Brees hurls five TDs in Saints’ win

SAINTS 35, STEELERS 32

pittsburgh » The standings say the New Orleans Saints are in first place. For once, it looked that way on the field too.

Drew Brees peppered the end zone with footballs. The defense harassed Ben Roethlisberger into costlymistakes. Head coach Sean Payton and defensive coordinator RobRyan exchangedwords on the sideline.

Just another day at work for the volatile NFC South leaders, even though Sunday’s 35-32 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers upped New Orleans’ record to just 5-7.

“It’s not time to reflect,” Brees said. “We’re full steam ahead. We have four regular season games here that are going to determine our season.”

Judging by its best four quarters in a month, New Orleans finally appears ready make a move. Six days and 1,100 miles removed from an ugly home loss to Baltimore, the Saints appeared reborn. Brees threw five touchdowns for the ninth time in his career. Kenny Stills caught five passes for a career-high 162 yards and a score as New Orleans ended a three-game losing streak by restoring a little bit of respectability to the worst division in the league.

The Steelers (7-5) keptNewOrleans tight end Jimmy Graham in check with no catches, but it hardly mattered. Ben Watson, Marques Colston, Erik Lorig and Nick Toon hauled in touchdowns as New Orleans romped.

“The ball just happened to go other places today,” Brees said. “There were great matchups and we were able to make big plays in the passing game, so it was just one of those crazy games where for whatever reason, he didn’t get a catch.”