A day that began with positivity and opportunity ended in disaster after a comedy of errors and missed opportunities in a 24-10 loss to the Falcons at the Caesars Superdome.
The errors started early, with the Saints' opening possession ending after a play action fake was knocked out of QB Tyler Shough's hands by Alvin Kamara's elbow. The fumble set up Atlanta's first points of the day on a long Zane Gonzalez field goal. Saints kicker Blake Grupe missed the first of two first half field goals, the first from 38 yards. The miss spoiled a 75-yard kickoff return from Mason Tipton.
The Saints also came up short on a pair of second-half drives that reached the Falcons' 1-yard line and for the second time this season the New Orleans offense failed to score a touchdown in a game. The first ended with a failed 4th down run, the second a snap over Taysom Hill's head that he recovered and threw away, but the play was ultimately flagged for intentional grounding.
"Frustrating game," Saints head coach Kellen Moore said. "All three phases kind of had different opportunities that obviously we missed and it's going to be a big opportunity for us to respond the right way and stick together and keep battling."
The scenario was made worse for the Saints offense early in the game with Alvin Kamara leaving in the second quarter with a knee injury after the Saints RB went down awkwardly on a tackle by former Saints LB Kaden Elliss. Saints head coach Kellen Moore didn't have updates following the game, but the injury is believed to be a sprained knee, according to a report from the NFL Network. Kamara finished the day with 13 total yards.
Shough finished the day 30 of 43 passing for 243 yards and an interception on a 4th down heave that doubled as the Saints' final offensive play. Shough also led the team in rushing with 22 yards on seven carries. Rookie Devin Neal, who assumed the lead back role after Kamara’s departure, had 18 yards on 7 carries and 43 receiving yards. Chris Olave led the Saints’ receivers with nine catches for 70 yards, while Juwan Johnson added 46 yards on 6 catches.
Grupe’s continued struggles left the Saints in a difficult situation with misses from 38 yards and 47 yards. Grupe is now 6-for-8 from 30 to 39 yards this year and 2-for-5 on kicks between 40 and 49 yards. The second miss drew a chorus of boos from the Superdome crowd, and the boos rained down even louder when Grupe took the field to attempt a 33-yard kick in the 4th quarter, which he converted. Moore wouldn't commit to a change, but it's something the Saints will certainly have to consider moving forward.
"We'll just evaluate that as we go," Moore said. "Obviously it's an important thing we'll have to evaluate, really dig into what happened today as far as let's communicate at a high level, let's go through that process, understand how the outcomes occurred and then ... there'll be another day to continue to discuss that."
Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins, who started in place of the injured Michael Penix, Jr., completed 16 of this 23 pass attempts for 199 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception. Former Tulane standout Darnell Mooney caught one of those touchdowns, leading all receivers with 74 yards on three catches. Falcons RB Bijan Robinson had 107 total yards, including a critical conversion on a screen pass in a 2nd and 24 situation immediately preceding Mooney's 49-yard touchdown. The Saints did bottle Robinson up for the most part, with the star RB finishing with 70 yards on 14 carries. Tyler Allgeier added another 44 yards on 12 carries.
The Saints (2-9) will travel to play the Miami Dolphins (4-7) next Sunday at noon. The Dolphins were idle this week.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Saints defense held Atlanta to a three-and-out on the game’s opening possession. The Saints promptly gave the ball back. On their second play from scrimmage, the Saints committed the game’s first turnover when Kamara dropped a handoff from Shough, giving Atlanta the ball back at the New Orleans 39-yard line. Atlanta gained only one yard on the ensuing drive, but they turned the takeaway into three points when Zane Gonzalez drilled a 56-yard field goal with 10:41 remaining in the opening frame.
The Saints defense held Atlanta to a three-and-out on the game’s opening possession. The Saints promptly gave the ball back. On their second play from scrimmage, the Saints committed the game’s first turnover when Kamara dropped a handoff from Shough, giving Atlanta the ball back at the New Orleans 39-yard line. Atlanta gained only one yard on the ensuing drive, but they turned the takeaway into three points when Zane Gonzalez drilled a 56-yard field goal with 10:41 remaining in the opening frame.
