This was the biggest the biggest regular season game for the Falcons in recent memory.
Over 70,000 fans were at the Georgia Dome to see the Falcons take the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints. If the Falcons win, they clinch the NFC South title and the No. 1seed in the playoffs. They are going to have to wait another week to clinch because miscues on offense caused the Falcons to lose 17-14 to New Orleans.
“How we played today is not how we play,” John Abraham said who notched his 13th sack of the year against the Saints. “We gave them stuff.”
One of the “stuff” the Falcons gave to the Saints was a fumble early in the second quarter. The Falcons had the ball at their own 38-yard line on third-and-eight and that is when Todd McClure mishandled the snap and the ball was recovered by Jonathan Vilma. That led to a 5-play, 34-yard drive which ended with a Pierre Thomas 2-yard touchdown run to give the Saints the 10-0 lead.
There was another fumble that proved more costly for the Falcons which happened at the start of the third quarter. The Falcons were at the Saints 1-yard line and looked as if they were going to take the lead. But Michael Turner fumbled and was recovered by Marvin Mitchell. The Saints could not turn that into points but that fumble prove to be the turning point of the game.
“It’s a little bit uncharacteristic of us,” Ryan said of the two costly turnovers. “Both of those guys have made so many plays for us throughout the entire year. Once in a while those things are going to happen.”
In between the two fumbles, the Falcons did get on the board. After the Thomas 2-yard touchdown run, the Falcons put together an 8-play 78-yard drive which ended with a Ryan 7-yard touchdown pass to Roddy White to cut the Saints lead to three.
There wasn’t anymore scoring until the fourth quarter when the Falcons defense came up with a huge play as Chauncey Davis intercepted a Brees pass at the Saints 26-yard line which was returned for a touchdown to take the lead. Brees was intercepted again on the ensuing drive and this time it was John Abraham who returned it to the Falcons 47-yard line. However, the Falcons offense could not capitalize and were forced to give the ball back to the Saints with 10:35 left in the game.
Brees and company did not turn the ball over this time, as they produced a 13-play 90 yard drive which ended with a Brees 6-yard TD pass to Jimmy Graham and the Saints would take the lead again and would hold on until time expired.
“It’s very frustrating,” Ryan said on the struggles on offense. “I felt like our defense played awesome the entire day. They created a number of turnovers. Offensively, we weren’t in rhythm most of the day and made some mistakes in the red zone as well.
The offense for the Falcons was not at its best, totaling only 215 yard and 75 of the yards came on the ground. Turner, who is the NFC’s leading rusher, ran for only 48 yards on 17 carries. Ryan finished his day completing 15-of-29 passes, 148 yards and one touchdown. However, his passer rating was 77.9, which was better than Brees who finished with at 77.1
Defensively, the Falcons played one of their better games, holding he Saints to only 17 points and forcing two interceptions and one sack. That sack and one of the interceptions came from Abraham who also had three tackles in the loss. Curtis Lofton led the team with 11 tackles and Thomas DeCoud added nine.
The Falcons have no time to dwell on the loss because they have to regroup and get ready for the Carolina Panthers. And it’s a game the Falcons have to win because they will clinch the No. 1 seed with a victory over their NFC South rivals. As disappointed the Falcons are with the loss against New Orleans, they may benefit from it in the long run.
“You learn from games weather you win or lose,” Ryan said. “I’m excited to get back to work. Frustrated for sure, but with that in mind, we don’t want to feel this way again for the rest of the year.”
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