Saints stay hot, complete sweep of Falcons

  • November 22, 2018
  • By Ken Trahan
  • Category: Saints
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NEW ORLEANS – The stage was set.

After Thanksgiving lunch, everyone moved to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to enjoy dinner, with Falcon the main course. After it was over, Drew Brees, Cam Jordan, Alvin Kamara, Sheldon Rankins and Mark Ingram enjoyed turkey at the 50-yard line. Kind of gives away who won the game, hey?

The Falcons were determined to take away the pass and take away Michael Thomas. That is becoming a familiar approach by opposing defenses.

While Thomas had a modest four catches for 38 yards, it broke out like a rash all over the place elsewhere.

Yes, Drew Brees threw four more touchdown passes but perhaps an even bigger story is that he actually threw an interception, only his second of the season.

Then, there was the Saints defense, which continues to improve and really was the story.

They would sack Matt Ryan five times and forced four turnovers in a truly dominating performance.

Wil Lutz would make another field goal, his 20th straight.

This game looked a little like most Thursday night games, with neither team as sharp as we have seen off of short weeks with little preparation time and injuries to contend with.

New Orleans completed a sweep of its most heated and hated rival and officially eliminated the Falcons from contention for the NFC South title.

Here are my quick takes from the Saints’ 31-17 win over the Falcons:

**Marcus Davenport was active while Tre’Quan Smith and Brandon Marshall were inactive for the Saints. Tommylee Lewis was active. With Davenport returning, Trey Hendrickson was inactive, along with Manti Te’o. Former Jesuit and LSU star Debo Jones was inactive for the Falcons.

**Atlanta won the toss and deferred, giving the Saints the ball first. Really?

**New Orleans opened with six offensive linemen, including Michael Ola at tight end, and ran Alvin Kamara right, to his side, for 18 yards.

**The Saints promptly went 75 yards in seven plays, taking 3:49 off the clock with Brees hitting Lewis on a 28-yard touchdown pass to give the Saints a 7-0 lead with 11:11 to play in the opening quarter. On the drive, Brees was 4-of-4 for 50 yards and the score while Kamara rushed twice for 27 yards.

**Atlanta got the ball and promptly marched from its own 25-yard line to the New Orleans 3-yard line. Marcus Williams blitzed, sacked Matt Ryan and stripped the ball from him and somehow managed to recover it at the New Orleans 13-yard line. It was an amazing play by Williams, who gets better on a weekly basis.

**The Saints gave it right back as Brees was picked off by Damontae Kazee. On the play, it certainly appeared that Brian Poole knocked Keith Kirkwood down, which should have been pass interference. There was no call. It was the sixth interception for Kazee, which leads the NFL.

**The Falcons again reached the New Orleans 6-yard line but a sack by Demario Davis backed them up and Matt Bryant had to boot a 32-yard field goal to make it 7-3 with 2:35 to play in the first quarter. The drive covered 25 yards in eight plays, taking 3:03 off the clock.

**The Saints came back with a 71-yard drive in 15 plays, taking 8:23 off the clock. There were two near misses on the drive, one deep ball to Ben Watson that he had and could not hold and another to Dan Arnold that he had at the goal line and could not secure. Wil Lutz had to come on to kick a 22-yard field goal to make it 10-3 Saints with 9:09 to play in the half.

**The Saints defense forced a three-and-out on the next Atlanta possession with Sheldon Rankins coming up with his seventh sack of the season.

**The New Orleans took the ball and went 58 yards in seven plays, taking 4:10 off the clock with Brees finding a wide-open Austin Carr on a 12-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-3 with 3:20 to play in the half. It came off a play-fake after New Orleans had run the ball extremely well on the drive.

**The Falcons were faced with a fourth-and-seven at their own 49-yard line and opted to go for it. Ryan ran for a first down to keep the drive alive and keep the Saints from getting the ball back.

**Atlanta reached the New Orleans 16-yard line on a completion from Ryan to Julio Jones but Alex Anzalone made a huge hit, forced a fumble and Vonn Bell recovered for the Saints to kill the threat.

**The New Orleans defense was superb in the first half, recording four sacks and forcing a pair of turnovers.

**Ryan was the leading rusher for the Falcons with one rush for seven yards in the half. New Orleans rushed 17 times for 101 yards, an average of 5.9 yards per carry.

