3 Saints to blame for losing NFC South control with Falcons defeat

The New Orleans Saints lost their grip at the top of the NFC South on Sunday with a 24-15 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

The Falcons are now the unlikeliest division leader while the Saints are looking like one of the NFL's biggest underachievers.

What went wrong against Atlanta? Who is to blame for the losing record?

3. Defensive line

Defensive success is usually governed by two simple concepts: Can you get to the passer? And can you stop the run?

The Saints did neither against the Falcons.

New Orleans' defensive line is at the root of the problem. They generated zero sacks against a team that came in giving up an average of three sacks per game. The lone QB hit for the defense came courtesy of a defensive back: Tyrann Mathieu.

That's not a terribly big surprise. The Saints have been one of the worst teams in the league when it comes to generating pressure this season and second worst with just 18 sacks. They're making it too easy on opposing quarterbacks and it's killing them.

On top of that, the Saints gave up 228 yards rushing to the Falcons. That's the most Atlanta has managed this season and the most New Orleans has given up. Saints fans need to hope this was an outlier rather than a sign of worse things to come.