Young, Titans keep Saints winless

Vince Young and Reggie Bush were at it again on a national stage, and it was Young’s team that walked away with a victory again.

Young threw two touchdown passes and Vincent Fuller returned an interception 61 yards for a touchdown to lead the Tennessee Titans to a 31-14 victory over New Orleans that dropped the reeling Saints to 0-3 one season after they went to the NFC championship game.

Young connected on 14 of 22 passes for 164 yards with one interception. He routinely drove the Titans into striking range, but the Tennessee allowed the Saints to stay in the game by coming up short on several scoring chances.

Bush scored two short touchdowns for New Orleans, the second giving the Saints a short-lived 14-10 lead in the third quarter the team’s first since the season opener.

Young wasted little time reminding the Saints how vulnerable they’ve been defending the pass. He drove his club inside the Saints 20 on each of his first two drives, but the Saints’ defense came up with enough clutch tackles to limit the Titans to Rob Bironas’ 33-yard field goal on those possessions.

There was no stopping Young on the Titans’ next drive, which began near midfield after the Saints failed to convert on fourth-and-1, squandering Aaron Stecker’s 36-yard kick return.

Young hit Brandon Jones over the middle, and Jones eluded a couple tacklers after the catch, for a 35-yard touchdown to make it 10-0.

It was only the latest of several long touchdowns given up this season by New Orleans, which lost its opening two games by a combined score of 72-24.

Meanwhile, the Saints’ surprisingly anemic offense was slow to show signs of improvement over its unproductive opening two games, failing to get a first down until the second quarter.

They couldn’t convert on a third-and-1 on their second drive, when Deuce McAllister was brought down at the line of scrimmage.

Fourth-and-one only got worse, as the Saints tried to surprise Tennessee by looking long and missed badly on Drew Brees’ pass for Marques Colston.

The Saints didn’t get a first down until Colston made a leaping 10-yard catch over the middle.

The Saints, who enjoyed a veritable love affair with fans during last season’s playoff run, started to hear the boos as frustrated spectators pounded on the backs of their seats.

At that point, it was Brees’ fourth interception, compared to one touchdown pass, a mystifying start to the season for the NFL’s leading passer in 2006.

The Saints got a brief respite when Jason David intercepted Young to thwart Tennessee’s fourth scoring chance and keep the deficit at 10-0.

Later in the quarter, McAllister limped off the field and went to the locker room. The Saints said he would miss the remainder of the game with a left knee injury.

Eventually the Saints got going and, again, it was a leaping grab by Colston, this time a 37-yard gain to the Tennessee 26.

After Antwan Odom’s face-mask penalty gave the Saints a first down on the 5, Bush ran to the 1, then dropped a certain touchdown toss before redeeming himself on an end run to make it 10-7.

In the third quarter, Brees hit all six passes he attempted for 57 yards to set up Bush’s second touchdown on a run through the line.