Saints snap back, hand Falcons first loss of season
NEW ORLEANS – The Atlanta Falcons came to the Superdome on Thursday night undefeated and with the best rushing defense in the NFL.
They left with only one of those marks intact after a 31-21 loss to their division rival Saints.
Although the Falcons kept the Saints' mediocre ground attack bottled up, repeatedly stuffing backs to no gain on short yardage, Atlanta was unable to contain New Orleans' tight ends - in particular, 12-year veteran Benjamin Watson who had a career night.
Watson tied his career high with 10 receptions set a new best with 127 yards. He also caught, on fourth down, a 2-yard pass from quarterback Drew Brees to put the Saints ahead 24-7 with 2:23 remaining in the third quarter.
Coming into the Atlanta game, New Orleans (2-4) seemed adrift on offense without tight end Jimmy Graham. Sent to the Seahawks in the offseason, Graham had caught 51 touchdowns in five years with the Saints. But Brees repeatedly went to Graham's replacements Thursday night with receiver Marques Colston out.
The Falcons repeatedly hurt themselves in their first loss. In the first half, Atlanta squandered scoring chances by fumbling first on the New Orleans’ 9-yard line and then on the New Orleans’ 17. The Falcons also had other drives stall on fumbles they recovered and finished the night with three turnovers.
After Saints running back Mark Ingram capped an opening 80-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown, the game turned decisively in New Orleans’ favor when linebacker Michael Mauti burst through the Falcons line and blocked a kick by Falcons punter Matt Bosher. Mauti smothered the ball on the Atlanta 4-yard line, then got to his feet and ran it into the end zone for a touchdown.
“Certainly the blocked punt, that was a significant moment,” Saints coach Sean Payton said early in his postgame assessment.
With the loss, Atlanta (5-1) is listed behind Carolina (4-0) in the NFC South standings. The Falcons travel to Tennessee on Oct. 25; the Panthers will be in Seattle on Sunday afternoon.
Although the Saints held Atlanta well below its 31 points per game average, the Falcons had little trouble moving the ball between the 20s. Atlanta gained 150 yards on the ground – a 7.1 yard per carry clip – while holding the Saints to a paltry 2.5 yards per rush and 81 yards total. But, in the red zone, turnovers on offense and penalties on defense derail the Falcons.
The Falcons cut New Orleans' lead to 14-7 in the second quarter when quarterback Matt Ryan connected with receiver Roddy White on a 7-yard scoring pass. On the night, Ryan completed 30 of 44 attempts for 295 yards, but he was also harried often and sacked 5 times. Atlanta’s standout wide receiver, Julio Jones, was uncertain coming into the game, but after catching two passes for 53 yards in the 1st quarter he wasn’t much of a factor the rest of the way.
Brees, meanwhile, eluded Atlanta’s rush with rollouts and was only sacked once while completing 30 of 39 for 312 yards.
Early in the fourth quarter, with New Orleans leading 24-7, Ryan got the Falcons back in the game by engineering a 10 play, 80-yard drive that culminated in a 25-yard touchdown scamper by Devonta Freeman. But New Orleans promptly answered with an 80-yard drive of its own that ended with Ingram’s second touchdown of the night, this time from the 1-yard line.
Saints kicker Zach Hocker missed attempts from 51 and 48 yards, but did hit a 31-yarder midway through the third quarter to put New Orleans ahead, while Freeman hauled with a 13-yard pass from Ryan with 1:29 left in the game to complete the scoring.
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