Unfocused Saints humbled by Falcons, 26-9

Final. pic.twitter.com/qvX1Ce9b9U

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 10, 2019

The New Orleans Saints were on a high going into their bye.

After going 7-1 against a tough first half schedule, the team had time to get healthier.

They were facing a lousy 1-7 football team that just changed assignments of coaches in midseason, almost unheard of in the NFL.

The Falcons cannot run the ball. They cannot rush the passer and have not stopped anyone. They had given up 20 or more points in all eight games and even yielded 53 points in a loss to Houston. Their 2019 season has been a disaster, virtually done already.

All of that did not matter.

The Falcons hate their most heated rival. This was their playoff game, their Super Bowl. Atlanta played like a Super Bowl contender while New Orleans looked the part of the ultimate pretender.

It was pretty for the Falcons. It was devastatingly ugly for the Saints.

Pretty much sums up the Falcons-Saints game pic.twitter.com/oXuqDliN85

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 10, 2019

This is the NFL. You have to show up every week. Ask Green Bay, which was riding high into last week at Los Angeles.

The Saints did not show up. The Falcons showed up and asserted their presence in a huge way.

The result was a consummate butt-whipping.

Here are my Quick Takes from the 26-9 Atlanta victory over New Orleans:

**With Tre’Quan Smith back, Austin Carr was inactive for the Saints.

**Atlanta won the toss and elected to receive. The Falcons proceeded to rush it down the Saints’ throats, running it five times for 45 yards before a pair of false start penalties stalled the drive with Younghoe Koo coming on to kick a 37-yard field goal to make it 3-0 with 9:27 to play in the opening quarter.

**The Saints answered with a 10 play, 64-yard drive taking 5:18 off the clock but could not finish the drive after a first-and-goal at the 5-yard line. Drew Brees was 3-of-3 for 42 yards on the drive but on third-and-goal from the 2-yard line, Brees was sacked by De’Vondre Campbell. On the play, Alvin Kamara went in motion, reversed the motion but slipped a bit. He would have been open.

**Atlanta kept the ball for 9:42 in the first quarter and rushed for 67 yards.

**The Falcons then had their longest drive of the season, taking 17 plays to go 75 yards in eight minutes with Matt Ryan hitting Austin Hooper on a 9-yard touchdown pass to give the Falcons a 10-3 lead with 11:09 to play in the half. The Saints were penalized three times on the drive to keep it alive.

#MattyIce❄️ with a perfect throw to @AustinHooper18 for the TD! pic.twitter.com/WMP6yJRl9j

— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) November 10, 2019

**Marshon Lattimore went to the locker room in the second quarter with a thigh injury. Andrus Peat followed him with an arm injury. Neither returned. C.J. Gardner-Johnson replaced Lattimore while Will Clapp took the place of Peat.

**Atlanta drove 65 yards in eight plays and Koo kicked a 36-yard field goal to make it 13-3 with 1:31 to play in the half. The big play was a 56-yard completion from Ryan to Julio Jones.

**The Saints got needed points before the half arrived, driving 46 yards in 10 plays with Lutz drilling a 47-yard field goal to make it a one-score game at 13-6 by halftime.

**Atlanta had a 17:20 to 12:40 edge in time of possession in the first half but it seemed like a larger edge. The Falcons had 200 yards to 157 for New Orleans. Atlanta had 35 offensive snaps to just 25 for the Saints. The worst number for the Saints was seven penalties for 50 yards.
**The Falcons finished the first half with four first downs by penalties against New Orleans.

**Thomas became the fastest receiver in NFL history to reach 400 receptions in his career in the first half, surpassing Odell Beckham Jr. Thomas did it is 58 games, Beckham did so in 61 games.

**The Saints got a good punt return by Deonte Harris to the Atlanta 38-yard-line but New Orleans could take full advantage. It took the Saints nine plays to go 28 yards and the drive stalled after Brees was sacked for the third time and Lutz kicked a 28-yard field goal to make it 13-9 with 6:05 to play in the third quarter.

