‘They outplayed us’

Published 1:00 am Tuesday, November 12, 2019

NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Saints seemed to have everything going for them.

They had won six games in a row. They were the healthiest they had been in two months as three offensive starters returned from multi-game absences due to injury. They were rested after enjoying a bye week. They were facing a team that had lost its last six games and won just once all season.

But none of that mattered as the struggling Atlanta Falcons came into the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Sunday and whipped the Saints 26-9.

“They beat us in all three areas,” Saints coach Sean Payton said.

The Falcons (2-7), who were also coming off a bye, rushed for the most yards by a New Orleans opponent this season (143) and Matt Ryan threw two touchdown passes.

The Falcons held the Saints to a season-low 52 rushing yards and kept them out of the end zone as the Saints were scoreless on three trips to the red zone.

All of New Orleans’ points came on three field goals by Wil Lutz, but Atlanta trumped the Saints there as well. Younghoe Koo made his Falcons debut and was 4 for 4 on field goals.

Throw in 12 penalties for 90 yards by the Saints and you wind up with New Orleans’ worst team-wide performance in recent memory.

“They outplayed us, they outcoached us and they deserve to win,” Payton said. “Collectively we’ve got to do a better job and that starts with me.”

Payton harped after the game and again during a conference call Monday morning on his team’s performance on third down on both sides of the ball.

The Saints were 3 of 12 on third down and 0 for 3 on fourth down. The Falcons were 6 of 15 on third down and 1 for 1 on fourth down. The Falcons also got six first downs thanks to Saints penalties.

“We have to get them off the field,” Saints cornerback P.J. Williams said. “Third down is money down.”

Drew Brees was playing his second game after returning from a five-game absence due to thumb surgery. He completed 32 of 45 for 287 yards, though 77 of those yards came on the game’s final possession when the Falcons were content to let him complete short passes and let the clock run out, which it did when Michael Thomas was stopped just short of the goal line after a fourth-down reception.

The Falcons had just seven sacks for the season coming into the game, but they brought down Brees six times as the Saints offensive struggled both before and after starting left guard Andrus Peat left the game for good in the second quarter because of an injured right arm.

“The great equalizer in any game is the pass rush,” Brees said.

The Saints (7-2) reviewed the tape Monday morning before turning their attention to the next game at Tampa Bay next Sunday.

Rookie center Erik McCoy said he was confident that the team would rebound well because it did so after its only previous loss this season.

That one came in week two at the Los Angeles Rams and was by an almost identical score to Sunday’s (27-9). Brees suffered his thumb injury on New Orleans’ second possession, but the team won at Seattle the next Sunday to start the winning streak that ended against the Falcons.

“The beauty of this team is we don’t look too far ahead and we don’t look behind us,” defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins said. “We look at the tape, we’re critical of it and we move on. Guys are hard on themselves. Guys take their craft very seriously as they should.

“Guys took responsibility when it was on them and took notes, knew what to write down, knew what steps to take to correct those mistakes moving forward and doing their best to not let them happen again. That’s all you can ask for as a professional is for guys to take responsibility and move forward on to the next week and put their best foot forward to help this team achieve the success that we all want to achieve.”