Saints’ Defense Grounds Cardinals, 20-17 : NFC: Phoenix quarterbacks are sacked six times and offense is held to 143 yards. Beuerlein leaves game because of knee injury.

Renaldo Turnbull had three of New Orleans’ six sacks and the Saints held Phoenix to 143 total yards Sunday in a 20-17 victory that ended their two-game losing streak.

But the Saints had to come back from 10 points down to do it.

“We never think about being out of a game,” said Brad Muster, whose one-yard run gave the Saints an early 7-0 lead.

Of the six sacks, three were crucial. First, Gene Atkins sacked Steve Beuerlein early in the second quarter, hurting the quarterback’s right knee and forcing Beuerlein to leave the game after another sack by Rickey Jackson.

On Phoenix’s last chance in the fourth quarter, the possession ended on back-to-back sacks by Wayne Martin and Turnbull.

Morten Andersen gave New Orleans the winning points with a 38-yard field goal with 7:34 remaining to complete the Saints’ comeback from a 17-7 halftime deficit.

Phoenix cornerback Aeneas Williams scored both Cardinal touchdowns, and the Cardinals’ offense made only five first downs after Beuerlein left the game.

A 48-yard field goal by Anderson made it 17-10 in the third quarter, and Quinn Early caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Wade Wilson with 11:50 remaining to tie it, 17-17.

Atkins then intercepted a Chris Chandler pass and returned it 37 yards to the Phoenix 24 to set up the go-ahead field goal.

The Saints ended the next Phoenix possession with back-to-back sacks, and Wilson drove his team to a first down on the Phoenix nine with 2:00 to play and knelt three times to run out the clock.

Williams, a third-round pick in the 1991 draft, scooped up a fumble by Early at the 20-yard line and returned it for his first touchdown, putting Phoenix ahead, 7-0, in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Williams jumped in front of Eric Martin and made an interception, cut toward the sideline and back inside before dodging a desperation tackle by Wilson and sprinting into the end zone with a 46-yard touchdown.

Early made up for the fumble with his game-tying catch. Wilson found him running into the end zone and he made a diving reception that sent him rolling into the goal post.

“I had to redeem myself and make a play,” Early said.

Wilson set up Muster’s scoring run in the first quarter with passes of 34 yards to Martin and 13 yards to Muster.

New Orleans’ battered defense, playing without injured end Frank Warren and linebacker Sam Mills, had given up 105 yards at halftime. But the Saints took advantage of Chandler’s lack of playing time in the second half, allowing only 38 yards from scrimmage.