We're on to October, and Atlanta Falcons Hate Week marches on. The New Orleans Saints will host the dirty birds on Monday Night Football in Week 4, and we're continuing to highlight some of the best plays in the NFL's best rivalry. This time, a 54-yard touchdown run by Deuce McAllister is our pick for the Saints Play of the Day. McAllister, then a rookie running back, made a huge difference in a grudge match with the Atlanta Falcons back in 2001. Both teams took the field at the old Georgia Dome with six wins on the year, but records didn't seem to matter when these two archrivals shared the field.
You can see it for yourself right here. McAllister took a pitch to the left and fought through contact to break into the open field, and at that point
it became a footrace. Seeing McAllister outpace the defenders chasing him the closer he got to the end zone is just impressive. You'd expect to see that gap tighten up, but McAllister proved to be too fast for them. Who knew the first-year pro had wheels like that?
Funny enough, this wasn't McAllister's first touchdown of the day. He threw a 12-yard touchdown pass early on to wide receiver Willie Jackson on a trick play, tying up the score at 7-7. So it's fitting that he put the game away himself in the final minutes, lengthening New Orleans' lead to 28-10 and becoming just the fourth non-quarterback in team history to score a touchdown as both a rusher and a passer in the same game.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints Play of the Day: Deuce McAllister's 54-yard TD vs. the Falcons
