Playoff-bound Saints earn it against rival Falcons

NEW ORLEANS — The Saints are in the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

Whether they go in as NFC South champions or are as a wild card won’t be decided until next Sunday.

But in their 23-13 victory against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday they played the way division champions play, the way teams that advance in January play.

The stakes were high because a loss would have eliminated New Orleans from the division race, and the Saints (11-4) prevailed in a game that was played the way playoff games are played.

They were outstanding on defense, allowing only 10 points on four Falcons trips into the red zone, possessed the ball for nearly 34 minutes and won the takeaway-giveaway competition (plus-1).

Even though they didn’t run the ball well (31 attempts, 86 yards), they didn’t allow the Falcons to either (20-67). Even though they converted just 3-of-13 third downs, they allowed the Falcons to convert just 2-of-13 and made a crucial fourth-down stop inside the 1.

As lagniappe they turned things around virtually 180 degrees in regards to penalties compared to the 20-17 loss at Atlanta 17 days earlier. In that game they were penalized 11 times for 82 yards and gave the Falcons, who were penalized four times for 35 yards, nine first downs via infractions. On Sunday, New Orleans was penalized three times for 20 yards, Atlanta 10 for 91.

Coach Sean Payton said this week was essentially the beginning of the playoffs — and the raucous crowd in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome sure made it feel that way.

With Carolina hosting Tampa Bay — the Panthers’ last-minute victory prevented the Saints from clinching the division — the last two weeks are an NFC South round robin. New Orleans will win the division if it beats the Bucs or the Falcons beat the Panthers.

But back to Sunday.

The Saints began the game without four injured defensive starters. Defensive end Alex Okafor and linebacker Alex Anzalone went on IR a while back, and linebacker A.J. Klein and safety Kenny Vaccaro joined them this week.

Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen used tackle Sheldon Rankins at end, went with two linebackers and rotated safeties throughout and coaxed one of the defense’s top performances of this season.

One constant was that defensive end Cameron Jordan continued his All-Pro-caliber season with two sacks.

On offense, Drew Brees was efficient, completing 21-of-28 for 239 yards as he became the third player in NFL history to pass for 70,000 yards.

But this was the defense’s game.

New Orleans seemed headed to halftime with a 6-0 lead that didn’t fully reflect the degree to which it had outplayed Atlanta. Then came perhaps the biggest sequence of the game.

Matt Ryan threw down the field, trying to get the Falcons at least into field-goal range. The ball was deflected as cornerback Marshon Lattimore dove to the ground and the ball nestled on his hip. The rookie Pro Bowler snatched the ball before it could roll to the ground and gained his fifth interception of the season.

With the Saints starting at their 36 with 50 seconds left, Payton started cautiously, handing the ball to Alvin Kamara, who gained nothing. After a 10-yard pass to Kamara, Payton got bolder and Brees threw a strike to wide-open Ted Ginn Jr. for a 54-yard touchdown that produced a 13-0 halftime edge.

“It was a huge play,” Brees said, “a momentum-swinging play.”

On the first possession of the third quarter, a Brees pass was tipped and linebacker Deion Jones grabbed the ball and ran 41 yards to the Saints 2. But on the next play Devonta Freeman gained just a yard and on the play after that Tyeler Davison knocked the ball loose from Freeman and Manti Te’o recovered for the Saints.

It was evident that the Atlanta offense was overmatched.

“I thought our defense was magnificent,” Payton said. “I thought it was the difference in the game.”

Eventually Matt Bryant made a field goal for the Falcons, but Mark Ingram II’s 26-yard touchdown run sent New Orleans into the fourth quarter with a 20-3 lead.

Wil Lutz kicked his third field goal and Atlanta finally found the end zone with less than three minutes remaining. But at that point, Saints fans already had emotionally unwrapped their Christmas present in the form of the playoff berth.

They were peeking at their cell phones in search of a bonus gift like kids poking through torn wrapping paper and empty boxes to see if there was one more gift under the tree.

But the division title couldn’t be found, thanks to a Panthers rally that beat the Bucs and kept Carolina alive in the race as the defending champion Falcons were being eliminated.

The division title’s ongoing availability keeps the stakes high for next week. As NFC South champion, New Orleans would be guaranteed to start the playoffs at home, where it has won seven consecutive games.

A loss to the Bucs — which would be New Orleans’ third straight away from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome — and a Panthers victory over the Falcons would send New Orleans on the road.

So there’s one week left in 2017 and the Saints can enter 2018 as a division champion.

But Sunday’s game not only guaranteed that a team that had split its last four games and seen injuries mount on the defense will be playing into 2018, it demonstrated that New Orleans is capable of sticking around in the New Year.