Saints, Brees finally hit high gear, take apart Bucs

NEW ORLEANS -- Drew Brees snapped out of his recent rut, New Orleans' defense transformed into a turnover-producing machine, and the Saints proved how good they could be this season, even if it's probably too late to matter.

Brees passed for 307 yards and four touchdowns, and the Saints recorded their first shutout in 17 years in a 41-0 rout of Tampa Bay on Sunday, extending the Buccaneers' losing streak to four games and ending their playoff hopes.

"Even though maybe that Super Bowl trophy can't be ours this year, we still have a lot to play for," Brees said. "We have a very prideful group of guys, but also we have a group of guys that understand the big picture, and that is that we're going to be together for a long time and we can start building the foundation of something now that will carry over for years to come."

Brees avoided an interception for the first time in three games and connected on his scoring passes with tight end David Thomas, running back Darren Sproles and receivers Lance Moore and Joe Morgan. Mark Ingram added an 11-yard touchdown run.

Josh Freeman endured one of his worst outings of the season for Tampa Bay (6-8), throwing four interceptions and losing a fumble. Jabari Greer made two interceptions, Rafael Bush and Isa Abdul-Quddus the others. Cameron Jordan forced Freeman's fumble on a sack and recovered it.

"It's my job to make sure everybody is educated as to what the play is. I've got to do a better job," Freeman said. "Some of those turnovers were really odd. Chalk it up to miscommunication."

New Orleans (6-8) also bottled up standout rookie running back Doug Martin, holding him to 16 yards on nine carries as the Buccaneers lost for the fourth straight time and suffered by far their most lopsided drubbing this season.

"We got our butts whipped, and that's it," Bucs guard Donald Penn said. "You can't sugarcoat it. We didn't perform today, and it's really tough and frustrating because we have so much talent."

The Saints will still be alive for a playoff berth when they kick off at Dallas next Sunday, but will have to finish in a multi-team tie at 8-8, which would require several other teams to lose their last two games. While the Bucs could finish 8-8, their conference record would be 5-7, dooming them to lose all possible tiebreakers.

"I didn't get this team ready to go today for whatever that reason is," Bucs coach Greg Schiano said. "They fought their guts out. It's just that I didn't do a good job of getting ready and we didn't play well."

Although many fans emptied out of the Superdome by the fourth quarter, those remaining howled as the Saints stopped Tampa Bay at the New Orleans 10, preserving the club's first shutout since a 12-0 win in the 1995 season finale against the Jets in New York.

The shutout meant a lot to a unit that came in ranked last in the league, in large part because of high yardage totals allowed early in the season while adjusting to the scheme of new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

"We've come a long way. Our defense the first four or five games was on pace to be one of the worst defenses ever," Saints linebacker Jonathan Casillas said. "It's just good to finally get a game to where we can be like, `All right, defense. This is us. This is what we're really all about."'

Brees had been intercepted nine times during New Orleans' recent three-game skid. That he would rebound well against Tampa Bay made sense; the Bucs came in giving up a league-worst 311.6 yards per game. Brees eclipsed 200 yards by halftime but eased off after his 34-yard touchdown to Morgan in the second half.

Ingram finished with 90 yards rushing and the Saints had their third-best total on the ground this season with 149 yards against a Tampa Bay rushing defense that came in first in the league, allowing 78.2 yards per game.

"We all, earlier in the week, I know offensively just kind of decided that, you know what? We haven't really put one together that we really want to hang our hat on," Brees said. "We just wanted to put our best out there."

Brees finished with more than 300 yards passing and four TDs for the 17th time in his career, more than any quarterback in NFL history. Dan Marino had done so 16 times.

Trailing 10-0, the Bucs' squandered a chance to close the gap when Freeman missed badly on two straight passes, the first to an open Mike Williams in the end zone. The next was his second interception of the first half. Bush grabbed the errant pass at the 9 and returned it 40 yards, and that led to Brees' second TD toss, a 2-yarder to Sproles.

