All week long, Ravens quarterback Jeff Blake steadfastly denied the personal importance of his impending battle with the New Orleans Saints.

But after his current team's 37-25 loss to his former team yesterday, Blake could keep the facade no more.

"I really wanted to go out and play well against them," said Blake, who finished 18-for-39 for 316 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. "I wanted to beat them real bad. It didn't happen for me. But this is a team effort, and we have a good, capable, competitive football team."

Blake had a hand in three of his team's five turnovers, including an inexplicable fumble on the Ravens' first possession in which he was not hit. As Blake cocked his arm to throw, the ball slipped out of his hand and went about 4 yards backward.

Saints defensive end Willie Whitehead recovered the fumble at the Ravens' 22, and New Orleans converted the turnover into a field goal for a 3-0 lead. It was the second time this season Blake has fumbled without being hit.

"The ball slipped out of my hands when I was going back," Blake said. "That happens with a cold night, dry hand. Things like that happen. You have to put it aside and get on to the next play, and hopefully that play doesn't bite you in the end."

Blake threw two second-half interceptions but was not helped much by his receivers. The Ravens dropped seven passes, including one by Ron Johnson and another by Travis Taylor that could have tied the game at 13.

Vertical game

The Ravens made an effort to lob jump balls to tight end Todd Heap over smaller defensive backs. It paid off in a 43-yard, first-quarter reception in which Heap out-jumped cornerback Fred Thomas and landed at the Saints' 1-yard line.

Jamal Lewis ran in for the score on the next play.

Blake was unable to complete a similar pass to Heap in the end zone in the fourth quarter.

"That's one of the things we worked on all week," Heap said. "Hopefully, we would get a matchup out there and make some things happen. We only got one, and I wish we could have got some more.

"I pride myself in making those type of plays. But it's not as exciting when you don't win."

Missed opportunity

The Ravens were fully aware of the Pittsburgh Steelers' upset loss to the Houston Texans before the game, and later lamented the chance they had missed to moved within a half game of first place.

"It doesn't make any difference, you go out and play," coach Brian Billick said. "It doesn't mean you are going to play any harder. Afterward, you realize you missed an opportunity."

Veteran mistakes

The youngest team in the NFL isn't being burned by just rookie mistakes.

The Saints' third touchdown was aided by a personal foul by Chris McAlister, who at the end of an Aaron Brooks scramble tangled with rookie wide receiver Donte Stallworth, wrestled off his helmet and flipped it aside.

The Saints' fourth touchdown included a third-down incompletion from the Ravens' 6 that turned into a first down at the 3 and then a touchdown when defensive end Peter Boulware was called for roughing the passer.

"Some older guys, like myself, made mistakes," said Boulware, who nonetheless thought his penalty was a borderline call. "If that's what the rules are, that's what they are. I'm having a tough time trying to get to the quarterback, and at the same time avoid his head and not put my head in there. I've been taught, when the quarterback has the ball, tackle him. I've got to re-adjust and figure out how not to get called for that."

Muscle cramps sent McAlister out early in the second quarter, but he returned four minutes later.

New return man

Chester Taylor, a rookie running back from Toledo, became the fifth Raven to set up deep on kickoff returns.

The game's opening possession ended with a Saints punt that Lamont Brightful could have returned but let bounce at the 6-yard line, where the Ravens' offense began. Brightful had returned kickoffs in the previous six games, but he wasn't being reprimanded when Taylor trotted out for the Saints' first kickoff, which he brought back 40 yards with some nice cuts that resembled a skier on a slalom course.

"I was doing it in practice during the week, and I knew all week that I was going to be back there," Taylor said. "It was my first time this year doing it, but I felt pretty comfortable back there. Being a running back, I was able to see all different kinds of holes."

Lots of pain, lots of gain

Running for three touchdowns and 127 yards, Deuce McAllister tied the Saints' single-season franchise record with 13 rushing touchdowns.

McAllister overcame a severe ankle sprain and the 45-degree temperature. The Saints are now 5-0 in outdoor games this season but hadn't played in cold weather since losing, 34-17, at New England in November 2001.

"I really didn't play well in the first half. I had a fumble. I wasn't into the game. The cold weather didn't help, but the more runs I get, the more touches I get, the better I get a feel for the flow of the game," said McAllister, who was held to 30 yards on 12 carries and one score in the first half.

"I told coach [Jim Haslett] that it really wasn't about the pain -- that was going to be there the whole game -- it was just that I had messed around in the first half. I told him to look for me to come back and play stronger in the second half."

New Orleans special

The Saints' coverage and return teams entered the game ranked within the league's top 10, and they showed why.

Toby Gowin boomed a 45-yard punt early, and, four plays later, Whitehead's fumble recovery set up the first of John Carney's three field goals.

End zone

The Ravens' Anthony Mitchell started in place of Will Demps at free safety and played the entire game. ... The Ravens lost all four of their games against the NFC South this season. ... The 37 points were the most allowed in Brian Billick's four-year tenure as coach. ... The Ravens inactive players were Anthony Wright, Dameon Hunter, Ray Perryman, Tom Knight, Mike Collins, Damion Cook, Lawrence Smith and Maake Kemoeatu. ... Stallworth (three receptions, 57 yards, one touchdown) set a single-season Saints record for rookies with his seventh scoring reception, surpassing Danny Abramowicz (1967) and Cam Cleeland (1998).

Sun staff writers Paul McMullen and Lem Satterfield contributed to this article.