Saints pick up first win as Brees sets touchdown record

• Drew Brees threw four touchdown passes for the Saints
• New Orleans overcame a 10-point second-half deficit, scoring the game's final 17 points
• The Saints avoided starting the season 0-5 with the win

NEW ORLEANS --- Sunday night's game was brought to you by the letters U and W --- as in Johnny U and elusive W.

The New Orleans Saints got their first win of the season after an ugly 0-4 start on the same night that quarterback Drew Brees set the record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass, held for 52 years by Johnny Unitas.

And just like that, it was Mardi Gras in October.

"I guess you really couldn't have written a better script for tonight, to get the record, to get the win, in the fashion in which we won," Brees said, smiling in the interview room an hour after the game. He apologized for being late, and said he'd been "just trying to take in the moment a little bit after the game."

Brees couldn't fully take it in when he hit Devery Henderson for the 40-yard TD that set the record of 48 consecutive games because it was the first quarter and there was the little matter of playing three more quarters and getting that first W.

That took coming from 10 points down in the third quarter to notch a 31-24 win that wasn't clinched until Philip Rivers coughed up the ball on a sack-fumble play by defensive end Martez Wilson with 14 seconds to play.

"I'm very happy for him," said Rivers, who was once Brees' backup in San Diego. "I know him and I'm proud of him. It couldn't happen to a better player or person. The way he prepares and approaches the game is great. And I told him that after the game."

Brees also spoke to Unitas' son after the game, and Brees said Joe Unitas pointed out to him that it was fitting that Henderson caught the record-setting pass, given that Henderson's number is 19, the numeral that Unitas made famous.

"The guy that held this record for 52 years, Johnny Unitas, arguably one of the best quarterbacks in this game, really revolutionized the position, everything that he stood for as a player, just a pioneer of this game," Brees said. "It's a tremendous honor. It's humbling."

PHOTOS:Each of Brees' 48 consecutive games with a TD

Henderson was wide open down the right sideline on the history-making play.

"It was a double-move route," Henderson said. "I was so wide open coming out of the route that I hoped he saw me. I knew once he threw it that I would catch it. When the play was called, I had it in my mind that this could be the play and I could be part of history."

Brees threw three more TDs, all to Marques Colston, giving Colston a franchise record 52 career TD receptions.

"It's just one game but it's a monkey off our back and it's a good night for a win with all these historic records being broken," said Saints offensive line/running game coach Aaron Kromer, who's in charge because head coach Sean Payton and assistant head coach Joe Vitt are serving suspensions in the bounty-gate scandal.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell allowed Payton, Vitt and general manager Mickey Loomis to attend Sunday night's game at Brees' request.

Brees was careful to point out at his news conference that his record is shared with so many people over time because it stretches out over four seasons.

"That is another reason I felt it so important to have Sean Payton, Mickey Loomis and Joe Vitt in the building as well," Brees said. "They had a chance to share in that moment, too."

Even Goodell shared in the moment, tweeting: "Congrats to @drewbrees & his teammates on breaking Unitas' record. Amazing accomplishment by great QB & leader. We're proud of you, Drew."

Asked about that shout-out from the man who meted out the suspensions, Brees said only: "Just thank you."

The Saints appeared headed to 0-5 in the third quarter as the Chargers appeared to take a 31-14 lead when Demorrio Williams scored on an interception return. But the play was negated by Melvin Ingram's hit to Brees' chin. That roughing-the-passer call ignited an 87-yard scoring drive that got the Saints back in the game.

"The foul obviously caused the ball to be thrown like that," Kromer said.

Brees finished 29 of 45 for 370 yards. Next comes a bye and then a trip to Tampa Bay and Brees bravely talked about coming back from that winless start to make the playoffs.

"While you never want to start 0-4, if you do, you've got the right guys in the locker room to turn that thing around and certainly not turn on each other," Brees said. "That's never something that we would do. We understand we have a little bit of a mountain to climb here: One step at a time, one rock at a time. We've got the right people in the locker room and that makes you feel you always have a chance."