Brees put one more scoring drive together in the half after Sproles returned a punt 37 yards to the Tampa Bay 38 with 1:04 left. Moore's 8-yard TD grab made it 24-0 at halftime.

Notes The Saints had a halftime presentation for former left tackle Willie Roaf, who last summer became only the second Saints player inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Roaf was given the customary Hall of Fame ring as he stood behind his bronze bust, which will be returned to Canton. The only other Saints Hall of Famer is linebacker Rickey Jackson, inducted in 2010. Saints LT William Robinson made his first-career start with Zach Strief sidelined by a right ankle injury. The Saints last home shutout was Dec. 16, 1991, against the Los Angeles Raiders, 27-0.

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Impressive Falcons take apart Giants and legion of non-believers

ATLANTA -- Still think the Atlanta Falcons aren't a good football team despite their lofty record and their closing in on the top seed in the NFC?

If so, you are wrong.

Here's proof: Falcons 34, New York Giants 0.

That's the defending Super Bowl champion Giants, the team most experts have pegged to go on a late-season roll to again be a factor in the postseason, the same Giants who blew out the Falcons in the playoffs last January. Atlanta made them look like a league bottom-feeder Sunday at the Georgia Dome.

The critics, and they are many, especially after Atlanta lost to the Carolina Panthers last week, kept saying how the Falcons don't blow teams out. They said they were winning, but not impressively. On and on it went.

All of last week, on all the networks, on all the websites, it was talk of how the Atlanta Falcons weren't any good.

Now what? After handling the Giants in every way possible, shutting out the Giants for the first time in the regular season since 1996, the Falcons are 12-2 and one victory away from clinching the top seed in the NFC. It was the first shutout for Atlanta since 2008.

"You are what your record says you are, and we're a good football team," Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez said. "We're not going to let anybody mess with our focus and our psyche."

Maybe not, but the underlying feeling in the locker room, one not aired publicly, was this was a game the Falcons had to have. Not just to keep pace for the top seed, but for validation of this as a good football team.

"The haters keep us going," Falcons corner Asante Samuel said. "Keep hating."

The 34-0 score doesn't tell the entire story. The Falcons had 22 first downs to 10 for the Giants. They held the ball for 38 minutes, 57 seconds to 21:03 for the Giants. Atlanta had 394 yards of total offense to 256 yards for the Giants. The Giants had three turnovers and the Falcons none.

"Atlanta was very, very good and we were very, very bad," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said.

He was being kind.

If the Falcons seemed to play angry, it's because they did. Gonzalez said the team was embarrassed by what happened last week at Carolina. And they took that anger to the practice field last week. Gonzalez said the Falcons had their best week of practice this season.

"We knew we had to change it up," Gonzalez said. "We had to focus. When we focus, we're tough to beat."

What was lost was how the Carolina game was a classic NFL sandwich game, a road game in between two big games -- Falcons had beaten rival New Orleans the week before.

OK, so maybe it looked like a crap sandwich last week, but now not so much.

"From the outhouse to the penthouse in a week," Falcons linebacker Mike Peterson said.

It helped that the Falcons started the game by forcing a turnover -- Samuel jumped a route and picked off Eli Manning to set up Atlanta's first touchdown. From there, it was all Falcons.

Manning threw for 161 yards as the Giants had a tough time getting anything going. It was the first regular-season shutout of his career. He joined brother, Peyton, of the Broncos and Drew Brees of the Saints as big-time passers who have struggled inside the Georgia Dome against the Falcons.

The Falcons beat all three teams at home, collecting 10 interceptions.

The key: Getting those quarterbacks in third-and-long. The Giants were 4 of 10 on third down Sunday. Falcons defensive coordinator Mike Nolan is one of the best at confusing quarterbacks on third down with his exotic looks.

