The New Orleans Saints crushed the Super Bowl runner-up Arizona Cardinals 45-14 in the NFL playoffs Saturday to host the NFC title game for the first time. The Saints will play either the Minnesota Vikings or Dallas Cowboys, who meet Sunday. Drew Brees threw for 247 yards and touchdowns of 17 yards to Jeremy Shockey, 44 yards to Devery Henderson and 2 yards to Marques Colston, and Reggie Bush scored on an 83-yard punt return and a 46-yard run. Lynell Hamilton also had a short touchdown run. After losing their last three regular-season games, they led 35-14 by halftime and shut out the Cardinals in a second-half cruise. Bush finished with 84 yards rushing, 24 yards receiving and 109 yards on three punt returns. Colston caught six passes for 83 yards. Coming off its 51-45 overtime win over Green Bay in the wild-card round, Arizona wound up yielding 90 points in the postseason, the most ever allowed in consecutive playoff games in one season. Even the Saints' sometimes soft defense played well, forcing two turnovers, harassing Kurt Warner often and knocking Arizona's 38-year-old star quarterback out of the game briefly when, during Will Smith's interception return, he was blind-sided by Bobby McCray's block. Warner was 17 of 26 for 205 yards, but was unable to move Arizona consistently. Colts 20, Ravens 3: At Indianapolis, Peyton Manning threw for two touchdowns in his first action since winning an unprecedented fourth league MVP award, leading Indianapolis into the AFC Championship game. The Colts, who had the league's best record, will host San Diego or the New York Jets next Sunday for a spot in the Super Bowl. Manning hit rookie Austin Collie for 10 yards and old standby Reggie Wayne for 3 in the second quarter, accounting for Indianapolis' two touchdowns and 17-3 by the break.
