What a brutal and heartbreaking game to sit through. The Saints suffered a crushing defeat, at home in overtime, to their bitter rivals 27-24. The Saints had plenty of chances, though, including a missed chip shot 29 yard field goal by Garrett Hartley in overtime. No excuses for that miss. A professional kicker needs to make that kick 100 times out of 100. Feel free to vote in the poll for how secure Garrett Hartley’s job is.
Here’s my bullets on the game:
— The Saints shut down Michael Turner pretty much all game long. The Falcons ran Jason Snelling and Turner over and over and over all game long. The Saints did allow some big gains, but overall the run defense was excellent. Give Remi Ayodele huge props for a monster game up the middle.
— The Saints had almost no answer for Tony Gonzalez. Matt Ryan and him were playing pitch and catch out there. He was unstoppable.
— The Saints need to run the football a lot more. 38 passes vs. 16 runs is not the balance we should be looking for.
— Garrett Hartley’s miss was horrible. No other way to put it. It was an atrocity.
— The 3 Saints turnovers were killers. Chris Ivory’s fumble and Drew Brees’ second INT were particularly stupid.
— On a positive note, Jeremy Shockey and Lance Moore stepped up big time in Reggie Bush’s absence. What a performance by both players. Shockey’s catch on 4th down was sick.
— Devery Henderson apparently needs a new set of hands.
— Nice to see Will Smith get his first sack of the season. He was very good, mostly against the run.
Stay tuned for the player grades.
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