ATLANTA -- Thoughts on the Atlanta Falcons’
23-13 victory against the
New Orleans Saints at the Georgia Dome on Thursday night:
What it means: For a change, the Falcons beat their biggest nemesis. For just the third time in the era of coach Mike Smith and quarterback
Matt Ryan, Atlanta came away with a victory against the Saints. That puts the Falcons at 11-1 and keeps them in the lead for the No. 1 seed in the NFC. The loss drops the Saints to 5-7 and pretty much ends their chances of making it to the playoffs.
The streak is over: Drew Brees' streak of consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass came to an end at 54 games. Brees had a first-half touchdown to
Darren Sproles called back by an offensive pass-interference penalty and
Lance Moore also was unable to haul in what looked like a catchable pass in the end zone.
Not the night for QBs: Brees and Ryan are two of the best quarterbacks in the league, but they didn’t play like it in this one. Brees was intercepted five times and Ryan was unusually out of rhythm on a night when the Falcons didn't convert a first down until the fourth quarter.
Show of faith: I didn’t like Smith’s decision to attempt a 55-yard field goal, especially since kicker
Matt Bryant had been a bit shaky in recent weeks. But Smith showed faith in his kicker and Bryant made the field goal to give the Falcons a 23-13 lead with 4:25 remaining.
Play of the night: Bryant’s kick might not have been possible if it hadn’t been for a huge play by
John Abraham. With the Saints driving, Abraham sacked Brees with 10:30 left in the game to take the Saints out of field-goal position and force a punt.
Almost play of the night: Kroy Biermann hit Brees’ arm to force an interception by
Jonathan Babineaux with 3:29 remaining to seal the win.
What’s next: The Saints travel to play the
New York Giants on Dec. 9. The Saints play at Carolina on that same day.
