ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Deuce McAllister and the New Orleans Saints' running game has been a constant. It was finally complemented by a big performance by Aaron Brooks and the passing attack.
McAllister topped the 100-yard plateau for the fourth straight game and Brooks threw for a season-high 352 yards and three touchdowns as the Saints won their second straight with a 45-17 rout over the struggling Atlanta Falcons.
McAllister carried 21 times for 116 yards, including a pair of second-quarter touchdowns. McAllister, last year's leading rusher in the NFC, entered the day third in the conference with 544 yards.
"Today we went out and showed consistency," McAllister said. "We didn't kill ourselves with turnovers and penalties. The Falcons really got caught with us clicking."
Brooks, who had offseason shoulder surgery, had averaged less than 200 yards in the Saints' first six games. He turned in his best effort of the season by completing 23-of-30 passes, including first-quarter touchdowns to Donte' Stallworth and Joe Horn.
"He (Brooks) just based it off what we saw at practice all week," Saints coach Jim Haslett said. "We thought that Aaron was throwing the ball extremely well. We wanted to give him the chance to get the ball to the receivers to see if they could make something happen."
New Orleans (3-4) scored three touchdowns in the second quarter to open up a 35-14 lead, scoring on its final three possessions of the half. McAllister carried 10 times for 80 yards in the second period, including a 10-yard touchdown that opened up the 21-point cushion at intermission.
Atlanta (1-6) lost its sixth straight since its season-opening victory at Dallas. Kurt Kittner, making his first career start in place of an ineffective Doug Johnson, was just 9-of-29 for 115 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
"There was nothing that we didn't expect," Kittner said. "We just didn't execute all the time and we need to be more consistent. It's the story of our season so far."
Dan Reeves, who failed in his sixth attempt at win No. 200, benched Doug Johnson, who had thrown for an NFL-high 10 interceptions, in favor of Kittner.
The 45 points allowed was a season high by Atlanta, which has yielded more than 30 points in five of its six losses. Only Arizona entered the day having surrendered more points than the Falcons.
"We can't stop anybody right now and that makes it very difficult when you are hurting defensively," Reeves said. "The Saints did a good job, we have to give them credit, we just couldn't stay with them offensively."
Atlanta actually got off to an auspicious start when Warrick Dunn scored on a 69-yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage. Dunn managed only 13 yards on his other five carries.
The Saints needed only three plays to respond when Brooks and Stallworth connected on a 69-yard touchdown play. Stallworth later left the game with a strained quadricep.
On its next drive, New Orleans used a fake punt to set up another touchdown. On 4th-and-2 from their own 38-yard-line, the Saints used a direct snap to Fred McAfee for a 13-yard gain and a first down.
"On the fake punt, I thought that Fred was going to call it off because they had more men than we had to block," Haslett said. "And he did a nice job of executing it."
Brooks found Horn in the corner of the end zone for a 14-7 advantage. Atlanta challenged the play, thinking that Horn was out of the bounds, but the play stood.
"We just want to win whether it is good or ugly," Brooks said. "Today just happened to be good. What really stood out is that the players around me, Joe and Deuce and the offensive line made it possible for a day like this."
"Offensively, they were able to come back and answer," Dunn said. "And they just kept answering again and again."
Kittner capped a nine-play, 59-yard drive with his first career touchdown, an 18-yard pass to Brian Finneran that knotted the game at 14-14.
McAllister's four-yard TD run with just over six minutes before halftime gave the Saints the lead for good and Brooks added a 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Boo Williams for a 28-14 advantage.
"We're just trying to get back to the same form we showed last year," Williams said. "When this team plays well together, when we come out with confidence, there's no limit to us."
Ki-Jana Carter added his first touchdown since the 2001 season with a one-yard plunge in the fourth quarter that capped the scoring.
Falcons linebacker Keith Brooking left with a bruised back in the first quarter and did not return.