**The Falcons took the second half kickoff and faced a fourth-and-two from their own 48-yard line. Once again, Dan Quinn went for it—and failed as Anzalone broke up a pass. That showed you how desperate the Falcons were and how much respect Quinn has for the Saints offense.

**With great field position, inexplicably, Taysom Hill started the half at quarterback and wanted to throw a pass. He was sacked and that effectively killed the series. On fourth-and-five, the Saints wasted a timeout and then took a penalty and punted. It was not a good look at all when you had a team down and ready to be had.

**Undaunted, the Saints got a stop and then the offense went 70 yards in six plays with Brees hitting Arnold with a beautiful 25-yard touchdown pass, a great throw and a great catch, to make it 24-3 with 5:59 to play in the third quarter. Earlier in the drive, Brees made a picture-perfect throw to Ben Watson for 20 yards and a first down against blanket coverage.

**Arnold became the 12th player to catch a touchdown pass from Brees this season. He became the 50th Saints teammate to catch a touchdown pass from Brees and it was the first touchdown catch of Arnold’s career.

**Atlanta stayed in the game, driving 79 yards in 13 plays, taking 5:37 off the clock. On fourth-and-goal from the New Orleans two-yard line, Ryan hit Ridley for a two-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 24-10 with 22 seconds left in the third quarter.

**New Orleans would take total advantage, driving 22 yards in five plays with Brees connecting with Keith Kirkwood for the receiver’s first career touchdown on a five-yard touchdown pass to make it 31-10 with 9:27 to play in the game.

**The big play of the drive was an ad-lib play by Ryan, a very good job by him. He rolled left away from pressure, looked like he would run, got P.J. Williams to commit to him, abandoning Ridley, who was wide open for a 46-yard completion to the New Orleans two-yard line, setting up the score.

**The defense came up with another huge play when Tyeler tipped a Ryan pass and A.J. Klein intercepted it at the Atlanta 22-yard line.

**Cam Jordan got his second sack in the fourth quarter. That gave Jordan 67.5 in his illustrious career, tying him for fourth all-time in franchise history with Saints Hall of Fame inductee Will Smith.

**Then, the Saints defense did it again, forcing a fourth turnover as Ryan completed a 28-yard pass to Ridley to the New Orleans two-yard line but Marshon Lattimore forced a fumble and Eli Apple recovered.

**Atlanta got a late score, driving 59 yards in seven plays, taking 1:48 off the clock with Ryan hitting Tevin Coleman with a four-yard touchdown pass to make it 31-17 with 1:51 left to play.

Eli Apple played Jones throughout the game and did a good job overall, despite Jones putting up numbers.

How good is Brees?

While some national pundits continue to say he has an embarrassment of riches at skill positions, he threw four touchdown passes to four undrafted free agents who combined for two career touchdowns prior to this contest, one each by Lewis and Carr. He makes others good.

The Saints scored 30 points or more for the fifth straight game, tying the franchise record previously accomplished in both 2002 and 2010.

Per Lenny Vangilder, the Saints forced four turnovers for the first time since doing so against the Lions on Oct. 15, 2017 in a 52-38 victory in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. New Orleans has won 15 straight games dating back to 2002 when forcing four or more turnovers.

The loss officially eliminated Atlanta from the NFC South race with seven losses and only five games remaining, trailing New Orleans by six games.

Next up is a tough game next Thursday night on the road against a resurgent Dallas team. The Cowboys have their mojo back. Ezekiel Elliott is running the ball well and Dak Prescott is improving. Amari Cooper gives the Cowboys another weapon.

The Saints are meeting every challenge. It will not be easy but there is no reason to expect that this team will not rise to do so again in Big D with an improving defense and deadly offense.

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Ken Trahan

CEO/Owner

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Born and raised in the New Orleans area, CCSE CEO Ken Trahan has been a sports media fixture in the community for nearly four decades. Ken started NewOrleans.com/Sports with Bill Hammack and Don Jones in 2008. In 2011, the site became SportsNOLA.com. On August 1, 2017, Ken helped launch CrescentCitySports.com. Having accumulated national awards/recognition (National Sports Media Association, National Football…

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