The cliche is true: Throw the records out when the Saints and Falcons meet up, and it was very necessary in Week 15 of the 2022 season.
However you went into it, the Saints' 21-18 victory over Atlanta at the Superdome felt satisfying, even if it doesn't mean much in the balance of this season. The good was good, the not-so-good was still not-so-good.
With all that in mind, here are my three quick takeaways from a cathartic afternoon in the Superdome to keep the Saints' super slim postseason hopes alive.
SWEEPING THE FALCONS STILL SLAPS
I get it. The Saints -- barring a miracle -- aren't going anywhere beyond Week 18 of this season. I'm not going to sit here and argue that 5-9 is all that more exciting than 4-10. But emotions and try-hard matter, even if a subset of the fanbase doesn't want to hear it.
Heck, I can say with certainty that a subset of the fanbase was sitting at home (and on Twitter, for sure) not so quietly rooting for an 0-4 debacle to close out the season because maybe that'd have forced the Saints brass's hand in terms of canning Dennis Allen.
I choose to live in a reality where a much bigger swath of the fanbase isn't quite that toxic. And that's why the Week 15 win over the Falcons feels momentous, at least to me. This team had every reason to let go of the rope. The franchise? Not so much, considering they traded away their 2023 first-rounder. But the players? They had every excuse to go at something less than 100% this late in a season mired in mediocrity.
That's not what happened. Young players, and potential future stars, have continued to step up. Juwan Johnson, Alontae Taylor, Rashid Shaheed, Chris Olave, these are the players you'll be looking to in the next several years to lead a charge back into the upper echelon of the NFC. They showed grit in this game, and when you're evaluating this roster at the close of the season, those are the parts of it that will give you confidence going forward, however things look.
And at the end of the day, in the worst season that many fans will be able to remember, you know what happened? The Saints still managed to sweep the Falcons. It's a small victory, but a good troll is worth its weight in gold, and the Saints still got that. Enjoy the things you can enjoy. Have fun when you can. That's what this game is about.
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IT HAPPENED AGAIN.
I won't bore you with the turnover differential, but the Saints again struggled to get it in their favor -- and not for lack of opportunities. Midway through the first quarter, rookie Alontae Taylor had a gift-wrapped interception from Desmond Ridder that'd have probably turned into a pick-6. It deflected off his hands and was very close to landing in the waiting arms of Olamide Zaccheaus for another heartburn-inducing touchdown.
It'd have been the most painful and unfortunate touchdown against the Saints this year if it hadn't already happened to them (go back to Jauan Jennings' deflected grab in the loss to the 49ers). This time the Saints didn't get quite that unlucky and managed to hold for a field goal. But it was another example of potential game-changing plays eluding a defense that always seems on a razor's edge of taking control of a game.
If you flash back again to that 49ers game, it was Taylor stepping in front of a Jimmy Garoppolo pass for what would've been a momentum-turning play early in the third quarter. It got erased on a remarkably weak illegal contact penalty against Chris Harris. Fast forward to Week 15 and it was Taylor again stepping in front a ball on the Falcons' opening possession of the third quarter. This time there was no penalty, but it was overturned as the officials decided that changing hands with the ball in super slow-mo means you lost possession (can you tell I hate how replay is implemented in the modern NFL game?).
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Instead of a takeaway to set up the Saints to expand on their lead, it was a second-life moment on a Falcons drive that ended in a Tyler Allgeier TD to cut the lead to 14-10.
It didn't prove costly in the end, but it's still remarkably frustrating. Taylor continues to play well, even if his first career interception is eluding him in the most frustrating of ways. In a universe where the takeaway luck is tilted in the Saints' margin this season looks a lot different.
Case in point: Right when the Saints needed it, rookie Drake London coughed up the ball and it fell into the waiting arms of Bradley Roby.
It's the type of luck the Saints just haven't had this season. But for one day, finally, they did. And it's what allowed them to comfortably win a game they should have put away long before that point.
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TAYSOM HILL STILL OWNS THE FALCONS
It truly is remarkable. I don't have the time to look up Taysom Hill's career stats against the Falcons, but rest assured they're about as impressive as you could imagine.
That run includes multiple starts, but it's the work in his Swiss Army Knife role that seems the most damaging, and that's what we've gotten this season. In Week 1 he did it with a few long, pounding runs. In Week 15 he did it with a pair of big passes and, of course, some signature power runs, too.
He finished the game 2 of 2 passing for 80 yards a touchdown, along with 30 yards rushing on 7 carries. The shot play to Rashid Shaheed was particularly impressive, and the coverage the Saints' speedster was able to attack is the perfect example of why the Taysom Hill pages in the playbook aren't going away any time soon. That's why it was so fitting that when the Saints needed a first down to ice the game, they turned to Taysom Hill. He got the job done. Well, at least the first time. He got stopped short (arguably) on 3rd and 1, and then the snap was fumbled on 4th and 1. In the end, the Saints churned the clock down to 9 seconds to effectively ice the game. Good win. Let's do it again.
Side note: There's at least one fantasy football inspired idiot (you know who you are) who seems to think Taysom's existence alone is damaging Juwan Johnson's stock. You know, the guy who caught 4 passes for 67 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Those players have combined to account for 16 of the Saints' touchdowns this season. It's a perfect example of this very true statement: Fantasy football pundits aren't really giving you football analysis, they're giving you self-serving fantasy analysis (and in a lot of cases, bad analysis). Those two players can coexist and have thrived while doing so. That's a good thing, and as you head toward the end of this difficult season, the good things are the things you want to keep and build on, not tear down.
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LAGNIAPPE
Taysom Hill currently leads the Saints with 9 touchdowns (5 rushing, 2 passing, 2 receiving). In his career he now has 21 rushing TDs, 11 passing TDs and 10 receiving TDs. He's the first NFL player to reach double-digit TDs in all three of those categories since Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, who retired in 1964. ... There's a narrative floating around that the Saints have struggled against rookie QBs, but it's not really true. Dating back to 2016 the Saints are now 9-3 against rookies. The three losses were 2022 at Steelers (Kenny Pickett); 2020 at Eagles; 2017 vs Panthers (Kyle Allen). In this game the Saints successfully stifled Desmond Ridder, who finished 12 of 25 for 91 yards. That's it ... The Saints scored TDs on their first two offensive possessions, marking the first time they'd done that since Christmas Day, 2020). ... Tyler Allgeier became the first opposing rusher to go over 100 yards on the ground since 2017. ... Thank you, Alvin Kamara. With the Saints needing a first down to completely ice the game, he picked it up on first and 10. It's the type of thing this team simply hasn't done all year. It made the final seconds of this game FAR less stressful. Finally. He finished with 91 yards rushing on 21 carries, a much-needed bounce-back performance after some disappointing results. ... The Saints are now out of the NFC South dumpster (by virtue of the tiebreaker over the Falcons), and retain a sliver of hope for the postseason.