Brees, Saints rack up record yardage

NEW ORLEANS -- Record-shattering Drew Brees threw 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 last night.

Brees hit on 33 of 43 passes and threw 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 gained a whopping 626 yards of total offense, and will travel to San Francisco for next Saturday's second-round game.

Matthew Stafford threw for 380 yards and three TDs for the Lions, 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.

Two of Bree's TD passes came in the third quarter.

Matthew Stafford threw for a pair of first-half touchdowns, staking the Lions to a surprising 14-10 lead at intermission in their first postseason appearance since 1999. Then, when Brees and the Saints appeared on the verge of blowing the wild-card game open, Stafford connected with Calvin Johnson three times, including a 42-yarder, before running it himself on a 1-yard bootleg to keep Detroit in the game.

The Saints took their first lead of the night on Brees' 41-yard touchdown pass to Devery Henderson less than 2 minutes into the second half. Then, the record-setting quarterback completed 7 of 8 passes for 94 yards on another scoring drive, which he kept going by leaping over the line for a first down when coach Sean Payton made the gutsy call to go for it on fourth-and-inches at the New Orleans 38.

Three plays later, Brees passed 40 yards to Marques Colston, quickly followed by a 3-yard scoring pass to Jimmy Graham, who celebrated by dunking over the crossbar and posing for the crowd.

Stafford went to Will Heller for a 10-yard touchdown on Detroit's opening possession, then connected with Johnson on a 13-yard score. Darren Sproles tied the score 7-7 early in the second quarter with a 2-yard touchdown run. But New Orleans' high-powered offense, which lost an NFL-low five fumbles during the regular season, coughed it up twice in the opening half.

Colston was stripped of the ball at the Detroit 13 on the Saints' first possession, and Brees later had the ball knocked away just before his right arm went forward trying to get off a pass.