Drew Brees looked as sharp as ever and Robert Meachem finally had a game to build on as the Saints opened their preseason with a 24-10 victory over the Cardinals on Thursday night in Glendale, Ariz.

In his one-series appearance, Brees was 6-for-7 for 40 yards and a touchdown and his backup, the very veteran Mark Brunell, was equally effective, hitting 10-of-12 for 119 yards.

But this was Meachem's night and his teammates and the Who Dat nation loved it.

Meachem, the Saints' first-round draft pick last season and didn't play a down, was considered a bust until he began working hard this offseason and training camp under the mentoring of veteran receiver David Patten.

Brunell threw a 49-yard pass on a post pattern that Meachem caught on the dead run down to the Cardinals'  3. The second-year player from Tennessee got behind the safety and made a finger-tip catch.

Third-team quarterback Tyler Palko tossed a 60-yard pass to Meachem, who broke three tackles and showed good open-field vision on the touchdown play. The catch gave Meachem four catches for 129 yards for the night.

"The first catch was more difficult because I lost the ball in the lights for a second or two," said Meachem.

Meachem said he had waiting  for a year for a night like he had. So had the Saints coaches, teammates and fans.

"My coaches told me to just keep working hard and not be satisfied with this and to use it as a building block."

Meachem was greeted with a hug by coach Sean Payton on the sideline after the long touchdown and said the reception by his coach felt as good as the actual touchdown catch.

"When you head coach does that, it is special," said Meachem. "The support means a lot to me. This was a great night for me, but it's just the start for me."

Saints running backs Reggie Bush, Aaron Stecker and Pierre Thomas all had good nights.

Bush had a nice run  (18 yards) up the middle called back by a holding penalty and appeared to be satisfied with shorts bursts up the middle. Stecker had a team-high 39 yards rushing yards (5.6 average) and a short touchdown with a leap over the middle at the goal line. Thomas took a five-yard pass from Brunell and appeared to score, but the officials rule he had stepped out of bounds. Payton challenged the spot, contending that Thomas was able to get the ball across the goal line.

Ali Highsmith, a rookie free agent from LSU, led the Cardinals in tackles with 6, including a loss and a forced fumble. Arizona wide receiver Early Doucet of LSU did not play.

Palko, who continues to have trouble taking snaps from the center, hit 6-of-11 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown. All three quarterbacks had passing \ratings of 108.0 or better with Palko topping the chart at 129.9 working against Arizona reserves.

Tight end Mark Campbell took a hit that forced him off the field, but had 4 catches for 42 yards. Patten caught four passes for 18 yards including a touchdown.

Defensively, the Saints were led by defensive tackle Orien Harris (5 tackles and a sack) Others getting sacks were Mark Simoneau, defensive end Marcus Pittman rookie linebacker William Kershaw. The Saints had five sacks to the Cardinals' one.

The Saints' No. 1 draft choice, defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, failed to get a sack.

Bush was a 7-22 as a rusher

Rookie wide receiver Aaron Arrington caught 2 passes for  46 yards while playing a on a turf toe.

Rookie Taylor Mehlhaff kicked a 33-yard field goal for the Saints.

Payton said he liked the way his backs ran. "They ran with good gravity and carried the pads real low," said he coach..

He also liked the tackling and coverage of the special teams. "I thought the kicking game was extremely encouraging," said Payton. :We had a couple of shanks on kickoffs, but when it comes to our coverage units and our return game, I was really pleased."

The Saints resume practices on Saturday and will entertain the Houston Texans on Saturday night in the Superdome.

SOME HITHER, OTHERS YON: WWL and the Saints have announced an agreement that will make WWL the flagship radio station of the team for another three years. WWL will broadcast Saints games and team programming while coordinating games broadcasts broadcasts the Gulf South region for the New Orleans Saints Radio Network...You won't see him in any fur coat or white shoes and he won't be wearing a Fu Manchu mustache, panty hose or No. 12, but Broadway Brett Favre still has the kind of arm, presence and kind of hope Joe Namath gave the Jets fans 40 years ago. New tunes in New York: "We are going 4 it now." "4 he's a folly good fellow."...In the NFL's new Fan Conduct Code, you can be kicked out the Superdome for intoxication that results in irresponsible behavior. So responsible intoxication is OK?...Cool that the Hornets will be Orlando at noon on Christmas Day. A gift the guys can give to themselves to escape financial stress of opening gifts--if there's any money left...Sports Elevated ranks Tulane No. 113 in the nation in its preseason football poll. LSU is No. 9...

There was a great running quarterback in the South before Tim Tebow. I'm talking about Reggie Collier, who was known as "The Perfect 10" as the quarterback for USM from 1980 through 1982. Reggie went into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame the other night (and you have to write your own jokes about about Mississippi having a Hall of Fame because I'm being nice). USM was 25-9-1 with Collier leading the way as he advance guard of running-and-throwing quarterbacks, He led his team to a 4-1 combined record against Ole Miss and Mississippi State as well as going 1-1-1 against Bear Bryant's Alabama. He led USM to a 58-14 victory over Florida State. He's back at USM as coordinator of development and community relations in the athletic department...My time is up. Ed Staton can be reched at edcoachstaton@yahoo.com.