Broncos, Elway Shoot Blanks : Hebert Throws 3 Touchdown Passes in Saints’ 42-0 Victory

NEW ORLEANS — Bobby Hebert has seen too many things go wrong to feel secure, but he knows a sure thing when he sees it.

Hebert passed for 3 touchdowns Sunday and the Saints, involved in their first blowout of the season, routed the Denver Broncos, 42-0.

“When we scored to make it 42, we said, ‘Whoa. We’re going to win this one,’ ” Hebert said.

“We’ve been in so many fourth-quarter dogfights, nobody could relax. We were intense. They were intense. The coaches were intense. Nobody was relaxing.”

New Orleans (9-3) leads the NFC West by two games over the Rams. Denver (6-6) remained in a three-way tie with the Raiders and Seattle for the AFC West lead.

“It was just one of those days when everything clicked,” Saints Coach Jim Mora said. “In my utmost imagination, I would never have thought that we could beat Denver, 42-0. It was our best performance of the year, no doubt about that.”

The Saints scored on 2-yard runs by Rueben Mayes, who rushed for 115 yards, and Dalton Hilliard to take a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

Hebert, who completed 20 of 23 passes for 193 yards, connected with Eric Martin on a 40-yard scoring pass play in the second quarter and threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Martin with 3:07 left in the game. Hebert also threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to John Tice in the third quarter.

Mel Gray scored on a 66-yard punt return in the third quarter, breaking the team record of 53 yards by in 1968 by Charles Brown.

John Elway’s touchdown pass to Orson Mobley called back and Rich Karlis missed an ensuing 35-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter. Karlis later missed a 50-yarder and Denver got only 3 yards in 4 plays after reaching the New Orleans 6 in the fourth quarter.

Elway completed 18 of 36 passes for 166 yards.