Saints Hold On in Superdome to Sweep Falcons

The Saints jumped out to a big lead early only to see it fade away and have the Falcons come close, but the defense ends up saving the day.

NEW ORLEANS -- The Saints ended up putting things together after all coming out of their bye week, improving to 5-9 on the season and sweeping the Falcons after a hard-fought 21-18 win in the Superdome. New Orleans now has the regular season series lead over Atlanta. It wasn't easy, and it also came down to the wire.

Game Recap

The Saints started on offense after the Falcons won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half kickoff. New Orleans overcame a sluggish start and turned in a 10-play, 75-yard drive to get the first points of the game via a 18-yard Juwan Johnson touchdown reception from Andy Dalton. The offense converted two big 3rd-and-9 plays to keep the drive going, including the touchdown to Johnson on a great individual effort that Dennis Allen challenges and won. New Orleans also got big plays to Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed on the drive.

As Desmond Ridder trotted out for his first start, the Saints defense rolled with Pete Werner starting and Bradley Roby in the slot. Kaden Elliss checked in for third down, and New Orleans forced a three-and-out to start. Ridder tried a deep shot on the first play to Cordarrelle Patterson, but Alontae Taylor had good coverage. 

New Orleans took over with 9:07 to play in the opening quarter, and it took them two plays to get back into the end zone. After a 5-yard run by David Johnson the first play, Taysom Hill connected with Rashid Shaheed on a 68-yard bomb on the quick two-play scoring drive to see the Saints take an early 14-0 lead.

Ridder struggled again on the Falcons next possession, as they eventually had to punt. Atlanta got aided by a very questionable Tyrann Mathieu pass interference call on a play where he broke up the pass. Regardless, New Orleans didn't allow much and got the ball back with 6:42 to play in the opening frame from their own 9-yard-line.

The Saints offense had a pretty rough drive on the next possession, and it perfectly summed up why the team is the record they are. New Orleans went from a 2nd-and-Inches to 4th-and-17 after they lost yardage running the football and then committing a false start penalty and taking a sack. Atlanta proceeded to rattle off a 12-play, 52-yard drive that saw them get their first points of the game after a 28-yard field goal by Younghoe Koo. Desmond Ridder settled in a completed several passes on the drive, including some nice hookups to Drake London.

New Orleans looked to add to their lead, and had a very promising drive going after some positive plays to Juwan Johnson, Alvin Kamara, and Chris Olave. However, they'd end up being their own worst enemy to end their drive, as David Johnson fumbled shortly after converting a 3rd-and-1 after he ran into Adam Trautman. Atlanta took over with 7:24 left from their own 15-yard-line.

Fortunately for the Saints, there was no damage done by the 10th fumble of the season, as the defense forced another three-and-out. New Orleans was able to move across midfield after a nice run by Taysom Hill, but the drive stalled out after Jarvis Landry was unable to secure a 3rd-and-7 pass from Andy Dalton. 

The Falcons looked to make something happen on their possession before the half, and it looked like New Orleans would get the ball back for an opportunity, but Atlanta converted a casual 3rd-and-13 running the ball to extend their drive and help them bleed the clock down to under 10 seconds to go to halftime.

Second Half

The Saints looked to have a huge play to start the third quarter, as Alontae Taylor picked off Desmond Ridder on the opening play. However, it would get reviewed and overturned by the officials. Atlanta proceeded to gash the Saints on the ground, including a 43-yard run by Tyler Allgeier to set them up inside the New Orleans 15-yard-line. He'd get into the end zone a few plays later on a 3rd-and-3 from the 5-yard-line to make it 14-10 Saints with 10:46 left in the quarter.

New Orleans was able to respond on offense, putting together an 11-play, 75-yard drive that took 7:12 off the clock and was capped off with Juwan Johnson's second touchdown of the day, this time from 22 yards out. The Saints got big plays from Chris Olave and a healthy dose of Alvin Kamara on the drive.

Atlanta looked to counter, and had a decent drive going as the quarter came to an end. However, they'd stall out as the Saints defense got a back sack from Kaden Elliss on a trick play to make it 2nd-and-15. New Orleans wouldn't yield any yards on the next two plays, forcing Atlanta to punt the ball back with 13:23 left in the game.

The Saints offense wasn't able to do anything on their ensuing possession, going three-and-out and surrendering excellent field position to the Falcons after going backwards on two straight plays. It also didn't help that Blake Gillikin shanked the punt. Atlanta capitalized on it, with Cordarrelle Patterson taking it in from 3 yards out for the touchdown after a short 32-yard drive that spanned over 8 plays. Atlanta got the two-point conversion as well to make it 21-18 with 7:07 to play.

New Orleans ran an uninspiring three-and-out to counter on their next series, and gave the Falcons back the ball with plenty of time. It came down to a 4th-and-5 play from midfield, which saw bedlam ensue after a Ridder pass to Drake London went for a first down, but Justin Evans made an incredible play to knock the ball out and have it land into the hands of Bradley Roby to see the Saints take over with 2:06 left in the game.

New Orleans got a first down after the two-minute warning from a Taysom Hill run, which was followed up by a big Alvin Kamara run to help bleed more clock and move the Saints deeper into Atlanta territory. They bled the clock down to 12 seconds, and a 4th-and-1 fun by Taysom Hill in Falcons territory saw them give the ball back to Atlanta by a fumble. However, the clock would run out on the final play as Ridder elected to run the ball.

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