Drew Brees threw for 445 yards and three touchdowns in the Saints' 41-24 win over the Jaguars on Sunday. AP

Sunday's other headlines:

• Saints Alive! In his last two games, New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees has played out of his mind -- 66 of 88, 781 yards, seven touchdowns, no interceptions ... a Bradyesque rating of 128.1. Best of all: After getting chased all over the field in the Saints' 0-4 start, Brees has been sacked once in his last 89 pass drops.

"We blew our expectations for this year out of proportion,'' Brees told me Sunday night, after the Saints routed Jacksonville to get to .500, "and when we started struggling, everyone on the offense started trying to do too much. I could see it in the huddle -- we all tried to be supermen out there. You can't play football like that.''

Brees said he thinks the offense can be better than the 2006 version. It doesn't have to be better. If it's as good, New Orleans will be playing for something in late December.

• We have a new rushing champion. For one game, anyway. It's a bright-eyed rookie, first-round pick Adrian Peterson of Minnesota. He was in awe of what he'd done in Sunday's 35-17 win over San Diego, rushing 30 times for 296 yards, besting Jamal Lewis' single-game record by one yard.

"My mind is spinning,'' he said over the phone from the Vikings' locker room. He sounded shocked, almost like it was a dream. "I understand football history. I love football, and I know about the great running backs in history. I can't believe I'm a part of it.''

He's got 1,036 yards after eight games, and he's on pace to become the first rookie rusher to pass 2,000 yards. I asked him about how he'd been able to get adjusted to the pro game so fast. "I go out and practice every day like it's a game,'' he said.

• The Lions are 6-2. "I don't know how you guys do your jobs,'' Jon Kitna said Sunday night. Sports writers, he meant. "How do you pick games, and how do you pick playoff teams before the season? I think it's totally impossible.''

Right on. The Packers are 7-1, the Lions 6-2 and the Bears, who were supposed to be the best team in the division, are a legit 3-5 -- and maybe a little lucky to have three wins. Detroit has recovered from 56-21 and 34-3 losses a month ago to Philly and Washington to win three in a row, allowing just 10 points a game to Tampa Bay, Chicago and Denver. The 44-7 rout of Denver was a stunner.

"It's a return to the old back-and-blue-division style of football,'' he said. "We're running it more and being more physical than people would think of a Mike Martz offense.''

Whatever works. When's the last time you really looked forward to a Lions' Turkey Day game? We'll be riveted this year: 12:30 p.m. Eastern, Thanksgiving Day, Green Bay at Detroit ... maybe for the division lead.

• What has gotten into Derek Anderson? Confidence, a fearlessness about throwing the deep ball and three excellent downfield targets -- wideouts Braylon Edwards and Joe Jurevicius and tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. Cleveland, 5-3, is a lost tiebreaker out of the second AFC wild-card berth with eight manageable weeks left (their final six games are against teams .500 or less as of this morning).

Down by 16 to Seattle early, Anderson led a comeback that had Cleveland win in overtime 33-30 throwing for a career-high 364 yards. He's on pace to throw for 4,216 yards. Pretty interesting for a guy who was Charlie Frye's backup all summer and for the first game.

Winslow was heroic, catching 11 balls for 125 yards, and Jamal Lewis, the man Baltimore thought was finished, rushed for four touchdowns. Cleveland will be in the pennant race to the end.

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