Associated Press Connecting on 87 percent of his throws, quarterback Drew Brees passed for 320 yards and three touchdowns, and the New Orleans Saints routed the Oakland Raiders 34-3 Sunday.

Connecting on 87 percent of his throws, Brees passed for 320 yards and three touchdowns, and the New Orleans Saints routed the Oakland Raiders 34-3 Sunday.

Oakland's Tom Cable spent his NFL head coaching debut watching in frustration as Russell completed only 13 of 35 passes for 159 yards, while throwing an interception and fumbling.

Reggie Bush scored two TDs on a 3-yard run and 15-yard reception. His 21-yard reception in the first quarter gave him 200 catches through the first 34 games of his young career, tying him with Arizona receiver Anquan Boldin as the quickest NFL players to reach 200 receptions.

In addition to an interception by cornerback Jason David, Russell – a first overall draft choice in 2007 – had four other incompletions that were nearly picked off. Two were dropped by safety Roman Harper and the others by David and safety Josh Bullocks.

Oakland (1-4), which finished with 226 total yards, had a tough time running as well. After holding Minnesota's Adrian Peterson to 1.5 yards per carry a week ago, the Saints (3-3) were able to contain the Raiders' trio of Darren McFadden, Justin Fargas and Michael Bush, who combined for only 74 yards.

By contrast, nearly everything Brees tried seemed to work. His first scoring pass was on an 8-yard screen to reserve running back Aaron Stecker on third-and-7. His final TD toss was a 2-yarder to tight end Mark Campbell.

Brees completed a 51-yard play-action pass to Devery Henderson, setting up one of Taylor Mehlhaff's two field goals in what was the kicker's NFL debut.

Brees, who now has 1,993 yards passing through six games, completed passes to three wide receivers, three tight ends and three running backs. Lance Moore had seven catches for 97 yards.

The Saints also gained 122 yards rushing. Deuce McAllister led the way with 65 yards on 13 carries, an average of 5 yards a carry.

Johnnie Lee Higgins' 35-yard punt return to the Saints 39 helped the Raiders take an early 3-0 lead on Sebastian Janikowski's 24-yard field goal.

New Orleans outgained Oakland 239 yards to 127 yards in the first half, but a shaky start for rookie Mehlhaff helped Oakland. Mehlhaff, a sixth-round draft pick who was cut after training camp, was re-signed after veteran Martin Gramatica missed four field goals while trying to kick with a minor injury. Mehlhaff narrowly missed his first NFL field goal attempt from 31 yards late in the first quarter.

After forcing Oakland to punt, the Saints took a 7-3 lead with an 18-play drive that ate up 10:59 of the second quarter. McAllister had two rushes for 9 yards each and another for 7 yards during the series, when ended with Bush's short touchdown run.

New Orleans' last drive of the half started with under 2 minutes to go. Brees' completions for 17 yards to Henderson and 18 yards to Moore set up Mehlhaff's first field goal from 44 yards, giving the Saints a 10-3 lead at halftime.