No Sean Payton, but Saints Find a Way to Win

They’re getting healthier and under new coach Dennis Allen and quarterback Jameis Winston, they were able to overcome a 16-point deficit for the first time in franchise history.

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It’s interesting to me how the Saints are kind of lurking.

They won the NFC South four consecutive years from 2017 to ’20. Last year, even after losing Jameis Winston to a torn ACL in midseason, and in their first year post–Drew Brees, they were able to cobble together a 9–8 season. This year, they don’t have Sean Payton, either. But they still have a boatload of talent, and a lot of the infrastructure from the Payton era remains in place.

And in the opener, what might’ve seemed like a layup wasn’t—yet, it led to a gut-check win in which New Orleans came back from 16 down in the fourth quarter for the first time in franchise history.

Winston celebrates after the Saints overcame a 16-point deficit for the first time in franchise history :: Brett Davis/USA TODAY Sports

Saints 27, Falcons 26 might not catch your eye until you look a little closer.

“Man, that felt good,” Saints coach Dennis Allen told me about an hour after the game. “Look, honestly, I hated that we played the way that we did. Certainly, I think Atlanta’s a lot better team than what people give them credit for. Arthur [Smith] does a good job. They fight. They battle. Offensively, he creates some issues. But all that being said, we get a chance to coach off a win like that, and there are so many things that we did wrong.

“Me, the coaches, the players, everybody. We get to coach off a win, and so it’ll be good to get in there tomorrow and watch tape and make the corrections.”

And there’ll be plenty of corrections, Allen assures, to make.

At the half, Winston had thrown for 24 yards and a 56.2 passer rating, Taysom Hill was the engine of the offense, and the run defense was leaky. But there was a reason for all that, too.

“I don’t think we stopped the run very well, and then we weren’t running the ball very good offensively other than a couple of plays where we ran the ball with Taysom,” Allen continued. “We were just out of sync. Couple of throws to Mike were kinda off-target—those two players just weren’t in sync. Look, we’ve had a few players that missed a lot of time. Jameis missed a pretty good amount of time, and Mike Thomas has missed a pretty good amount of time lately. Pete Werner on defense, like he missed basically all of training camp.

“It’ll be interesting to see exactly how the tape kinda plays out, but we just didn’t play well. We didn’t execute. We didn’t make plays that we had an opportunity to make.”

And, then, everything changed. The defense got its footing. The offense, with chunk plays to Juwan Johnson and Alvin Kamara with the Falcons playing off, got its rhythm.

That led to some pretty staggering fourth-quarter stats.

Winston was 13-of-16 for 213 yards and two touchdowns. Thomas and Jarvis Landry had four catches apiece. The run defense clamped down, holding the Falcons to 3.4 yards per carry.

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And in the process, Winston led touchdown drives of 75 and 86 yards. And after a missed two-point conversion to tie it, he and the offense drove 47 yards to set up Wil Lutz’s 51-yard game-winner.

“He never flinched,” Allen said “You know what I mean? I’m sure Jameis would tell you, Man, I could’ve played better in the first half. And, really, even to kinda open the third quarter, I think we probably could’ve played better, and he could’ve played better. But he just never flinched. Just keep going, keep believing and that’s what this team is all about.”

So, now, the hope is with a healthier group and the kinks getting worked out, there’s another level here.

“Obviously, we’re very much capable of playing well defensively, and we’re very much capable of being an explosive offense,” Allen said. “I think when you watch the fourth quarter, you kinda see that. We kinda found a little bit of a rhythm and were able to pull the game out. Look, I look at this game as not too dissimilar to the first time we played this team last year. The difference is we finished in this one, and we didn't last year.”

And Allen hopes it’s an omen of things to come for the Saints.