Nobody likes the Saints except Saints fans, and this season even that’s in doubt. In a playoff season, in a lost campaign, in the final football game before the apocalypse, the Falcons beating the Saints is something
to celebrate.
And they did so, by the way, by two full touchdowns. While there was plenty to pick apart in this performance—too many plays where Tyler Shough escaped, dropped interceptions, stone hands from Kyle Pitts, bad penalties—Atlanta also earned their first win in over a month, dropped their hated rival even further into the basement, and kept whatever dim hope they had left for this season alive. We spend a lot of time thinking about the big picture, especially during a year that’s gone as far off the rails as this one has, but we’re still watching these games to enjoy ourselves and see wins at the end of the day. For the first time in what feels like a tiny eternity, I know I did both.
What mattered most from this game, ultimately, was what we saw from the defense. The Saints are no one’s idea of a juggernaut, but those Taysom Hill handoffs and deep strikes from young quarterbacks have doomed them so many times in the past. In this one, it was young players like James Pearce Jr., Jalon Walker, Ruke Orhorhoro, Brandon Dorlus, Xavier Watts, and Dee Alford making sure those things didn’t happen, with Ronnie Harrison chipping in as a reserve who seems very much worth keeping around at this point. If the Falcons are going to be anything once they figure out where the hell they’re going on offense in 2026 and beyond, they’ll need the defense to be much better than it has been since…well, since a very long time ago. As hapless as this Saints offense can be, this was exactly the kind of lackluster effort that would have led to an inexplicable 27 points in year past. The Falcons defense is progressing, even if it’s in fits and starts, and is good enough to put bad offenses in hell.
The offense had a quieter day—a pair of touchdowns, 24 points, 302 total yards—but was tangibly different. As The Athletic’s Josh Kendall wrote, Atlanta ran nearly half of its plays from under center, which was a season high (before it was just over 9%) and actually a two season high, as even with Kirk Cousins last year the Falcons operated chiefly out of the pistol. They also granted my wish and went with three tight end sets on a third of their snaps, helping them bully the Saints on the ground and giving Charlie Woerner some long-awaited opportunities as a pass catcher. Considering there was no Drake London, it was an impressive day from players who had tough seasons (Darnell Mooney) and ones who hadn’t gotten much if any run at all (David Sills, Dylan Drummond). There will be many conversations in the days to come about why the Falcons made those changes, what that means for and about Michael Penix Jr., and why we couldn’t see any of them with Cousins last year, but for the moment just enjoy a frankly well-executed game.
With the Jets on deck, there’s a chance the Falcons will string together a couple of wins. Don’t let them fool you into thinking they’re going to salvage this season—there’s very little chance of that—but do enjoy watchable football while it lasts and root for this defense to keep building. While the 2025 season may not end up mattering that much, that development certainly does.
On to the full recap.
The Good
- Consider the opponent, for sure, and remember that Kirk Cousins still looked incapable of escaping pressure at times. This was the best effort we’ve seen from him in a calendar year or more, with a couple of actual scrambles, plenty of on-target throws, a beautiful deep ball to Darnell Mooney for a touchdown, and more confidence and acumen then he’s shown since he was carving up the Buccaneers and Cowboys last year. He finished with two touchdowns, 199 tidy yards, and an interception that was not remotely his fault. If Cousins is capable of putting this together with a depleted receiving corps, he might be able to keep this offense afloat down the stretch, which is more than we had any right to expect.
- Darnell Mooney finally had the game we’ve been waiting for, and it was chiefly due to one play. Mooney got to just fly downfield on Kirk Cousins’ 49 yard touchdown pass, just beating defenders and staying on his feet long enough to end up in the end zone. The long recovery for him and the lack of connection with Michael Penix Jr. has hurt Mooney all year, but in Week 12 with Cousins back under center, the spark was back. He finished with three grabs for 74 yards and a touchdown.
- It was a tidy, get-the-job-done day on the ground for Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier, who combined for 114 yards on 26 carries, adding 42 yards on three receptions. When both are running well and getting solid blocking, they do plenty to contribute to the win, and this effort helped keep Kirk Cousins from having to play hero ball.
