There are no moral victories in the NFL. All it means is that you lost, but didn’t get blown out. But after the Falcons’ 26-23 loss against the undefeated New Orleans Saints, there has to be something said about how this team came back from 14 points down in the third to tie the game at 23 early in the fourth.“I really can’t tell you how proud I am of the way the 53 guys are on our roster,” said a deflated Mike Smith, whose team is under .500 for the first time since he took over in 2008. “It’s a resilient group. I’ve been saying that all season long. I like the way we hung in there.”
The Falcons were able to get the scoring started on their first possession of the game as new kicker Matt Bryant kicked a 36-yard field goal to go up by three. New Orleans answered when Garrett Hartley kicked a 33-yard field goal to tie the game.
But the Falcons offense was clicking on their next drive thanks to a 30-yard run off a reverse by Eric Weems, which led to another Bryant 30-yard field goal to go up by three again.
But you can’t hold a good offense down for too long, as the Saints scored touchdowns on their next two possessions. The first touchdown pass was from Drew Brees to Reggie Bush for a 6-yard strike and the other was a 3-yard touchdown pass to Marques Colston. The Falcons were able to kick another field goal, this time a 27-yarder, and the Falcons were down by seven going into the half.
The start of the third quarter was a rough one for the Falcons as Brees threw another touchdown pass to Bush to put the Saints up 14. Some will argue that touchdown shouldn’t have happened because three plays prior to that, Falcons cornerback Bent Grimes picked off a Brees pass but it was called back because Grimes was called for pass interference for pushing off on Saints receiver Robert Meachem.
But Smith was quick to shoot down any controversy about the call.
“I saw pass interference because I saw two flags out there on field,” Smith said.
Regardless the Falcons were able to keep their composure on the next drive as Chris Redman threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins and cut the Saints lead to seven.
“[New Orleans] brought some pressure from the outside and we saw that nobody was deep,” Redman said talking about the touchdown throw. “‘Jenk’ made a great play.”
The Falcons were able to get the ball back and a Redman 19-yard pass play to Brian Finneran led to a Jason Snelling 4-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 23.
“When our offense is clicking, we’re capable of doing some good things,” Redman added. “We just fell a little short today.”
New Orleans was able to drive downfield for a Hartley 38-yard field goal, and this is where things got interesting. When the Falcons got the ball, they only had it for two plays because Redman’s pass was intercepted by Jonathan Vilma and it looked as if the Saints were going to wrap it up right there with a field goal. But the Saints faked the field goal and the conversion failed.
That led to the Falcons having one more shot at getting a field goal or a touchdown, but on fourth-and-2 on the Saints 46-yard line, Redman threw a 1-yard pass to Snelling where Vilma made the tackle and the Falcons turned the ball over on downs.
“I thought we just had a yard to get and [Vilma] just made a great play,” said Redman, who threw for 303 yards and one touchdown with one pick in the loss. “I really didn’t see him sitting there. I thought for sure that we would have gotten the first and they just made a great play.”
The Falcons drop to 6-7 and their playoff chances are getting slimmer and slimmer. Their next three games are at the New York Jets, back at home against Buffalo, and at Tampa Bay. So if they want to finish the season with a winning record and a chance to make it to the postseason, there can be no more losses, however close or hard-fought they are.
Jones can be reached at bjones@scoreatl.com.
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