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Brees, Saints spoil coaching debut for Cable

Oct 12, 2008 - 9:28 PM NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- New coach. Same problems.

Drew Brees spoiled Tom Cable's NFL head coaching debut as the New Orleans Saints cruised to a 34-3 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.

"It's not the start that we were hoping for," Cable said.

Brees completed 26-of-30 passes for 320 yards and three second-half touchdowns.

"When you're flowing as an offense, that's the kind of stuff that happens," Brees said. "We kind of had it scripted out as to the flow of the game, the plays we wanted to call and the guys we wanted to get the ball to and I felt like we were really efficient all day long."

JaMarcus Russell passed for 159 yards with an interception and a lost fumble for the Raiders (1-4), who compiled just 226 yards from scrimmage in Cable's first game as the new head coach.

"We've started now to develop a culture on the defensive side of the ball that it's not good to give up a hundred-some odd yards rushing and it's not good to give up 300 some odd yards passing," Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma said. "We're trying to be one of the top-tier defenses."

Cable replaced Lane Kiffin, who was fired two weeks ago after feuding with Oakland owner Al Davis.

Reggie Bush rushed for one score and caught a pass for another for the Saints (3-3), who racked up 428 total yards.

"We executed our plays," Bush said. "We didn't turn the ball over and that was the difference in the game to me. We protected the ball and that was our main goal today."

New Orleans faced a 3-0 deficit after the opening quarter, but then reeled off 34 straight points.

"We have to use them (the Saints) as a model," Cable said. "That's where we want to get to. There is no question."

Bush started the offensive onslaught with a 3-yard TD run and rookie Taylor Mehlhaff kicked a 44-yard field goal just before the break in his NFL debut to give the Saints a 10-3 halftime lead.

The Saints continued to pour it on in the second half as Brees, who completed his first 16 attempts, found running back Aaron Stecker for an 8-yard score.

"I thought we played with good energy," New Orleans coach Sean Payton said. "I thought we looked like the team that had the bye, not them. I thought that we looked like the team that was healthy, not them. I was proud of the energy that we had coming off the short week."

Brees also connected on a 15-yard TD pass with Bush in the third quarter and delivered 2-yard TD pass to Mark Campbell early in the fourth.

"I was really happy for our whole team, especially when you see a couple of guys who are kind of almost like unsung heroes," Brees said. "I know it's Mark (Campbell)'s first career (touchdown) as a Saint. That's why I got so excited when he scored."