The Saints charmed life at home ended Sunday courtesy of the Baltimore Ravens, 35-14.

Associated Press

The Ravens' Ronnie Prude dances in the end zone after picking off a Drew Brees pass and returning it for a score.

Four interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns and one which was picked off in the endzone, denying the Saints a scoring opportunity, led to the demise.

"You can’t expect to win turning the ball over five times, ten penalties, all the things we preached that keep you from winning games, we did today," said head coach Sean Payton after the game.

In an outing that was uncharacteristic of the Saints this season, the team had a slew of penalties and five turnovers, most of which proved very costly.

Drew Brees was picked off three times, two of them for touchdowns, the first by ex-LSU Tiger Ronnie Prude, who grabbed a pass that went off of Aaron Stecker’s hands and took it 12 yards for a score to make it 21-0.

In the second half, Dawan Landry picked off a Brees’ pass that floated under pressure and returned it 12 yards for a score to make it 35-7.

An earlier halfback pass by Reggie Bush was intercepted in the end Ravens’ end zone, ending a Saints threat when the score was only 7-0 Baltimore.

"I think we got too cute in the redzone, and it cost us and that's on me," said Payton.

Lost in the turnovers was a fine outing by the Ravens offense with Brian Billick taking over as offensive coordinator.

"I particularly like the play calls of the two interceptions for touchdowns," Billick joked. "Today was players knowing what it is they needed to do, having worked it properly in practice."

Steve McNair kept the Saints at bay with his running and passing as he hit on 16 of 22 passes for 158 yards and two scores and he also ran for the game’s first touchdown with a five yard scramble up the middle.

McNair converted two other third down situations with runs.

"It was a combination of their beating our butts a little bit and us not getting any breaks," said linebacker Scott Fujita.

Because they fell behind early, the Saints had to rely on the passing game, so, despite his three interceptions, Brees finished with a gaudy 383 yards passing on 24 of 45 completions and he had three touchdowns.

Rookie Marques Colston also had his biggest day as a pro, getting 163 yards receiving and scoring twice. Joe Horn had 126 yards receiving and a score.

The running game suffered with Reggie Bush getting only 16 yards on five carries. Deuce McAllister only had 11 yards on five carries.