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Saints Drop Series, Season, In Loss To Atlanta

The New Orleans Saints were eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday afternoon in a 30-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

It was their second loss to the Falcons this year.

The Saints needed the win, or a Carolina loss to the Cleveland Browns, to keep their playoff hopes alive. They got neither.

“There are things you need to do to play and win consistently in this league, and we haven’t done those things consistently,” said Saints head coach Sean Payton in a postgame press conference. “Obviously it’s disappointing at this stage of the season with what was at stake. There’s that sting, that finality, but we did not play as well enough as we needed to to get the win.”

It was a capstone to a pretty awful season for the Saints (though they have one more game to play, in Tampa Bay), and the first time since 1980 the team has lost five consecutive games at home.

Sunday’s game got off to a promising start, with a new light show and fireworks display — in the final home game of the season — that got the crowd of 73,164 (announced) riled up. The payoff came just minutes later, as the Saints’ Jalen Saunders received the opening kickoff and returned it 99 yards, the longest return by any Saint that did not result in a touchdown.

Mark Ingram (who turned 25 on Sunday) ran in the 1-yard touchdown, and with just 20 seconds off the clock the Superdome was rollicking, and the Saints were rolling.

Atlanta answered right back, taking three and a half minutes to move 55 yards down the field and kick a 55-yard field goal.

From there on out it was all Atlanta football.

Drew Brees threw two interceptions, including a killer with 2:35 left to play as the Saints were attempting to mount a comeback, and fumbled the ball twice. The Saints managed just 78 net yards of offense in the first half, and actually lost 32 yards on pass attempts before the mid-game break.

“It’s disappointing to know that with two games left we controlled our destiny,” Brees said after the game. “Life goes on. You have to find out a way to overcome whatever happens out there.”

Happenstances… like an apparent Jimmy Graham touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter. Graham, who appeared to collect a 12-yard pass and break the goal line plane, fumbled the ball and had it recovered by Atlanta’s Kemal Ishmael.

An NFL officials supervisor in the press box said it looked like a touchdown, but it wasn’t his call. “I’ve been wrong before,” he said.

And again today. After review the play was upheld.

“Where the ball was in his arms, his arms were over the goal line, I thought he was going to be doing the touchdown dance,” said Brees.

New Orleans would score next, a 4-yard dart to Graham with 5:52 to play to cut Atlanta’s lead to 6, but the final Brees interception by Robert McClain lead to an Atlanta field goal.

“It was a big-time play,” said Atlanta head coach Mike Smith. “He got a great jump on the ball.”

The Saints would take one more shot, settling into their two-minute drill and driving down the field to the Atlanta 8-yard line. But with 13 seconds left Brees took a sack and fumbled the ball. Atlanta’s Kroy Biermann snatched it up and ran 86 yards for the final touchdown as time expired.

Game Notes

New Orleans will close out the season on Dec. 28 at Tampa Bay.

Sunday was Drew Brees’ 200th career NFL start.

Jimmy Graham’s 4th Quarter TD reception was the 51st of his career, moving him into second place on the Saints’ all-time list.

Kicker Shayne Graham’s two extra points moved his total to 100 on the season, the 7th time he’s cracked 100 points in his 15-year NFL career.

The third down siren did not make an appearance on Sunday. The Falcons converted 7 of 15 third-down attempts (47%).

Jason Saul served as WWNO's Director of Digital Services. In 2017 he took a position at BirdNote, in Seattle.

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