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Week 10 Game Recap: New Orleans Saints 20, Atlanta Falcons 34
What you need to know
| New Orleans Saints |
The Saints came into the game coming off their bye week and battling to stay out of the cellar in the NFC South. They found the going tough on offense during the first half, having a hard time getting into the end zone when they moved the ball into the red zone. They had to settle for a field goal on their first trip into the red zone and had to settle for another one two possessions later as they drove all the way to the Atlanta 26.
The rushing attack was unable to get going against the tough Falcon defensive front seven. Pierre Thomas and Deuce McAllister split the bulk of the workload, but neither back was able to break a carry for more than nine yards. The inability to sustain a running game forced the Saints to go to a pass heavy attack and turned the offense into a one dimensional unit.
Drew Brees' performance can not be viewed solely through his final statistics. He barely completed over 50% of his attempts while throwing for 422 yards. He was forced to complete passes while under a heavy rush and had to scramble around in the pocket to bye some extra time.
Marques Colston had his best game of the season despite being well covered by Falcon defensive backs. Colston teamed with Lance Moore to form an excellent one two punch of receivers for Drew Brees. With Colston taking care of the deep routes, Moore provided Brees with a solid target on shorter routes and came up the big catches when needed.
| Atlanta Falcons |
The Falcons dominated the Saints by controlling the line of scrimmage to earn their sixth victory of the season, and move into at a tie for second place in the division. The defense and special teams units were able to provide the offense with excellent field position, with four of the ten offensive series starting either at midfield or in Saints territory. However, the offense was only able to score a total of seven points off of those drives.
Matt Ryan took advantage of the defense playing in soft coverage against his receivers to complete 70% off his passes, most of them being quick out patterns that his receivers caught in front of the defensive back before going out of bounds.
The offense relied on Michael Turner to carry the load, and he responded with a 96 yard effort on the ground. Turner was up to the challenge, and did the majority of the work in the second half as the Falcons were content with trying to run out the clock.
Roddy White was the favorite target of Matt Ryan, seeing six targets in the first half as the Falcons built a 17--6 halftime lead. All but 11 of his yards were compiled in the opening half as his second half workload was limited to helping the offense gain first downs to keep the clock moving and the Saints offense off of the field.
What you ought to know
| QB Drew Brees, Pass: 31 - 58 - 422 - 2 TD / 3 INT, Rush: 2 - 10 - 0 |
The final numbers will show the Brees had an excellent day, but the statistics do not tell the entire story. Brees had to create his own opportunities as he was facing a strong pass rush that was constantly in the backfield. The pressure applied had an effect on him, with two of three interceptions the result of him trying to rush his throws and force passes into areas where his receiver was double covered. The other interception, on the opening play of the game, was entirely his fault as he had plenty of time to throw but threw the ball deep downfield to a well covered receiver. Most of his yards came in garbage time when the Falcons were playing in a prevent style defense with a two score lead for most of the second half. He was able to lead the team to two second half scores, but the final score came on a fluke play where Lance Moore was able to catch a tipped Hail Mary pass in the end zone.
| RB Pierre Thomas, Rush: 6 - 26 - 0, Rec: 5 - 34 - 0 (9 targets) |
Filling in for Deuce McAllister, Thomas had a team high six carries. His workload out of the backfield was limited due to the Saints having difficulty rushing the ball and having to go to a passing attack. Thomas proved to be a valuable asset out the backfield as he functioned as a safety net for Drew Brees to rely on if all of his other options were covered.
| RB Deuce McAllister, Rush: 5 - 18 - 0, Rec: 2 - 23 - 1 (2 targets) |
McAllister started and received the majority of the carries in the first quarter and caught one pass in the second quarter before leaving the game until the final period. He did not appear to be injured. He found the going tough on the ground during his limited time as he had trouble escaping defenders. His only action in the final period was on an occasional third down play when he gave Pierre Thomas a breather. In the fourth quarter he was able to take a screen pass from Drew Brees into the end zone to bring them within 14 points with less than ten minutes left. That would be as close as they would get until the final score.
| RB Aaron Stecker, Rush: 3 - 21 - 0 (1 targets) |
Aaron Stecker saw limited action in relief of Deuce McAllister and Pierre Thomas. All of his carries and lone target came in the first half, generating the longest run from scrimmage by a Saints back when he bounced to the outside on a run designed to inside. That rush gave them a key first down on their first scoring drive.
| WR Marques Colston, Rec: 7 - 140 - 0 (14 targets) |
Marques Colston got the start and proved that he is fully back from his thumb injury that had limited him in the previous two games. He provided Brees with an excellent target downfield and was able to use his great hands and size to haul in passes that were thrown to spots where he had an excellent chance to catch the ball. However, his numbers were hindered by the excellent coverage skills of the Falcon defensive backs. He had four potential receptions that seemed to be in his grasp but was knocked away at the last second. One of those instances was on a pass in the end zone that he was able to get both hands on but had the ball knocked out by the defender before he could get both feet down in the end zone.
| WR Lance Moore, Rec: 6 - 76 - 1 (12 targets) |
Lance Moore did not start but was a key contributor to the passing attack. He made several key receptions and appeared to be on the same wavelength with Brees. Four of his six receptions resulted in either a first down or a touchdown. His touchdown reception was more due to luck than any type of pass catching skill as he was in the right place to catch a Hail Mary pass that was tipped up in the air by the group of players to his right.