- Good for David Sills, who finally got his first career touchdown in the NFL at age 29. Sills is never going to be a consistent factor at receiver, but he had pried himself open a couple of times downfield this season only for Cousins or Michael Penix Jr. to miss him; the couple of catches and the score here were nice to see.
- Ditto Dylan Drummond, who had the first three regular season catches of his career and certainly looked capable enough doing so. The Falcons have made a point of keeping around depth receiving options on the roster and practice squad; it was nice to see a couple of them shine.
- Charlie Woerner catching three straight passes and breaking a couple of tackles was one of those odd stretches that make football fun. Woerner isn’t exactly a great receiver, but as a catch-it-and-run bulldozer, he could stand to see more work than he gets.
- James Pearce Jr. is slowly turning into the monster pass rusher we hoped he’d be. He now has sacks in three straight games, and he picked up a pair of them in this one, including an impressive fourth quarter, third down takedown of Tyler Shough that was just pure strength and effort. He finished with 1.5, splitting one with Brandon Dorlus, who also had 1.5
- What a run for the pass rush, which as Falcons fan David Branson noted on X has strung together four straight games of five or more sacks, only the 11th team in NFL history to do so. They forced Shough, who was better than I thought he’d be against pressure, to airmail or ground multiple throws and combined for five sacks overall; all of them came from first or second year defenders. There’s every reason to believe a pass rush this good and this young is going to be able to keep this up; the only question is what the ceiling really looks like once they have more time together.
- It hasn’t been nonstop stellar play, but Dee Alford’s 2025 season may as well be night and day compared to 2024. He made the first tackle of the week against Alvin Kamara, and then was alert enough to immediately scoop up Kamara’s ugly fumble on the second play. On the third Saints drive, he flew up to the line of scrimmage and swatted down a Tyler Shough pass. In the fourth quarter, he made a nice fourth down tackle on Dante Pettis to prevent a first down and essentially seal the game. Freed from Jimmy Lake’s defense, Alford has gone back to being a really useful cornerback who plays with fire and can take significant snaps at multiple positions. If this staff sticks around, I’d make sure to re-sign him.
- Ronnie Harrison had a role, just as Jeff Ulbrich promised, and made a great play swatting down Taysom Hill’s fourth down end zone pass in the third quarter with the Saints knocking on the door. Harrison’s aggression and physicality, plus a history of playing both linebacker and safety, mean he too should be a prioritized reserve re-signing for this staff.
- Xavier Watts had some big plays in this one, including a near-interception and the game-sealing actual interception on fourth down in the end zone to finish this one off. The rookie has certainly struggled at times, but for a third round pick jumping into the starting lineup, he’s really been a terrific asset for this defense. The playmaking ability will be useful for a very long time.
- Zane Gonzalez may or may not be able to keep it up, but it’s nice to not worry about missed kicks right now. He hit two from 50-plus yards and all three of his tries overall, adding nine points (and an extra point for 10) to the effort while drilling those kicks right down the middle. He also chipped in to save the 75 yard return from becoming a touchdown, slowing Dante Pettis just enough for the cavalry to arrive. If he does keep this rolling, Gonzalez could be around to compete with Lenny Krieg for the kicking job next summer.
- Mike Ford hasn’t been perfect, but when he has the lane at a returner, he does not miss. He had a pair of immediate return-ending tackles in this one, and has mostly been a force for good on an uneven coverage unit.
- Give both coordinators (and Morris, to whatever extent you’re willing) credit for an effective gameplan. The Falcons limited the run, stopped Taysom Hill cold (more on that in a moment), and were able to prevent the kinds of big plays the Saints were hunting for while keeping Shough off-balance, a game plan helped by the return of Divine Deablo but well-planned by Jeff Ulbrich. Zac Robinson, meanwhile, got Cousins comfortable and going, balanced the passing game well with the run, and generally had a depleted offense looking good enough to win the game while adjusting tendencies and personnel in a way we’ve been clamoring for basically since he arrived in town. Robinson in particular has been (justly) sharply criticized this year, so credit where it is very much due.
