Saints advance, blast Detroit

Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS

Drew Brees led a record-setting offense by throwing for 466 yards and three touchdowns, and the New Orleans Saints poured it on in the second half for a 45-28 NFC wild-card victory over the Detroit Lions on Saturday night.

New Orleans broke the postseason mark for total yards with 626, beating the record set 49 years ago.

Brees hit on 33 of 43 passes while throwing for the most yards in a regulation playoff game. He highlighted his night with three completions of at least 40 yards.

As usual, the quarterback had plenty of help from an offense that set an NFL record for yards from scrimmage this season (7,474). The Saints (14-3) will travel to San Francisco for next Saturday’s second-round game.

Matthew Stafford threw for 380 yards and three TDs for the Lions (10-7), who simply could not keep pace in their first playoff appearance since 1999. They have lost seven straight playoff games. All-Pro receiver Calvin Johnson had 12 receptions for 211 yards and two touchdowns in his playoff debut for Detroit.

For three quarters the Lions performed like playoff veterans.

Detroit simply couldn’t keep up, despite putting on an impressive offensive showing of its own.

Stafford also scored on a 1-yard bootleg and dive. But Detroit, after forcing a couple of fumbles in the first half but also getting hurt by an inadvertent whistle, finally wore down against a team that hasn’t lost at home all season.

Brees threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Robert Meachem with 71/2 minutes remaining that gave New Orleans (14-3) a commanding 38-21 lead. The Lions (10-7) had one last hurrah — Stafford’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Johnson with 4:40 remaining — but New Orleans recovered an onside kick, quickly drove for another TD and the celebration was on in the Big Easy.