| WR Devery Henderson, Rush: 1 - 30 - 0, Rec: 2 - 33 - 0 (5 targets) |
Henderson had a frustrating game. He started and was the target on the opening play, but was unable to come up with the pass due to being double covered. He was also the target on the interception return for a touchdown on Brees' final interception. In between he had the longest run from scrimmage by a Saints player on an end around in the first quarter and contributed a key first down reception on a touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.
| WR David Patten, Rec: 2 - 35 - 0 (4 targets) |
Patten only saw action during the fourth quarter, but played a key role in fueling the attempted comeback. His two receptions in the fourth quarter both resulted in first downs on the same drive as the Saints were driving to get within a touchdown. His final reception was on a fourth and five play from midfield that got them to within field goal range.
| TE Billy Miller, Rec: 5 - 65 - 0 (6 targets) |
Billy Miller was the most reliable of the tight ends employed by the Saints. He saw all of his action in the fourth quarter after Jeremy Shockey dropped a couple of passes and got into an animated discussion with Drew Brees on the sideline. Miller is an excellent receiver and knows where to find the open areas in the field against the defensive coverage. His only non-reception was on a pass that was thrown a little low and late.
| TE Jeremy Shockey, Rec: 2 - 16 - 0 (5 targets) |
Shockey started and produced little positive results for the offense. He was removed from the game during the fourth quarter after he dropped two consecutive passes that would have given the Saints either a first down or put them in a short yardage situation. After the first drop, on a third down play, he was seen on the sideline getting an earful from an animated and clearly upset Drew Brees.
| PK Garrett Hartley 2 - 2 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 8 points |
Hartley made his NFL debut and was a perfect two for two on field goals. He did botch two attempted onside kicks during the fourth quarter.
| NO Rush Defense |
The Saints only allowed a total of 113 yards on the ground, but they were not able to stop the Falcons when the game was on the line. The Falcons used the second half to keep the ball on the ground and run out the clock. The game plan was designed to keep the Saints offense off of the field. The plan worked during the third quarter when they had the ball for 11 minutes. In the fourth quarter the defense stiffened up and they only allowed 19 yards rushing on the final offensive series.
| NO Pass Defense |
The pass defense was abused early on quick out routes as the defensive back decided to play off of the receivers. Ryan accounted for 145 of his total yards in the first half against the soft coverage. In the second half the Falcons chose to keep the ball on the ground and rarely attempted any passes. The majority of the yards in the second half came on a screen pass to Jerious Norwood that he took down the sideline for a 67 yard touchdown.
| QB Matt Ryan, Pass: 16 - 23 - 248 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - -2 - 0 |
Matt Ryan was efficient against the Saints defense, completing ten of 13 passes in the first half against a depleted front seven. He faced little pressure from the Saints linemen, not getting sacked and having ample time to find his open receivers. The Falcons used a balanced attack to keep the defense off balance and did not put Ryan into any difficult situations where he could make mistakes. He concentrated on getting the ball to his receivers early as five of his first six attempts went to wide outs.
| RB Michael Turner, Rush: 27 - 96 - 1, Rec: 1 - 0 - 0 (1 targets) |
Michel Turner was used effectively to gain tough yards to try and keep the Saints offense off of the field. He is a tough inside runner who is not afraid of contact and gets the yards necessary. His touchdown run in the first quarter was on a play in which the offensive line opened up a good hole in the line and he burst through it. In the third quarter he was used as a tool to grind out the clock as the Falcons kept the ball for 11 minutes of the quarter.
| RB Jerious Norwood, Rush: 6 - 17 - 0, Rec: 2 - 88 - 1 (3 targets) |
Norwood split carries with Michael Turner through the early stages of the third quarter as the Falcons built a three touchdown lead. He used his speed on runs to get to the outside corner and gain positive yards. His speed was evident on his touchdown reception in the fourth quarter when he took a simple screen pass and sprinted down the right sideline and simply outran the defense to give the Falcons a 21 point lead.
| WR Michael Jenkins, Rec: 6 - 72 - 0 (6 targets) |
Starting opposite of Roddy White, Jenkins got his fair share of targets during the first half as the Saints decided to concentrate their coverage on White. Jenkins worked primarily on the right side of the field and was able to get open on short out patterns against a coverage that was designed to keep him from getting open deep.
| WR Roddy White, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0, Rec: 5 - 68 - 1 (9 targets) |
White is an explosive receiver who is the favorite target of Matt Ryan. Helped out by Michael Jenkins getting open, which caused the defense to respect both receivers instead of concentrating on him, he was able to use his speed to get open on medium range routes. His lone touchdown pass was on a skinny post route where he split two defenders and Ryan hit him in stride in the end zone.
| WR Brian Finneran, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (2 targets) |
Finneran was only able to catch one target thrown in his direction.
| TE Justin Peelle, Rec: 1 - 14 - 0 (1 targets) |
Peelle was only targeted one time but served as an occasional lead blocker in the backfield for both Turner and Norwood.
| PK Jason Elam 2 - 2 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 10 points |
Elam made both of his field goal attempts from short range and was perfect on his four extra point tries.
| ATL Rush Defense |
The Falcons rushing defense totally shut down the Saints running game, limiting them to 105 total rushing yards. 30 of the yards came courtesy of an end around by Henderson as the Falcons front seven was able to clog up the running lanes inside and stop the backs from getting to the outside.
| ATL Pass Defense |
The pass defense played well despite giving up 422 yards passing. The defense backs played the receivers tight and knocked away numerous passes that were close to being completed. They intercepted Brees three times, returning the last one for a game clinching touchdown.