- Taysom Hill went 0/2 with an intentional grounding and carried the ball 10 times for 17 yards. The return of Divine Deablo was vital to that effort, as he always seemed to know where Hill was going and be in the vicinity, but really it was a team effort to turn one of the premier Falcons killers of the past several years into a complete non-factor. I was only too glad to see him reduced to near-irrelevance, even if the Saints refuse to accept that.
- They beat the Saints! I’ll never stop enjoying that.
The Ugly
- Elijah Wilkinson has been the most penalized Falcon this year, and while I give him credit for falling on the Kirk Cousins fumble on the first quarter Cameron Jordan strip sack, he also caused it by not blocking very well one play after he was called for a false start. He was hit for another false start later on in the second quarter as the Falcons were driving late. It is not his fault he’s still starting, and Wilkinson has had better stretches than we’d have any right to expect given that he was pressed into a full-time starting job, but his limitations are evident on a weekly basis. I’d like to see him back in 2026 because he can give you strong play in short stints, but the Falcons need to take a hard look at the future of right tackle after this injury-marred season.
- The Falcons got glimpses of what it would look like if Cousins was under duress an entire game, and that is not pretty. I’ll give kudos to Cousins for bailing out a couple of times to extend plays, something he rarely did last year, and for hanging in there while taking hits to deliver a handful of nice passes. On balance, though, Cousins often can’t get away and reverts to a slowly whirring read-checking machine when coverage is good and pressure is closing in, which will lead to disaster sooner or later. With Cousins looking better overall on Sunday, we’ll see if pressure is his undoing or something else he proves able to shake off after a couple of weeks.
- It was a nightmare game for Kyle Pitts. He reeled in a nice 23 yard catch, but also dropped multiple passes, including one that was deflected, intercepted, and returned for a touchdown by Justin Reid. Sure-handed throughout much of the early season, Pitts has been making the kind of mistakes that drive you crazy the last few weeks. A couple of nice blocks balanced things out a bit, but this was a big year for Pitts and his play has dropped off in the passing game far too much recently to think he has a strong chance of sticking around in 2026.
- The 75 yard return was another embarrassing moment; the fact that the Falcons managed to get away from that with no points allowed is a marvel but does not excuse the effort. Atlanta’s inability to take the right angle and avoid getting blocked out of returns has been hurting them all year long, and they’ve either been bottling these guys up or allowing excellent field position en route to the 14th-highest kick return yardage allowed. It’s a little late in the season to say it’s gotta be cleaned up, but it does.
- The penalties were rough. Feleipe Franks has been a legitimate contributor this year but has also had his fair of indefensible mistakes, including an unnecessary roughness penalty on a return that Morris justly lit into him for. Atlanta getting false starts on back-to-back plays was also deeply embarrassing. Against a better team, those could hurt them a lot more; thankfully the Saints were far sloppier and more penalty prone.
- What was Raheem Morris thinking on that first quarter challenge? He thought the ball had popped out on an Alvin Kamara carry, but it was very obviously not a fumble; perhaps he was just taking a flier or perhaps he got bad advice. Given the game management knocks against him that justifiably will not go away, I didn’t love him burning a timeout on a no-shot challenge, regardless; the Falcons could’ve used one more timeout near the end of the first half.
- The Falcons putting together a fairly complete effort, even against a bad team like the Saints, made me wistful for what might have been with better health, better coaching, better roster construction, better play, and better luck. Ah well.
The Wrapup
Game MVP
The defense for holding the Saints to just three points—the touchdown was on a pick-six—and doing a strong job start to finish.
One Takeaway
With Divine Deablo back in the lineup and a quality game plan for Kirk Cousins and company, the Falcons can still beat bad teams. Hey, it’s something.
Next Week
The very sorry Jets, who will welcome them to New Jersey at 2-9 and are coming off a 10 point effort against a scuffling Ravens defense. If the Falcons are going to pull out of their nosedive a little more completely, a win against New York is a must.
Final Word
TohellwiththeSaints.
