BATON ROUGE, La. – The departure of former backup Jake Delhomme is haunting the New Orleans Saints now more than ever.

Delhomme led Carolina back into first place in the NFC South, throwing for a touchdown and running for another as the Panthers defeated New Orleans 27-10 .

Delhomme’s fourth victory against his former team came in the same week the Saints benched quarterback Aaron Brooks after 82 straight starts. His replacement, seldom-used Todd Bouman, struggles, finishing with four interceptions and a lost fumble.

Throwing only as much as he needed to, Delhomme, was 13-of-22 for 176 yards. With the Panthers never trailing, Delhomme relied on a solid running game to control the clock. Carolina rushed for 161 yards, with DeShaun Foster running for a team-leading 75.

The Saints (3-11), who’ll play their final home game in San Antonio, failed to win a single game for their disaster-weary fans in Louisiana this season, going 0-4 in LSU’s Tiger Stadium.

With Tampa Bay losing a day earlier at New England, Carolina (10-4) regained the division lead with the help of receiver Steve Smith, who ran for a 20-yard score on an end-around in the first quarter and caught Delhomme’s 15-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.

Delhomme, an affable Cajun who starred at Louisiana-Lafayette, was unusually popular for a backup when he played for New Orleans. Playing only an hour’s drive east of his hometown of Breaux Bridge, he had a sizable cheering section of fans wearing his No. 17 in Carolina blue.

He needed only a few plays to bring them to their feet, converting a third down by dropping a 40-yard pass into Drew Carter’s outstretched arms along the sideline. Smith scored his first touchdown two plays later, launching himself over the goal line as he was hit hard along the sideline.

Across the field sat Brooks, enduring the worst season of his career, having thrown more interceptions (17) than touchdown passes (13). Saints coach Jim Haslett decided to give Bouman, now in his ninth season, the fourth start of his career.

The experiment began well, with Bouman marching New Orleans 80 yards on 11 plays before hitting Donte’ Stallworth for a 23-yard touchdown that tied the game at 7. Bouman crouched and pumped his fist, enjoying a short-lived taste of success.

He threw three interceptions in the second quarter, one inside the Carolina 5-yard line. Two of the turnovers led to 10 Panthers points: John Kasey’s 32-yard field goal and Delhomme’s 2-yard sneak with 41 seconds left in the half, giving Carolina a 17-7 lead at halftime.

Bouman’s final interception came in the fourth quarter with the Saints on the Carolina 1. His attempted fade to Stallworth was short and picked off by Ken Lucas.

He finished 17-for-34 for 193 yards.

AP-ES-12-18-05 1640EST