Top performances in the Saints' emotional win over rival Atlanta.
For the first time since Week 2 back in early September, the New Orleans Saints emerged from a football game with a win. New Orleans beat the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 20-17 on Sunday, improving their record to 3-7.
The win snapped a seven-game losing streak, second longest in team history during a single season. They did it by making key plays in all three phases, something the Saints have done very little of in two months.
A strong first half helped New Orleans grab control of the game. On their first offensive play, Taysom Hill took a quick Derek Carr throw 88 yards for a touchdown. The play was nullified by a (very) questionable holding call, but the Saints still drove the ball inside Atlanta's 10 before failing on a fourth down attempt.
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New Orleans scored on their other three drives of the first half, rolling up 265 total yards and going five for seven on third downs. The second half was more of a struggle offensively, as the Saints managed just three points, no third down conversions, and only 100 yards of total offense.
Defensively, it was easy to look at the numbers and think that the Saints had another poor outing. Atlanta had 468 yards of total offense, including 181 on the ground with 5.7 per carry and 306 through the air from Kirk Cousins.
The Saints performed poorly against the run, yet again, but their pass defense came up with some key plays in crucial moments. Cousins was sacked three times, fumbling on two, and threw one interception that nearly clinched the game.
Here are the top performers from the Saints victory over their most bitter rival.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling
The Saints came into this game without top receivers Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed. Wideouts Bub Means and Cedrick Wilson also remain sidelined. Replacements Mason Tipton, Dante Pettis, Kevin Austin, and Jermaine Jackson had a combined 14 catches this season, with all belonging to undrafted rookie Tipton. Only Pettis had any catches in an NFL game prior to this year.
Enter Valdes-Scantling, a seven-year veteran who was signed less than three weeks ago. Forced into a bigger role, Valdes-Scantling caught all three of his targets against the Falcons for 109 yards and two critical touchdowns. All his production came in the first half, but it was enough to provide the margin for victory.
On his first catch, Valdes-Scantling got great separation and pulled in a perfect deep strike from Derek Carr for a 40-yard touchdown. His second was another well-placed throw that Valdes-Scantling took 67 yard down to the Atlanta 3. Three plays later, Carr rifled a short touchdown to Valdes-Scantling to extend the New Orleans lead.
Carr had a solid day, completing 16 of 29 throws for 269 yards and those two scores without an interception. He was especially sharp in the first half, going 10 of 14 for 196 yards. He'd find seven different receivers among his depleted crew of pass catchers, but his most reliable target was the veteran out of that group.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling provided the kind of boost that Olave and Shaheed usually give to the offense. He'll have to be a more consistent threat for the team going forward, but was certainly a big key to beating the Falcons.
Defensive Leaders
New Orleans continues to struggle defensively. Making matters worse, the Saints came into this game without injured corners Kool-Aid McKinstry and Paulson Adebo. This was also just days after trading away star CB Marshon Lattimore.
On this day, the veteran leaders on the Saints defense stepped up to make some of the biggest plays of the game. Linebacker Demario Davis led all tacklers with 10 stops, including many at the line of scrimmage or for minimal gain. The tackling of safety Tyrann Mathieu was atrocious at times, but he did break up three passes and had a crucial interception. His pick ended a late Atlanta drive into Saints territory with his team clinging to a three-point lead.
Defensive end Cameron Jordan hasn't been much of a factor this season. Against Atlanta, Jordan played his second highest snap count (42) of the season and did so effectively. He recorded three pressures of Cousins, including a late fourth quarter sack that forced the Falcons into a longer field goal attempt that they ultimately missed.
The sack was vintage Jordan, an athletic maneuver where he lunged over a blocker to bring Cousins down. It was also the 24th sack of his legendary career against the Falcons.
The play of the defensive leaders perhaps fueled the others on the unit to better performances. Ugo Amadi had three tackles for loss and two passes broken up. Payton Turner (1 sack, 4 pressures, 1 forced fumble, 1 tipped pass) had perhaps the finest outing of his career. Chase Young recorded a sack and two QB hits while forcing a fumble.
Remember that in firing Dennis Allen, the Saints also lost their defensive play-caller and coordinator. Official coordinator Joe Woods played a more prominent role, but Jordan, Davis, and Mathieu clearly took charge with their play on the field.
Darren Rizzi
For just the sixth time in their 58-year history and the first time since November 3, 1996, the Saints went into a game with an interim head coach. Darren Rizzi promised that the Saints would fight, play hard, and be fun to watch after replacing Dennis Allen.
Check off all three boxes. New Orleans was a buzz-saw for the Falcons to handle, especially early in the game. When their offense stalled and faced with adversity in the second half, the Saints kept fighting and maintained discipline to make plays in key moments.
Too many times during Dennis Allen's tenure, New Orleans fell apart late in games. It was in those precise moments that Rizzi's Saints came through with the necessary plays to pull out a win. Under Allen, the Saints were 4-18 when facing a team with a .500 or better record and just 10-10 at home.
With Darren Rizzi, the Saints are 1-0 against teams with a winning record and 1-0 at the Superdome. New Orleans still needs to clean up much of their play on the field. For at least one week, the team showed much of what they rarely did under Allen with Rizzi on the sidelines.
