Short-handed Saints defeat Cardinals, 24-10

Drew Brees completed six of seven passes for 40 yards and a touchdown in his lone series during the short-handed New Orleans Saints’ 24-10 exhibition victory over the Arizona Cardinals Thursday night at Glendale, Ariz.

Matt Leinart, the third-year Arizona quarterback who was sidelined the last 11 games last season because of a broken collarbone, completed eight of nine passes for 91 yards on the first two series of the game.

Nine Saints regulars didn’t make the trip because of various minor injuries. Among them were starting tight end Jeremy Shockey and starting wide receivers Marques Colston and Devery Henderson.

Eli Manning, the Super Bowl MVP, struggled on his only two series and the New York Giants lost to the Detroit Lions, 13-10, at Detroit. Manning completed two of six passes for 19 yards. Eddie Johnson’s 31-yard field goal with 2:47 to play gave Detroit the victory.

New York Jets tight end A.J. Schable was taken from the field on a stretcher and hospitalized after a head-to-head hit during the fourth quarter of the Jets’ 24-20 victory over the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland.

The Jets were awaiting results of tests, but early reports from the hospital were positive. Coach Eric Mangini said that Schable has movement in his arms and legs.

Schable was knocked backward by Cleveland offensive lineman Cliff Louis while trying to make a tackle on a kickoff return.

New Baltimore Coach John Harbaugh got a look at the three quarterbacks competing to succeed the retired Steve McNair during the Ravens’ 16-15 victory over New England at Foxborough, Mass.

Kyle Boller started, Troy Smith replaced him and both played decently. First-round draft pick Joe Flacco looked like a rookie, losing a fumble on his second play.

Larry Johnson ran for a touchdown on the opening drive to help the Kansas City Chefs beat the Chicago Bears, 24-20, at Chicago. Meanwhile, neither Kyle Orton nor Rex Grossman established himself as a leader in the Bears’ quarterback race.

Rookie running back Ryan Torain of the Denver Broncos was expected to be sidelined about three months after breaking a bone in his left elbow.

Torain, a fifth-round draft pick from Arizona State, was injured while rushing during drills Wednesday.

GOLF

Blumenherst and Na advance

Qualifying medalists Amanda Blumenherst and Stephanie Na each won two matches to advance to the U.S. Women’s Amateur quarterfinals. Blumenherst, from Scottsdale, Ariz., beat Nikki Koller of Lewisburg, Ky., 4 and 3, in the second round and Ellen Mueller of Bartlesville, Okla., 7 and 6, in the third round at Eugene, Ore.

Na, from Australia, beat Sydney Burlison of Salinas, 2 and 1, and Kristina Wong of Vestal, N.Y., 1 up.

Annika Sorenstam birdied six of her last eight holes, shooting a six-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the Scandinavian TPC at Stockholm.

SOCCER

Chelsea bids for Robinho

Chelsea moved closer to signing Brazilian striker Robinho after submitting a formal bid to Real Madrid.

The English Premier League team would have to pay around $40 million for the 24-year-old Robinho, who joined Madrid from Brazil’s Santos in 2005.

MOTOR RACING

IRL announces TV package

The Indy Racing League said that starting next year, the Indianapolis 500 and four other of its races will be televised on ABC, and the rest of its 18-race schedule will be carried on the Versus cable and satellite channel. Financial terms of the multi-year agreements were not disclosed.

Aside from the Indy 500, which has been carried by ABC for the last 44 years, the parties said they had not yet decided how ABC and Versus would divide the series’ schedule.

Jim Peltz

BASKETBALL

Johnson will not return to USC

USC Coach Tim Floyd said that sophomore point guard Angelo Johnson informed him he would not return to the team next season after the coach declined to guarantee him a spot in the starting lineup.

“He asked me with O.J. [Mayo’s] departure if I could guarantee him a starting spot at the point,” Floyd said. “I told him, ‘Angelo, you’re going to play a bunch and could start on 95% of the teams in the country, but I can’t guarantee you that.’ ”

Johnson started 11 games last season and averaged 4.5 points and 2.1 assists. His departure leaves junior Daniel Hackett and sophomore Donte Smith as the top point guard options.

-- Ben Bolch