Saints Stun Falcons 31-27, Undefeated Streak End on the Bayou
By Josh Hill
We made it almost all the way through the season last year with a team holding an undefeated streak. The Packers lost to the Chiefs in a trap game and it was their only regular season blemish. This year we made it 10 weeks before we were absent of undefeated teams, as the Atlanta Falcons were stunned on the road in New Orleans, losing their first game of the season at the hands of a rival.
The Falcons jumped out to a fast 10-0 lead but the Saints weren’t about to pass up this opportunity to not only remain red hot after a slow start to the season, but to topple their rivals and ruin their dreams of an undefeated season.
That’s exactly what happened on Sunday as Drew Brees turned in a 298 yard, 3 TD performance, beating the Falcons and more importantly, successfully getting the Saints season back on track. But if there’s one guy that deserves a majority of the credit for the win it’s tight End Jimmy Graham who exploded for the Saints catching an insane 146 yards and two of Brees three touchdowns on just seven receptions.
Chris Ivory deserves props as well, as this was the first week that the Saints running game really took off, and that was all Ivory. The most impressive part of Ivory’s 72 yard, 1TD game was that he only got 7 carries. Mark Ingram got a majority of the touches and couldn’t amount the yards Ivory did and he was also held out of the endzone.
This will no doubt be the most talked about game of the afternoon as it involved the final undefeated team falling. Atlanta is still well within command of the NFC South, but their lust for glory is now, in a way, gone.
They always say the first loss is needed, but for the Falcons team, no matter how good they are in the regular season they get knocked for being a horrible playoff team. Doubters will look at this game and critique the Falcons flaws, but we should have seen this one coming from weeks away. The Falcons have limped and lucked their way into wins so far this season and it was only a matter of time before someone didn’t allow them to come back.
Turns out it was the Saints, who have their own behind the scenes drama and backstory coming into this that makes this game even more interesting. The Falcons season is far from over, as they’re 8-1 and leading the NFC still, but things will get interesting in the playoff hunt down the road, particularly with the Bears down the stretch.