Brooks Gets a Break

BALTIMORE —  The New Orleans Saints had enough working in their favor that they didn’t need to risk further injury to Aaron Brooks.

So they pulled their starting quarterback and finished off the Baltimore Ravens without him.

Deuce McAllister ran for 127 yards and three touchdowns, and the Saints capitalized on numerous Raven mistakes in a 37-25 victory Sunday.

Brooks left in the third quarter with New Orleans up, 20-7. He bruised his right shoulder one week earlier against Tampa Bay, and although he wanted to continue, Saint Coach Jim Haslett had seen enough.

“We just felt he was struggling a little bit in the third quarter, and we decided to take him out,” Haslett said. “He didn’t have that much practice this week, and it’s tough on a quarterback when he doesn’t practice.”

Brooks was replaced by Jake Delhomme, who promptly helped the Saints (9-4) convert a Jamal Lewis fumble into a McAllister touchdown. He then led a 10-play drive that produced a field goal for a 30-17 lead with 6:28 left.

Brooks, who completed nine of 25 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown, warned Delhomme earlier that he might be needed.

“In the second quarter, he said to stay loose,” Delhomme said. “When he came out for halftime, he said stay loose. So I knew I’d be going in.”

Delhomme completed seven of eight passes for 103 yards.

New Orleans blocked two punts, recovered three fumbles and twice intercepted passes by Jeff Blake, who also lost a fumble.

Blake, who started for New Orleans in 2000 and was a backup to Brooks last season, completed 18 of 39 passes for 316 yards for Baltimore (6-7).

“If we don’t make any turnovers, if we don’t give them anything, we win this football game,” Blake said. “Everything they got, we gave them. You give a team like that that type of field position, they’re going to beat you.”