Mehlhaff settles down after early miss

• Advocate staff report
• Published: Oct 13, 2008 - UPDATED: 6:53 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — After being signed Wednesday, New Orleans Saints kicker Taylor Mehlhaff got off to a shaky start in his pro debut against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.

Mehlhaff, a sixth-round draft pick, lost a training camp duel with Martin Gramatica but was re-signed when Gramatica was put on injured reserve with a groin problem.

Mehlhaff was wide right on his first field-goal attempt — a 31-yarder — and then, after making his first extra point, his first kickoff went out of bounds.

Mehlhaff later redeemed himself, however, with field goals of 44- and 33-yard field goals.

After Saints cornerback Jason David made a third-quarter interception and was tackled, he got up and ran to the north end zone before handing the ball to defensive end Charles Grant — who hurled the football into the stands.

“I thought he was going to hold it for me,” David said after the game. “All of a sudden I’m celebrating and I see the ball flying into the crowd. I wasn’t too happy about it, but it’s a team game. C.G. (Grant) is a great guy. I’m not mad at him for it.”

Saints running back Reggie Bush, who had 199 receptions in his first 33 NFL games, caught the 200th pass of his career in the first quarter on a 21-yard reception from Drew Brees.

Bush tied the NFL record held by Arizona wide receiver Anquan Boldin for the fewest games needed to reach 200 career catches (34). Bush is the fastest to 200 by a running back, however, as it took LaDainian Tomlinson and James Wilder 44 games to do it.

Brees completed his first 16 passes and was 26-of-30 for 320 yards and three TDs for a passer rating of 144.4 — the highest of his eight-year career.