By Gary Schatz PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer CINCINNATI (Ticker) - Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints'offense are rounding into form. Brees marched his offense straight down the field against aleaky Cincinnati Bengals defense on the first drive to spark theSaints to a 27-19 preseason victory Saturday night. Brees completed all six of his passes for 55 yards beforeturning the offense over to 13-year veteran Jamie Martin. Reggie Bush had four carries for 13 yards, including a 6-yardsprint following a fumble by Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer,to stake the Saints to a 17-12 halftime lead. Palmer played until the Bengals' first possession of the secondhalf. He completed 5-of-11 passes for 41 yards. Rudi Johnsonrushed for 15 yards on six carries. The Bengals (0-2) were held to a three-and-out possession offthe opening kickoff. Brees then led the Saints (1-2) 69 yards in 10 plays. VeteranDeuce McAllister scored on an 8-yard run to cap the drive. Hefinished with three carries for 15 yards and had a 10-yardreception. The Bengals could not take full advantage of four New Orleansfumbles - two by Martin after sacks - as they could manage justfield goals of 51, 33,25 and 32 yards by Shayne Graham. Leon Hall, Cincinnati's first-round pick out of Michigan,started at one corner and made a tackle for a loss on theSaints' first drive. New Orleans' first-round selection, Robert Meacham fromTennessee, had just one reception for six yards. Martin led the Saints on a 62-yard drive that ate up the last4:30 of the third quarter. Martin completed four passes to 5-9free agent Lance Moore out of Toledo. Moore had six catches for70 yards. Former Ohio State running back Antonio Pittman, the Saints'fourth-round pick, finished the drive with a 1-yard run. The Bengals are in desperate need of a backup for Rudi Johnson.Chris Perry has a history of injuries and second-round pickKenny Irons from Auburn is out for the season due to kneesurgery. One of the candidates to fill the role, Quincy Wilson, suffereda bruised chest in the third quarter and did not return.
NFL: NEW ORLEANS at CINCINNATI <div class="pre">NFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- NEW ORLEANS 10 7 0 10 27 CINCINNATI 3 9 0 7 19 FINAL SCORING SUMMARY 1ST QUARTER: 6:14 NOR - TD, DEUCE MCALLISTER 8 YD RUN (OLINDO MARE KICK). NEW ORLEANS 7-0. 11:21 CIN - FG, SHAYNE GRAHAM 51 YD. NEW ORLEANS 7-3. 13:38 NOR - FG, 48 YD. NEW ORLEANS 10-3. 2ND QUARTER: 2:02 NOR - TD, REGGIE BUSH 6 YD RUN (OLINDO MARE KICK). NEW ORLEANS 17-3. 7:26 CIN - FG, SHAYNE GRAHAM 33 YD. NEW ORLEANS 17-6. 9:57 CIN - FG, SHAYNE GRAHAM 25 YD. NEW ORLEANS 17-9. 14:57 CIN - FG, SHAYNE GRAHAM 32 YD. NEW ORLEANS 17-12. 3RD QUARTER: NONE 4TH QUARTER: 0:02 NOR - TD, ANTONIO PITTMAN 1 YD RUN (OLINDO MARE KICK). NEW ORLEANS 24-12. 