The Saints tonight got a big home victory under new Coach DJDunn, even though they have high expectations this was the first win of the year of the rival Falcons. Saints struck early but on defense which on paper looks to be a weakness. OLB Mickael Kendricks picked the first pass of the game off and took it to the house for a TD making it 7-0 quick and the crowd got into it. The Falcons would answer but only kick a FG making it 7-3. Drew Brees who was pretty solid tonight would conduct a couple nice drives before the first half ended as WR Andre Roberts ran free a couple times to take a 17-3 lead. Atlanta would drive the field late but again only manage a FG making it 17-6 at the half. Saints got the ball looking to take full control however the Falcon defense would come out tough sacking Brees a number of times and getting in his face. LB K Maeweather was all over Jimmy Graham most of the night and Brees had no time to find his WR's all of a sudden. Atlanta would wake up on O as well as you can only contain WR's like Julio Jones and Roddy White for so long. After a long TD pass and a 2 pt conversion it was suddenly 17-14 going into the 4th. Brees would try to run some clock but the rush D was too much so he max protected and went back to the air. He was able to connect deep with Joe Morgan for a long pass to set up a 1st and goal and then a TD run making it 24-14 NO. The Saints D would pressure Matt Ryan again and get a TO setting up a TD pass to Jimmy Graham who finally found himself free in the seem making it 31-14. The Falcons would not go away however as they marched right down the field to make it 31-21 and after a quick 3 and out got the ball back with about 2 mins left and scored again late making 31-28 with about 1 minute left and having all their timeouts. New Orleans played it safe and ran 3 times but the punt went for a touchback instead of inside the 5 giving Atlanta hope for a tying FG with about 40 seconds left. However it was not meant to be on this night as the Saints D batted down several passes and locked up a nice win 31-28 at home. GG Overunder I look forward to the next one...
Danny boy....glad to see you taking helm in the 12th Man. Looking forward to a matchup down the road. I believe week 10.
