METAIRIE ― For the previous five weeks and especially the past two, Sean Payton has preached the gospel of how playing clean football can lead to wins.

In the sixth week, the Saints proved their head coach right.

New Orleans played near-mistake free football, committing only four penalties and turning the ball over zero times in a convincing 34-3 Sunday win over Oakland.

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More importantly, the Saints had no penalties in the second half, the time when they broke a close game open for good.

“In going through the grades on the game with out staff, there were a lot of positives,” Payton said Monday during his normal day-after news conference.

“Some of the most important things we’ve tried to correct and clean up in regards to the turnovers and penalties, those were some of the obvious (positives).”

In fact, the Saints (3-3) finished the game plus-two in the turnover category and improved to 8-0 during the Payton regime when ending the game without turning the ball over.

It’s one of the most basic tenets in football – keep the penalties to a minimum and don’t turn the ball over.

But through the first five games, and especially the two prior to Sunday’s victory, that doctrine wasn’t followed.

The Saints were penalized 13 times for 123 yards and turned the ball over twice against San Francisco. Still, New Orleans won 31-17, but the head coach wasn’t happy.

So, Payton did what he thought would correct the problem – for every pre-snap mistake made during practice, the head coach stopped practice and made the unit that committed the crime run laps.

It didn’t work.

A week after the 49ers game, New Orleans was up to its old tricks again. And this time, the errors cost the team a critical NFC victory on national TV.

In a 30-27 loss to Minnesota, the Saints committed 11 penalties for 102 yards and turned the ball over four times, two interceptions and two lost fumbles.

“We try to pay attention to the turnovers and actually have some drills in practice that emphasize taking the ball away or protecting it,” Payton said. “I think it starts with me and starts with our staff that we can never grow tired of that lesson or that objective, because it’s so telling.”

Whatever Payton did this past week to correct the mistakes, it worked. Nevertheless, there’s no rhyme or reason as to why everything clicked Sunday against the Raiders.

Regardless of the reasoning, the team will take the result. Finally, a game with no “high school mistakes,” as quarterback Drew Brees likes to call them.

“I felt Minnesota we played well with the exception of penalties and turnovers,” Brees said. “If you take everything else, we played well. Certainly a game we should have won.

“I remember Wednesday practice this week, you’re less than 48 hours from a Monday night game as opposed to a normal Wednesday when you’re three days. Guys are still beat up. Practice isn’t very high-tempo because of that.

“For us to come out and win convincingly like we did, to have a total team effort, that’s encouraging.”

• Bradley Handwerger may be reached at bhandwerger@wwltv.com or 504-529-6439