You'd look at the score and think it was a defensive struggle, but it really wasn't. Both offenses had possession gains which kept the clock and the chains moving. I didn't feel like either defense played exceptionally well, but the Falcons did get timely stops on 3rd down and the Saints did get terrific pressure on Matt Ryan. The difference in the game, to me, was two big plays, both made by the Saints. One was a long ball 44 yard strike from Brees to Jimmy Graham and the other was a crucial fumble caused by Keyunta Dawson and recovered by Corey White. That was the lone turnover of the game. Those two plays were the difference. Otherwise this was a sloppy and somewhat boring game. No matter, the Saints sweep the Falcons on the season and officially secure a winning record for the year. The Saints now have a full 10 days to prepare for the biggest game of the season at the Seattle Seahawks. In the meantime, they can enjoy Sunday and hope the Dolphins (playing the Panthers) can pull off a huge upset. Seattle is on their bye week, by the way. Below are my bullets on the game.
- I thought Tim Lelito was ok. He had a holding call and a penalty but held his own. He wasn't great but he wasn't a disaster like the Cardinals game either.
- No Darren Sproles clearly had an impact on the Saints' offense.
- Mark Ingram really struggled to run the ball despite some nice lanes and opportunities. He just missed his holes.
- Pierre Thomas and Jimmy Graham totally carried the offense. Both had monster games, especially PT who was a beast all game long.
- Graham dunked the ball on his touchdown, of course, and made the goalpost crooked. They had to get a guy and ladder to fix it. That was probably the most exciting part of the game.
- Despite mostly rushing four all game, the Saints were constantly in Matt Ryan's face. They finished with 5 sacks. Cam Jordan and Akiem Hicks in particular devoured the Falcons' o-line.
- The Falcons picked on Corey White all game long. The injury to Jabari Greer may be more of a blow than I anticipated.
- Akiem Hicks is just awesome. What a draft pick he's turned out to be. Although after all the talk about the Ahmad Brooks hit on Brees, Hicks smacked Ryan in the face for a sack and obvious penalty that wasn't flagged… oops.
- I was impressed with Falcons' rookie corner Desmond Trufant, who was briefly hurt and then came back. Whenever he was in he was breaking up passes.
- Roddy White had 2 catches for 24 and Tony Gonzalez had 4 catches for 43 yards, so give the Saints credit for limiting Atlanta's biggest weapons.
- The only injuries I noticed were Corey White (who returned) and Glenn Foster, who seemed to hurt his knee. Hopefully it's not too serious but the Saints have Tyrunn Walker who should be able to come in and replace him if necessary.
- Travaris Cadet was back fielding punts for the Saints and he didn't make me feel too comfortable catching the football. No mistakes, though.
- Drew Brees was a hair off in this game. Missed a couple throws and while he played fine he wasn't razor sharp.
- Give Atlanta credit for running the clock and keeping Brees off the field. The Saints offense was disrupted by the length of the Falcons' drives. Despite the drives, though, they only had 13 points to show for it. That offense just really struggles to punch it in the end zone.
- It wasn't a great game and the Saints did a poor job letting the Falcons hang around but they found a way to win on the road against a bitter rival. I don't care what the records are, Saints-Falcons games are always close and a series sweep is always fantastic.
The Saints are now 9-2 and they will play the 10-1 Seahawks for first place in the NFC a week from Sunday. Regular season games don't get any bigger than that! As for the Falcons, they are officially eliminated from the playoffs as they drop to 2-9 on the season.
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