"We made a collective effort as a defensive unit to keep the score at zero," Falcons linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said.

The Falcons are a speed defense, one built to play with the lead. That's why getting off to the fast start was so important Sunday. They run and fly to the football, but they aren't big and stout, even though they had two fourth-and-short stops against the Giants.

The Atlanta offense was balanced with 129 rushing yards and quarterback Matt Ryan throwing for 270 yards and three scores. The big play was a 40-yard touchdown throw to Julio Jones to open the second half and make the score 24-0.

"It's a good win for us," Falcons defensive end John Abraham said. "But by no means is this team satisfied."

Most players downplayed talk of this as a validation victory. That's for us in the media to decide, they said.

Some, though, are sick of hearing how they aren't any good.

"Yeah, I'm tired of that," Weatherspoon said. "That's why we played like this tonight and we're going to play that way the rest of the year."

Others waved me away when I tried to get them to talk validation.

"You're not going to get me to say those words," Abraham said.

Gonzalez, the veteran tight end likely in his final year and hopeful his career ends with a Super Bowl, was more diplomatic.

"The national validation will come when we get to the playoffs," Gonzalez said. "I understand why the media doesn't have the stomach to pick us and get on that bandwagon. We control our own destiny. It's about winning in the playoffs."

This group is 0-3 in the playoffs the past four years. That's why there doubts remain. But some of those should subside after the beating they gave the Giants. If not, some players privately had a message for those doubters.

"[Expletive] them," one Falcons player said. "We don't have to prove anything to anybody. We're a good football team."

It's hard to argue that now after what we saw Sunday.

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NFL, locked-out officials remain far apart after two days of talks

NEW YORK -- The NFL and its locked-out officials met the past two days, but a person familiar with the negotiations said Friday the sides remain far apart and no further talks are scheduled.

The person said in an email to the Associated Press that there are "significant and serious economic gaps." The person requested anonymity in characterizing the negotiations because they are intended to remain private.

Michael Arnold, counsel and lead negotiator for NFL Referees Association, acknowledged the discussions, saying his group reached out to the league last week and the NFL agreed to meet. He said there might be additional talks, but it is "not appropriate" to comment on specific issues.

The NFL locked out the regular officials in June and has been using replacements as the season enters its third full weekend. Many players, coaches and fans have been upset with what they say is poor officiating. The NFL has warned teams that it won't tolerate confrontational behavior toward the new officials.

The NFL locked out the regular officials after their contract expired. Negotiations with the NFLRA broke down several times during the summer, including just before the season. This is the first time the league is using replacements since 2001.

The collection of small college officials working the games has drawn tough criticism from those on the field. Monday night's game between Atlanta and Denver underlined the matter, with Broncos coach John Fox and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio engaging in heated arguments with officials.

In response, the league, according to NFL.com, said Thursday night that senior NFL officials called owners, general managers and coaches from all 32 teams to tell them that respect for the game demands better conduct.

NFL executive vice president Ray Anderson noted "unacceptable behavior" and added "we're not going to tolerate it." He said flags, fines and suspensions are possible for coaches or players who cross the line.

"There's no doubt the integrity of the game has been compromised not having the regular officials out there," Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka has said. "We've got to get that taken care of."

What the fans seem most annoyed with is the lack of pace to games, notably Monday night's win by the Falcons that dragged on past midnight. The NFL has said that it is trying to upgrade the officiating through training tapes, conference calls and meetings.

The league and the NFLRA, which covers more than 120 on-field officials, are at odds over salary, retirement benefits and operational issues. The NFL has said its offer includes annual pay increases that could earn an experienced official more than $200,000 annually by 2018. The union has disputed the value of the proposal, insisting it would ultimately reduce their compensation.

"We just all hope, and I'm speaking on behalf of all 31 other head coaches, we hope they get something done," Rams coach Jeff Fisher has said. "We're trusting that they will."

Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

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