New Orleans, LA – It took a while to get on track, but once they did, Drew Brees and the Saints showed the upstart Detroit Lions what it takes to win a playoff game.
Down 14-10 at the half, New Orleans completely dominated the second half to take a 45-28 win over the Lions in an NFC Wild Card game at the Superdome.
Brees, who set a single-season record with 5,476 passing yards, passed for 466 yards and three touchdowns on 33-of-43 passing to help the Saints advance to the NFC Divisional Round and exorcise the ghosts of a wild card loss to a 7-9 Seattle team last season.
The New Orleans backfield of Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles and Chris Ivory combined for 164 rushing yards on 31 carries with three touchdowns and also had 10 catches for 89 yards and a score for New Orleans, which went 13-3 in the regular season to win the NFC South.
New Orleans, which got seven catches for 120 yards from Marques Colston and four catches for 111 yards and a score by Robert Meachem, will travel to San Francisco next week for a divisional round matchup with the 49ers.
The Lions, meanwhile, were in a playoff game for the first time since 1999 and were just three seasons removed from the first and only 0-16 season in the history of the NFL.
Much of the reason for the turnaround for the Lions, who went 10-6 on the season, is quarterback Matthew Stafford, who passed for 5,038 yards in 2011, third best in the NFL.
His playoff debut was not so bad as he tossed three touchdowns and ran one in while passing for 380 yards on 28-of-43 passing, but he did have two interceptions in the fourth quarter when the game was still undecided.
Stafford's main target all season was Calvin Johnson and that didn't change in this game as the premier wide receiver caught 12 passes for 211 yards and two scores in the loss.
