Saints Fight Back For Win; Falcons Free Fall Continues

The New Orleans Saints were able overcome an early 13-7 deficit and went on to get their 9th win of the season. Falcons fall for their 5th straight to go 2-9 on the season and guaranteeing a losing record after having the best record in the NFC last season.

The Saints defense played a big role in this win, holding the Atlanta Falcons to 1 TD and 2 Field Goals all in the first half as well as sacking QB Matt Ryan 5 times for -28 yards. Drew Brees played an efficient game throwing for 23 completions on 33 attempts for 278 yards and 2 TD passes, a 44 yard pass to a wide open Jimmy Graham and a 1 yard pass to Benjamin Watson.

The Falcons had their chances to win this game in the 4th quarter but could not overcome the Saints defense, fumbling the ball once they reached the Saints red zone early in the quarter and failing to finish off a drive on the Saints 29 yard line with less than 3 minutes to go in regulation. The Falcons suffered their 9th loss of the season and 5th in a row, which sets them up for their first losing season since 2007, the season before they drafted Matt Ryan. The Falcons did have a very impressive first drive of the game, which was their only TD scoring drive of the entire game, when Matt Ryan ran the no huddle offense and set up a 10 play 70 yard drive that was capitalized by a Steven Jackson TD. That TD was the first time in almost a month that Atlanta has held the lead in a game (almost 15 quarters since they had a 3-0 lead on Arizona in Week 8).

Prediction:

NO over ATL 30-20

Final Score:

NO over ATL 17-13

Saints Key Stats:

TE Jimmy Graham posted another solid game with 5 receptions for 100 yards and a TD. DE Cameron Jordan played an outstanding game getting 2.5 sacks to the 5 total put on Matt Ryan. New Orleans also rushed for 103 yards on 23 attempts with most of those yards coming from RB Pierre Thomas who ran for 73 yards on 10 attempts with his longest run for 18 yards.

Falcons Missed-Key Stats:

K Matt Bryant was 2/3 on field goal attempts with his one miss coming on a 52 yard attempt that he originally kicked thru the uprights but Saints coach Sean Payton had "iced" him with a timeout and Bryant would go on to miss his next attempt. After gaining their first lead in almost a month, Drew Brees put an end to the celebration with a 15 play 78 yard drive capped with a TD to TE Benjamin Watson around the end of the 1st quarter. Atlanta would get a 3 point lead later in the 2nd quarter, but once again Drew Brees ended the party on their next possession with a 44 yard TD to TE Jimmy Graham to finish off a 5 play 80 yard drive and the Saints would go marching on to the finish line from there, only giving up a field goal for the remainder of the game.




So as you can see this was actually a pretty interesting game with a defensive showing in the 2nd half. The Saints next game will be an NFC Showdown when they travel to Seattle to take on the NFC-leading Seahawks who have not lost at home since Russell Wilson was drafted last year. This will be a great match up of the 2 teams with the best record in the NFC that will play a major role in each teams seeding heading into the playoffs. The Falcons next game will be in Buffalo to play the Bills who just recently got their rookie QB EJ Manuel back from injury.

Also check out my "NFL Week 12 Preview and Predictions" where I give a prediction for every game of Week 12.
I hope you enjoy my review of Thursday Nights game between the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons. If you need any Fantasy Football help be sure to check out my other posts.
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