NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees threw four touchdown passes and rushed for another as the New Orleans Saints won their third consecutive game by pummeling the New York Giants 49-24 on Monday night.
Brees threw for 363 yards, including two scoring passes each to Jimmy Graham and Lance Moore, and the Saints piled up 577 yards of offense in sending the Giants to their third loss in a row.
Pierre Thomas and Mark Ingram added rushing scores and Brees ran for his first TD in over two years as the Saints (8-3) improved to 5-0 at home and remained one game ahead of Atlanta atop the NFC South.
It was a record-setting night for Brees, who threw a touchdown pass for the 38th consecutive game to put him within nine of tying the NFL record held by Johnny Unitas.
Brees did extend his own NFL mark by completing at least 20 passes for the 31st consecutive game and set a league record by becoming the first player in history to throw for more than 30,000 yards in a span of seven seasons - with five games still to go.
Despite Eli Manning completing his first 21 passes of the second half, New York (6-5) was unable to keep up with New Orleans.
Manning, making his return to his hometown, finished 33 of 47 for 406 yards and threw a pair of scoring passes to Victor Cruz as the Giants dropped a game behind Dallas in the NFC East.
