(Washington, USA) - Drew Brees sparked a record-setting attack to power the New Orleans Saints over Detroit 45-28 in a first-round NFL playoff game while the Houston Texans made a triumphant post-season debut.
Brees completed 33-of-43 passes for 466 yards, the second-most in a playoff game in NFL history, and three touchdowns as New Orleans amassed a one-game playoff record 626 total yards.
Darren Sproles added two touchdown runs for the Saints, who stretched their win streak to nine games and stayed unbeaten at home by spoiling the Lions' first playoff appearance in 12 seasons.
The Saints, seeking a second Super Bowl title in three seasons, booked a second-round playoff date at San Francisco next weekend.
Had the Saints not lost two fumbles in the first half, after a season in which they made only an NFL record-low six fumbles, the rout could have been even more lopsided.
"What stopped us in the first half was those turnovers," Brees said. "Really we stopped ourselves. We just realized we had to bear down, one play at a time, one drive at a time and we scored every time in the second half.
"That's what you hope for."
At Houston, Arian Foster ran 24 times for 153 yards and two touchdowns to power the Texans past Cincinnati 31-10 in the first playoff game of the team's 10-year history.
"As soon as we settled down and got into the groove, we got it going pretty well," Foster said. "This team believes. We don't need anybody else to believe in us. We can do it for ourselves."
Rookie quarterback T.J. Yates also threw a touchdown pass for the Texans, who will visit Baltimore next week in the second round.
"We did a good job moving the ball up and down the field the entire game," Yates said. "The way we ran the ball today, it will be hard to stop us in the playoffs."
Sunday's games find Atlanta at the New York Giants, with the winner booking a second-round date at defending champion Green Bay, and Pittsburgh at Denver, with the winner traveling to New England next weekend.
At New Orleans, John Kasay kicked a 24-yard field goal on the last play of the second quarter to pull New Orleans within 14-10 at half-time.
Brees, who set the single-season NFL passing yardage record this season, found Devery Henderson with a 41-yard touchdown pass 1:51 into the third quarter to give the Saints their first lead at 17-14.
On their next possession, the Saints marched 92 yards and Brees threw a 3-yard scoring pass to Jimmy Graham for a 10-point lead.
A 1-yard touchdown dive by quarterback Matthew Stafford with 1:08 remaining in the third quarter capped an 80-yard, eight-play drive and pulled the Lions within 24-21.
But Sproles answered with a 17-yard touchdown run to give New Orleans a 31-21 lead with 9:53 to play.
Sproles, who also scored on a 2-yard run in the second quarter, made a key fourth-down run for a first down conversion to sustain the scoring drive.
Jabari Greer intercepted Stafford to end the next Detroit possession and set up a 56-yard touchdown pass from Brees to Robert Meachem that gave New Orleans a 38-21 advantage.
Stafford, who threw touchdown passes to Calvin Johnson and Will Heller in the first half, flipped a 12-yard touchdown pass to Johnson with 4:40 remaining to pull Detroit within 38-28.
But a 40-yard Brees-to-Meachem pass set up a 1-yard Pierre Thomas touchdown run with 3:36 remaining for a 45-28 Saints lead and Greer, who had one pickoff in the regular season, intercepted Stafford again to seal Detroit's fate.
Stafford completed 28-of-43 passes for 380 yards.
At Houston, the Texans held the Bengals scoreless over the final 34 minutes to snap the three-game losing streak that ended their regular season.
Texans defensive end J.J. Watt returned an interception 29 yards for a touchdown with 52 seconds remaining in the second quarter to give Houston a 17-10 half-time lead.
The Texans stretched the lead to 24-10 with 1:08 remaining in the third quarter when Yates connected with Andre Johnson on a 40-yard touchdown pass.
"He did a good job getting open," Yates said. "That made it easy for me."
After the second fourth-quarter interception of Cincinnati rookie Andy Dalton, Foster ran 42 yards for a touchdown with 5:15 remaining, snuffing out rally hopes by a Bengals team with five fourth-quarter comeback wins in 2011.
