Marcus Hahnemann for the starting job

NEW ORLEANS -- Nothing like nighttime in New Orleans to inspire a memorable performance from Drew Brees and the Saints. Playing Dallas beleaguered defence didnt hurt, either. Brees completed 34 of 41 passes for 392 yards and four touchdowns, and the Saints beat the Cowboys 49-17 on Sunday night. The Saints (7-2) had an NFL-record 40 first downs and a franchise-record 625 total yards in their 12th straight prime-time victory in the Superdome. New Orleans had 242 yards rushing, its highest total since 1990. "Spreading the ball around, getting everybody involved -- these are the days you love to have," Brees said. "You strive for efficiency both in the run and the pass game. We had that today." Brees touchdown passes went for 52 yards to Kenny Stills, 22 yards to Marques Colston, 28 yards to Darren Sproles and a yard to Pierre Thomas. Sproles also had a 3-yard touchdown run, and Mark Ingram added a 4-yard scoring run en route to a career-high 145 yards rushing on 14 carries. "We just wanted to come out here on a national stage and just prove to everybody that we could play smash-mouth football and run the ball," Ingram said. "Ive been waiting for a 100-yard game since I got in the league. ... The line just did a great job, just a fantastic job. They were just getting a hat on a hat, creating seams for us to run through. When theyre dominating the line of scrimmage like that it makes our job easy." Brees described Ingram as "a man on a mission," and it came at a good time. The Saints had lost two of their previous three and needed a victory to stay a game ahead of Carolina for first place in the NFC South. DeMarco Murray had 89 yards rushing and a touchdown on 16 carries for Dallas (5-5), highlighted by his 35-yard scamper on a fake reverse. That set up his 7-yard scoring run that gave the Cowboys a short-lived 10-7 lead early in the second quarter. Dallas did not score again until Tony Romos 21-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Williams in the last minute of the third quarter. The loss dropped Dallas into a tie with Philadelphia atop the NFC East. Dallas was frustrated offensively for much of the game against a defence that has turned around dramatically under co-ordinator Rob Ryan, fired by the Cowboys after last season. Star receiver Dez Bryant, covered mostly by Keenan Lewis, did not have his first and only catch -- a 44-yarder -- until late in the third quarter. Jason Witten was held to two catches for 27 yards. Romo was 10 of 24 for 128 yards and was sacked three times. "We have to play better football than this in all facets," Romo said. "We have to figure out what we can do to be a better football team because that obviously was not good enough. It was just difficult. They are a good team. Give them credit. They beat us today. It wasnt a fun game." The Cowboys porous pass defence entered the game already having set an NFL record by allowing four quarterbacks to throw for more than 400 yards. Brees was on track to become the fifth, but fell just short after the Saints decided to stop throwing with a big lead in the fourth quarter. At one point, Brees strung together 19 straight completions, tying his personal best and franchise record. Making matters worse for Dallas was a hamstring injury to linebacker Sean Lee, the Cowboys leading tackler. "There just were very few plays that we stopped. They were able to go to a lot of different things," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "They ran the ball when they wanted to run it and Drew Brees did a fantastic job reading coverages and finding the right guy." Sproles, whose concussion a week earlier forced him to miss most of the Saints 26-20 road loss to the New York Jets, caught seven passes for 76 yards. Getting Colston involved was another encouraging sign for the Saints a week after the veteran receiver sat out against the Jets with a knee injury. Colston had seven catches for 107 yards. His touchdown grab was the 60th of his career, all from Brees. On Colstons touchdown, Sproles made a key block on blitzing linebacker Barry Church, giving Brees enough time to throw over the middle. Colston then slipped safety Jeff Heaths tackle before diving across the goal line. NOTES: The Saints broke the first downs record of 39 for a regulation game set by the Jets against Miami on Nov. 27, 1988. ... Saints TE Benjamin Watson left the game with a concussion after his head slammed to the turf on a near touchdown catch. ... S Kenny Vaccaro left the game in the second half, but the Saints did not update his condition. ... Cowboys LB Justin Durant left with a hamstring pull and DE DeMarcus Ware said he re-aggravated a quadriceps injury that sidelined him the previous three games. Fake China Jerseys . Smith, who raised eyebrows at the CFL combine in March with his ability on both sides of the ball, confirmed in a statement he tested positive for the anabolic steroid Stanozolol