and caught two more scores.

Brees found Karney for TDs of two yards and one yard in a 21-point second quarter that also featured a 27-yard scoring strike to unknown Jamal Jones, who had just two receptions for 12 yards in 10 career games.

Karney had scored on a two-yard run seven seconds into the second quarter to cap a 14-play, 88-yard drive and tie the game at 7-7.

In the third quarter, scintillating rookie running back Reggie Bush also got into the act for the Saints when he took a screen pass and raced 61 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown to give the Saints a 28-10 lead. Bush completed his jaunt to the end zone with a nifty cutback inside the Cowboys 10.

Bush finished with six catches for 125 yards. He leads the NFC in receptions (79) to go along with 687 yards.

After Tony Romo threw a 34-yard TD pass to Terrell Owens on a play in which the ball went through the hands of cornerback Fred Thomas, the Saints quickly answered.

Brees' 50-yard touchdown pass to Devery Henderson set up his six-yard TD to Karney with 5:16 left in the third quarter, giving the Saints a 35-17 bulge.

Payton kept the momentum on the Saints' side by calling for an onside kick that worked to perfection when Jay Bellamy fell on the ball.

Four plays later, Brees threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Henderson, further stunning the crowd at Texas Stadium.

"We let a lot of people know what we are all about," Brees said.

Payton's defense also had the answers for Romo, who was unable to recover from a slow start in falling to 5-2 since replacing veteran Drew Bledsoe as the starter.

One of Payton's major contributions while he was in Dallas was recommending the Cowboys sign Romo, who went undrafted out of Eastern Illinois in 2003. Payton also attended Eastern Illinois.

Romo completed 16-of-33 passes for 249 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions.

"We just made some mistakes on things that we shouldn't have," Romo said. "We'll see what we're made of now."

Julius Jones provided the first fireworks of the night, scoring on a 77-yard run on the Cowboys' second offensive play.

But Jones' run was one of the few highlights that belonged to the Cowboys (8-5), who had a four-game winning streak stopped. Dallas has a one-game lead over the New York Giants and Philadelphia in the NFC East.

Terry Glenn had eight catches for 150 yards for Dallas, which was coming off last Sunday's 23-20 win over the Giants that gave them control of the division.