**The Falcons then dominated the ball again and dominated the Saints defense, driving 75 yards in 13 plays, taking 6:12 off the clock with Ryan hitting Brian Hill on a 10-yard touchdown pass to give Atlanta a 20-9 lead with 14:53 to play in the game. Atlanta converted every third down play on the drive, including a critical hands-to-the face penalty on C.J. Gardner-Johnson on what would have been a stop.

The @AtlantaFalcons have SILENCED the Superdome!

(via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/rhrjv7pnLq

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 10, 2019

**Harris then returned the ensuing kickoff 46 yards to the New Orleans 46-yard line. It did not matter. The Saints offense did absolutely nothing, thanks to a holding call on Terron Armstead to halt the drive, followed by the fourth sack of Brees.

**Then, when the defense appeared to get a stop, J.T. Gray inexplicably committed a personal foul, roughing punter Ryan Allen on an obvious call. It was simply poor. He did not come close to blocking it and hit Allen’s leg with his helmet.

**The Falcons kept the ball longer and capitalized with a 48-yard field goal by Koo to make it 23-9 with 7:27 to play in the game. The drive covered 37 yards in 11 plays, taking 5:04 off the clock.

**The next Saints possession was killed by two sacks of Brees.

OUR DEFENSE IS FIRED UP! pic.twitter.com/eWTZiBOmOd

— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) November 10, 2019

**For some reason, Atlanta tried to throw a deep ball with under five minutes left and Marcus Williams picked it off for the Saints at a time that the Falcons could have run it, could have run the clock and could have kicked a game-clinching field goal.

**It did not matter. Brees promptly threw three straight incomplete passes to give it back to Atlanta at the New Orleans 18-yard line.

**The Falcons had scoring drives of 10, 17, 8, 13 and 11 plays. They did a great job of keeping the New Orleans offense off the field but when the Saints were on the field on offense, they did not accomplish much.

This was a team effort by the Saints. It was a well-earned defeat.

The kicking game failed with the roughing the kicker penalty. The offensive line failed miserably, allowing six sacks to a team with no pass rush all season long.
Atlanta came into the game with seven sacks on the entire season in eight games, dead last in the NFL.

There was no running game. The longest pass completion of the day was 22 yards. The defense failed continuously with costly penalties.

While Thomas caught 13 passes for 152 yards and went over 400 catches in his brilliant four-year career, their was just one other completion to a wide receiver. It was reminiscent of the latter stages of the 2018 season.

Thomas was a bright spot. So, too, was Demario Davis on defense. In a limited role, Taysom Hill was good. Lutz made his three field goal attempts. Harris had a couple of good returns. That is about all that can be said positively.

Then, the return of Alvin Kamara made no dent at all. Kamara, who is likely not at 100 percent, had just 12 touches for 74 yards, many after the outcome was well decided. Latavius Murray, who was so good in three games before the bye, had five touches for 19 yards.

It is on to Tampa Bay and another division rival seeking to avenge an earlier season loss. Think that will be easy?

The oddsmakers had the Saints winning this game easily. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Saints met the enemy and it was them. They could not get out of their own way all afternoon.

If you want a perfect illustration of a lack of focus, the Saints took a delay of game penalty with two seconds left near the Atlanta goal line, trying to score. Then, Brees completed a pass to Thomas but it was as yard shot of the goal line, a fitting ending.

Fortunately, there were an unusually small number of Falcon fans in the stands to celebrate, thanks to the lousy season they have had and the lousy team they are. They were not lousy on this day. The New Orleans Saints truly were.

Area fans can take solace in the LSU Tigers, anyway.

Perhaps the Saints will take this one personally in respond in demonstrative fashion. Perhaps future opponents will take a page out of the Atlanta playbook in how to play the Saints moving forward. Whatever playbook was used by the Saints in this one should be tossed aside into File 13. Better yet, shred it, along with the game video.