Brees had another big game with a 31-of-40 performance that included a pair of touchdown passes to Reggie Bush and another to Marques Colston.

The Saints appeared to be pulling away when Brees hooked up with Bush on a 21-yard score to cap the opening possession of the second half, pushing New Orleans to a 23-9 lead.

Bush, who had missed two games because of a knee injury before playing sparingly against the Redskins, also had a 6-yard scoring pass. He dove and stuck out the ball with his left arm to get it inside the pylon.

Atlanta made a game of it. Michael Jenkins hauled in a 50-yard touchdown pass from Redman, the Falcons’ defense forced New Orleans’ lone punt of the game, and Snelling powered in from the 4 to tie it at 23 with 12:56 remaining.

Back came Brees and the Saints. Looking as though they intended to run off most of the clock, they put together their longest drive of the game, a 16-play, 63-yard march that finally stalled at the Atlanta 20 after an intentional grounding call on Brees.

Hartley, who had earlier missed an extra point, knocked through his second field goal to put the Saints ahead for good.

Redman was 23 of 34 for 303 yards but got little help from the ground game with Turner out. Snelling was the top rusher with 37 yards on 10 carries.

“We can build on this and hopefully finish the season strong,” tight end Tony Gonzalez said. “Who knows? We can get hot and if somebody else doesn’t get hot, we have a chance.”

NOTES: With Turner on the sideline, the Falcons were held below 100 yards rushing for the fourth week in a row. They went over 100 yards in six of their first nine games. ... Brees tied Aaron Brooks’ franchise record with his final TD pass, the 120th of his Saints career.

NFL game stories Quick look at Week 3 games JETS 31, DOLPHINS 23: Edwards returns to makes key TD catch  |    Highlights COWBOYS 27, TEXANS 13: Dallas avoids rare 0-3 start  |    Romo excited FALCONS 27, SAINTS 24, OT: Champs miss short FG in OT  |    Saints explain loss TITANS 29, GIANTS 10: Johnson scores 2 TDs  |    Coughlin takes blame EAGLES 28, JAGUARS 3: Vick makes Reid's decision look great  |    QB thrilled COLTS 27, BRONCOS 13: Manning throws 3 TD passes VIKINGS 24, LIONS 10: Peterson's career-long 80-yard TD keys win PATRIOTS 38, BILLS 30: 14th straight win in series for New England SEAHAWKS 27, CHARGERS 20: Washington has two kickoff returns for TDs CHIEFS 31, 49ERS 10: K.C. 3-0 for first time since '03  |    Chiefs confident STEELERS 38, BUCCANEERS 13: Batch shines in first start in 3 years RAMS 30, REDSKINS 16: Only second win in last 29 games for St. Louis RAVENS 24, BROWNS 17: Flacco fires 3 TD passes BENGALS 20, PANTHERS 7: Clausen struggles in first NFL start CARDINALS 24, RAIDERS 23: Janikowski misses 32-yard FG on final play

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