13:10 NOR - FG, OLINDO MARE 23 YD. NEW ORLEANS 27-12. 14:58 CIN - TD, SKYLER GREEN 14 YD PASS FROM JEFF ROWE (SHAYNE GRAHAM KICK). NEW ORLEANS 27-19. NEW ORLEANS - CINCINNATI Final Statistics TEAM STATISTICS NEW ORLEANS CINCINNATI FIRST DOWNS 21 20 Rushing 3 8 Passing 18 9 Penalty 0 3 THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 3-11-27% 8-18-44% FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 1-1-100% 0-0-0% TOTAL NET YARDS 283 267 Total offensive plays 66 71 Average gain per play 4.3 3.8 NET YARDS RUSHING 67 87 Rushing attempts 23 27 Average gain per rush 2.9 3.2 Tackles for loss-yards 2-3 3-11 NET YARDS PASSING 216 180 Times sacked: Number-Yards 5-53 1-16 Gross passing yards 269 196 PASS ATTEMPTS-COMPLETIONS-HAD INTERCEPTED 38-27-0 43-25-0 Avg gain per pass play 5.0 4.1 KICKOFFS: Number-In End Zone-Touchbacks 6-5-3 6-3-2 PUNTS: Number and Average 4-50.0 6-39.8 Had blocked 0 0 Net punting average 47.0 34.7 TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE (Not including kickoffs) 12 31 Number-Yards: Punt Returns 3-12 4-31 Number-Yards: Kickoff Returns 3-79 3-70 Number-Yards: Interception Returns 0-0 0-0 PENALTIES: Number-Yards 8-54 6-40 FUMBLES: Number-Lost 5-2 2-1 TOUCHDOWNS 3 1 Rushing 3 0 Passing 0 1 Interceptions 0 0 Other (blocked kicks, etc.) 0 0 EXTRA POINTS: Made-Attempts 3-3 1-1 Kicking: Made-Attempts 3-3 1-1 Passing: Made-Attempts 0-0 0-0 Rushing: Made-Attempts 0-0 0-0 FIELD GOALS: Made-Attempts 2-2 4-4 FGs - PATs had blocked 0-0 0-0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY 3-4-75% 1-4-25% GOAL TO GO EFFICIENCY 3-4-75% 0-1-0% SAFETIES 0 0 TIME OF POSSESSION 32:16 27:44 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS NEW ORLEANS CINCINNATI RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- A PITTMAN 6 17 2.8 7 1 J ROWE 2 20 10.0 11 0 D MCALLIST 3 15 5.0 8 1 Q WILSON 4 19 4.8 13 0 R BUSH 4 13 3.3 6 1 K WATSON 8 18 2.3 9 0 M BAKER 2 8 4.0 5 0 R JOHNSON 6 15 2.5 7 0 D PATTEN 1 8 8.0 8 0 C PERRY 1 9 9.0 9 0 A STECKER 3 3 1.0 3 0 C BROWN 4 4 1.0 3 0 T COPPER 1 3 3.0 3 0 D JOHNSON 2 2 1.0 2 0 P THOMAS 1 1 1.0 1 0 J MARTIN 2 -1 -0.5 0 0 PASSING CM-AT-YDS IN TD LG PASSING CM-AT-YDS IN TD LG -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- J MARTIN 14-19-139 0 0 19 D JOHNSON 14-23- 99 0 0 16 M BAKER 7-13- 75 0 0 15 J ROWE 6- 9- 56 0 1 22 D BREES 6- 6- 55 0 0 12 C PALMER 5-11- 41 0 0 15 Sacked-Yards Lost: J MARTIN 3-38, Sacked-Yards Lost: C PALMER 1-16. M BAKER 2-15. RECEIVING NO YDS AVG LG TD RECEIVING NO YDS AVG LG TD -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- L MOORE 6 70 11.7 19 0 S GREEN 3 25 8.3 14 1 T COPPER 3 34 11.3 14 0 D COATS 3 24 8.0 13 0 D PATTEN 3 26 8.7 16 0 T HOUSHMAN 3 23 7.7 9 0 J JONES 3 24 8.0 8 0 C HENRY 2 26 13.0 16 0 A STECKER 3 19 6.3 7 0 T PERRY 2 19 9.5 12 0 R BUSH 2 19 9.5 12 0 B BRAZELL 2 16 8.0 10 0 R