prior to auditioning for league officials. Cheap Jerseys 2020 . The third-seeded Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., was coming off a semifinal appearance at the French Open. She took the opening set before the unseeded American came back for the 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory. http://www.jerseyscheapcustom.com/ . Spezza scored a power-play goal with 5 minutes left and Stephane Da Costa had the other two goals to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. Cheap Fake Jerseys Free Shipping . Goergl, the 2011 world champion, started 28th after the other top contenders had already gone down but had the fastest time at each interval. Goergl finished the demanding 3-kilometre Kaelberloch course in 1 minute, 47. Cheap Jerseys From China . - The Baltimore Ravens and tight end Dennis Pitta reached agreement on a five-year contract Friday.TUKWILA, Wash. - When the collapse began last fall, the Seattle Sounders went from MLS favourites to a crumbling club that obviously needed change. Its the byproduct of having an unrivaled fan base and expectations that anything less than a league title is unacceptable for management. "To be honest it was time. Every couple of years a team is going to have to go through changes to grow and you get a certain amount of time with a certain group of players, and if you dont win you change it," Seattle midfielder Brad Evans said. "Most of the time its your star players you try and change and bring them in with other well-known players around the league and thats just the nature of the game and thats the business part of it. It kind of is what it is and we did lose some big names and some very good players but I think weve brought in some great players to fill in the shoes. And I think the group is a little bit stronger." Seattle will go into the 2014 season with the same belief that anything less than an MLS title is not success. But theyll do it with a completely overhauled roster, the result of the slide at the end of 2013. The question of whether changes were needed stretched from the bottom of the roster all the way up to coach Sigi Schmid. Eventually, general manager Adrian Hanauer and majority owner Joe Roth decided keeping Schmid and remodeling the team was the path Seattle would travel. It wasnt a complete overhaul. Evans is still around. So is Lamar Neagle, Obafemi Martins and rising homegrown star DeAndre Yedlin. Midfielder Osvaldo Alsonso was rewarded with a designated player contract and Seattle is about to get its first full season with Clint Dempsey on the roster. But the names that are gone are notable. U.S. national team striker Eddie Johnson is now with D.C. United. Defensive centre backs Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Patrick Ianni are gone. Midfielder Mauro Rosales is now with Chivas USA. Goalkeeper Michael Gspurning is back in Europe. Its a completely new look for Seattle and only success on the field wwill determine whether the right choices were made.dddddddddddd "Its not really up to me what changes we make on the roster but the new guys have been great and very positive," Yedlin said. "They are good players and Im excited to see what they can bring to the team." The additions made by Seattle arent on the same level as the move last summer to bring Dempsey back from Europe. But they could end up being more important. Up front, Seattle brought in veteran striker Kenny Cooper, along with Chad Barrett and Tristan Bowen. In the midfield, Seattle acquired Marco Pappa through allocation when he decided to return to MLS from Europe. Chad Marshall, who played for Schmid in Columbus, was acquired in a trade to anchor the middle of Seattles defence. And former Toronto goalkeeper Stefan Frei was brought in to compete with 41-year-old Marcus Hahnemann for the starting job. "It is pretty obvious the mentality they are going for," Neagle said. "They want to be more aggressive and a lot more pressure and I think the guys theyve brought in have that same mentality, so its nice. Its easy to get on the same page when you have similar guys on the field." While all the roster changes mean some sort of acclimation period, how Dempsey fits during his second season will be watched closely early in the year. His first few months with Seattle late last season were a disappointment as the American star recorded just one goal and one assist in his nine games. Getting fully entrenched as Seattles leader will be difficult this season as well with Dempsey likely getting called away for U.S. national team duties even before training camp for the World Cup in Brazil starts in May. Dempsey may not even be available for Saturdays opener after being called into national team duty for an exhibition match against Ukraine. "Were still getting to know each other. Were still getting to know what the tendencies are of each player, but I like the spirit of the team, I like their attitude," Schmid said. ' ' '