A 35-27 win over the Atlanta Falcons improved the team to 7-0 on the season and has given them a three game lead in the NFC South Division. It’s the second time in the franchise’s 43-year history that a team has started out with seven straight wins. No team has ever won eight straight.
“This is a huge win. You know really it’s worth two. It wasn’t the prettiest win at times but we did what we needed to do, when we needed to do it in order to get the victory and that says a lot,” said quarterback Drew Brees following the win Monday night.
Chalk it up as another one of those, finding ways to win football games category. Atlanta came to play, they took the opening kickoff and scored a touchdown. The Falcons forced four Saints turnovers, three fumbles and an interception. The Saints missed a field goal, and gave up 151 yards rushing to Atlanta’s Michael Turner.
With the loss, the Falcons suffered a pair of first under the Mike Smith era. Since Smith became head coach, Atlanta had not lost back to back games, plus they had not lost when running back Michael Turner has rushed for over 100 yards. Both things happened Monday night.
The Saints however are showing this season that they have the talent to overcome a laundry list of problems and win.
“We did a lot of things well and yet we did a lot of things that made it close at the end,” coach Sean Payton said. “I’m excited to win though. I’m excited to win this game and get to 7-0. It was an important game against a division team and I’m proud of our players. They fought.”
The Saints overcame all of the bad things by scoring five touchdowns, and having an opportunistic defense. Brees had scoring tosses to Marcus Colston for 18 yards and Pierre Thomas for a one yarder. Reggie Bush rushed into the end zone from a yard out, and Pierre Thomas had a 22 yard scoring run. Cornerback Jabari Greer provided this week’s weekly ritual of a pick-six, with a 48 yard interception return in the second quarter.
The Saints defense picked off Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan three times on the night. The other two picks were just as big. Cornerback Tracy Porter snagged his inside the Saints 5-yard line preventing a Falcons go ahead score late in the fourth quarter. Safety Darren Sharper collected his NFL leading seventh pick on a final play Hail Mary pass to end the game.
The Saints will stay in the division next week as the Carolina Panthers come to town in a late afternoon kick off. The Panthers are coming off of an impressive win at Arizona. Carolina is 3-4 this season, having won three of their last four, two of those wins came against Washington and Tampa Bay.
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