The New Orleans Saints were back from their bye week with a home tilt against the Atlanta Falcons. Here’s a quick look back on all the action from Sunday.
First Quarter
The visitors were instantly forced to punt after a three-and-out, but had the ball back just as quickly after a Saints fumble on their second play.
Chase Young soon sacked Kirk Cousins on third down, but Atlanta had started in field goal range. Zane Gonzalez’s 56-yarder was good.
Mason Tipton then set up the Saints with an even shorter field of their
own, returning the kickoff for 75 yards. But Tyler Shough was unable to capitalize in the red zone before Blake Grupe missed a 38-yard attempt.
Penalties against the Falcons, followed by a sack from Cam Jordan, resulted in another punt, but the Saints were unable to move the ball past midfield before punting again.
Cousins connected with Kyle Pitts for 23 yards to close the first.
Second Quarter
Bijan Robinson soon broke out for a 32-yard run to set up 1st-and-goal, before Cousins found David Sills in the end zone to give Atlanta a 10-0 lead.
Shough connected with Devaughn Vele for 14 yards on the ensuing drive as New Orleans neared field goal range before he was sacked, and another punt followed.
Tyler Allgeier broke off a pair of runs to start the Falcons’ next possession before Cousins threw a pick-six to Justin Reid, who ran it back for six. Grupe’s extra point put the score at 10-7.
Cousins responded with a 9-play, 41-yard drive that ended in another field goal from Gonzalez. Shough then led a drive of similar yardage, but Grupe missed again from 47 yards.
The Falcons were able to get back into field goal range with less than a minute to work with, helped by a 9-yard catch from Dylan Drummond. Gonzalez kicked through from 54 yards to end the half, Atlanta leading 16-7.
Third Quarter
Shough began the third with an 18-yard pass to Devin Neal, who proceeded to do a lot of the work on a 15-play, 74-yard Saints drive.
But, despite having 1st-and-goal from the 8-yard line, New Orleans couldn’t find the end zone. Taysom Hill failed to find Vele on 4th-and-goal from the 1, forcing a turnover-on-downs.
Atlanta went three-and-out, and the Saints found more success moving the ball as they got it back, including another 18-yard connection from Shough to Neal and a 16-yard throw to Chris Olave.
Fourth Quarter
An intentional grounding against Hill left the Saints facing 4th-and-goal from the 15. This time, Grupe was good from 33 yards.
But needing a stop, the Saints couldn’t get one. Cousins found Robinson for 32 yards before throwing a 49-yard touchdown pass to Darnell Mooney. A successful two-point conversion run from Robinson gave Atlanta a commanding 24-10 lead.
The teams proceeded to exchange punts before the Saints turned it over on downs again, a pass to Dante Pettis on 4th-and-15 left just short of the yard-to-gain.
The Falcons punted once more, and Shough was able to drive into Falcons territory as the game entered the final minute. But his pass aimed at Olave in the end zone was intercepted by Xavier Watts to seal the Atlanta victory.
The Saints will look to bounce back when they face the Dolphins on the road in Week 13.