GHENT 1 15 15.0 15 0 R JOHNSON 2 8 4.0 5 0 B MILLER 1 15 15.0 15 0 C MANDERIN 2 5 2.5 5 0 K DUDLEY 1 12 12.0 12 0 T KAYS 1 22 22.0 22 0 P THOMAS 1 11 11.0 11 0 C JOHNSON 1 15 15.0 15 0 D MCALLIST 1 10 10.0 10 0 J HOLLEY 1 5 5.0 5 0 M CAMPBELL 1 8 8.0 8 0 C BROWN 1 4 4.0 4 0 R MEACHEM 1 6 6.0 6 0 K WATSON 1 3 3.0 3 0 N LAWRIE 1 1 1.0 1 0 INTERCEPTIONS NO YDS AVG LG TD INTERCEPTIONS NO YDS AVG LG TD -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- Interceptions: None PUNTING NO YDS AVG T I LG PUNTING NO YDS AVG T I LG -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- S WEATHERF 3 159 53.0 0 2 56 K LARSON 6 239 39.8 0 1 46 C HANSON 1 41 41.0 0 0 41 T = Touchbacks, I = Inside 20 PUNT RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD PUNT RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- L MOORE 2 12 6.0 7 0 S GREEN 4 31 7.8 10 0 T HALL 1 0 0.0 0 0 KICKOFF RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD KICKOFF RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- L MOORE 1 47 47.0 47 0 R MCNEAL 2 44 22.0 23 0 P THOMAS 1 26 26.0 26 0 S GREEN 1 26 26.0 26 0 T HALL 1 6 6.0 6 0 KICKING XP/XPA FG/FGA KICKING XP/XPA FG/FGA ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- O MARE 3/3 1/1 S GRAHAM 1/1 4/4 Dist.: 23 Dist.: 51 33 25 32 O-D O-D FUMBLES NO LOST FF REC FUMBLES NO LOST FF REC ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ J MARTIN 3 1 0 0-0 C PALMER 1 1 0 0-0 T COPPER 1 1 0 0-0 D JOHNSON 1 0 0 0-0 A STECKER 1 0 0 0-0 E HENDERSON 0 0 1 0-0 C GRANT 0 0 1 0-0 B ROBINSON 0 0 1 0-0 A LAKE 0 0 0 0-1 J SMITH 0 0 1 0-0 D PEKO 0 0 1 0-1 C MILLER 0 0 0 0-1 DEFENSE TK SO AS SK-YD DEFENSE TK SO AS SK-YD ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ D JONES 8 6 2 0-0 H JONES 8 7 1 1-7 J CRAFT 5 3 2 0-0 A BROOKS 4 4 0 1-8 U YOUNG 4 3 1 0-0 D JACKSON 4 4 0 0-0 C GRANT 3 3 0 1-16 J BUSING 4 3 1 0-0 M MCKENZIE 3 3 0 0-0 E HENDERSON 3 3 0 1-18 R LEISLE 3 3 0 0-0 C MILLER 3 3 0 0-0 S SHANLE 3 3 0 0-0 L JOHNSON 3 3 0 0-0 R HARPER 3 3 0 0-0 L HALL 3 3 0 0-0 J COOPER 2 2 0 0-0 E HARTWELL 2 2 0 0-0 A LAKE 2 2 0 0-0 M MUNCY 2 2 0 0-0 A PALEPOI 2 1 1 0-0 D PEKO 2 2 0 0-0 W SMITH 2 1 1 0-0 D O'NEAL 2 2 0 0-0 K KAESVIHARN 1 1 0 0-0 R JEANTY 2 2 0 0-0 J PORTER 1 1 0 0-0 K ALLEN 2 2 0 0-0 D JONES 1 1 0 0-0 C NDUKWE 2 1 1 0-0 A PHILLIPS 1 1 0 0-0 B ROBINSON 1 1 0 1-14 A FINCHER 1 1 0 0-0 M WILLIAMS 1 1 0 1-6 J BULLOCKS 1 1 0 0-0 M MYERS 1 1 0 0-0 C BURNS 1 1 0 0-0 J SMITH 1 1 0 0-0 J DAVID 1 1 0 0-0 X JACKSON 1 1 0 0-0 T EVANS 1 1 0 0-0 T WRIGHT 1 1 0 0-0 H THOMAS 1 1 0 0-0 J FANENE 1 1 0 0-0 F THOMAS 1 1 0 0-0 A FRAZIER 1 1 0 0-0 B SIMMONS 1 1 0 0-0 M SIMONEAU 1 0 1 0-0 Officials: Referee-Bill Leavy, Umpire-Billy Hall, Head Linesman-Gary Slaughter, Line Judge-Darryll Lewis, Field Judge-Rob Vernatchi, Side Judge-Mike Weatherford, Back Judge-Kirk Dornan. Time of Game: 2:59</div>