Back-to-back false start penalties followed by a Cousins fumble for a loss led to Atlanta punting the ball back to New Orleans. Cam Jordan was responsible for the strip-sack of Cousins, giving his 126th sack of his 15-year career. That put Jordan in 19th place all-time in sacks, putting him ahead of Dwight Freeney. Nine plays and 30 yards later, the Saints punted the ball back to the Falcons, giving the Dirty Birds possession at their own 21-yard line with 17 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Atlanta recorded its first big play of the day on the first play of the ensuing drive when Cousins connected with receiver Kyle Pitts for a 23-yard completion, putting the ball at the Atlanta 44-yard line as time expired on the opening frame. Four plays later, Cousins found Robinson for a 22-yard pickup on a screen pass, putting the ball at the New Orleans nine-yard line.
Cousins finished off the drive two plays later with a nine-yard touchdown pass to David Sills, V. Gonzalez’s extra point gave Atlanta a 10-0 lead with 11:31 to go in the first half.
The Saints went into their bag of tricks to begin the next drive. A reverse handoff to Tipton netted 10 yards and a first down for the Black-and-Gold. Two plays later, Shough found Devaughn Vele for a 14-yard completion to put the ball inside Falcons territory. The drive went no farther.
The Saints punted after three failed plays, including a James Pearce, Jr., sack of Shough and an incompletion on which Olave was forced to bat down the ball to prevent an interception.
While Atlanta was unable to pick off Shough on that drive, the Saints intercepted Cousins on the next possession. The drive began with running back Tyler Allgeier cutting up the Saints defense on the first two plays of the drive, picking up eight yards, 13 yards, and one yard to put Atlanta near midfield halfway through the second quarter. On the drive’s fourth play, Saints safety Justin Reid intercepted a pass deflected by cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry and returned the ball 49 yards for a touchdown. Grupe’s extra point made the score 10-7 with 6:41 to go in the first half.
Atlanta recovered quickly. The Falcons used two big plays, an 18-yard pass from Cousins to Charlie Woerner and a 12-yard run by Robinson, to advance the ball as far as the Saints 18-yard line. The Saints defense held firm, stopping the run and sacking Cousins on third down to force Atlanta to settle for a 41-yard Gonzalez field goal, making the score 13-7 with 1:56 remaining in the second quarter.
The Saints offense returned the field and played tempo to give themselves a chance to narrow the Falcons’ lead before the half. Shough connected with tight end Juwan Johnson twice and Olave and Tipton once each to put the ball at the Atlanta 29-yard line with one minute left in the half.
After the drive stalled, Grupe came onto the field to attempt a 47-yard field goal. Like his first attempt, Grupe missed wide right, denying the Saints a make-it-take-it opportunity and leaving the Black-and-Gold in a six-point hole. The Saints had a chance to slow down the drive, as they had all three of their timeouts at the start of the drive. The team refused to use any of those timeouts during that drive.
Atlanta used a hurry-up offense to drive 26 yards to the Saints’ 36-yard line to set up Gonzalez for a 54-yard field goal attempt. Gonzalez drilled the kick with ease, giving the Falcons a 16-7 halftime lead.
Despite losing Kamara to his injury just before the half, it appeared as if the Saints rushing game would be fine after Neal opened the third quarter with an 18-yard reception on a Shough pass to the flat. Neal then gained another 18 yards on the next four plays. Saints utility man Taysom Hill also touched the ball on the drive, picking up two first downs on short-yardage carries.
For as bad as the Kamara injury news was, the end of the Saints’ first drive of the half was even worse. The Saints got into the red zone thanks to a pass interference call against Atlanta at the eight-yard line. Despite the penalty, the Saints failed to find the end zone. The Saints turned the ball over on downs at the Falcons’ two-yard line after three runs and a fourth-down pass that Atlanta nickleback Mike Ford, Jr., batted down, ending a 15-play, 62-yard, 7:28 drive with zero points.
Atlanta punted the ball back to New Orleans after a three-and-out. The Saints narrowly avoided a second straight turnover on downs when Shough picked up a first down on the fourth play of the drive to set up the Saints at the Atlanta 49-yard line. Two plays later, Shough found Neal on a short pass to the right side for 18 yards to put the ball inside the Atlanta 30-yard line. A pass interference call against the Falcons set up the Saints inside the red zone for a second consecutive drive, but a false start committed by the right side of the offensive line pushed the Saints out of the red zone and back to the Falcons’ 23-yard line. Shough responded with a 15-yard completion over the middle to Olave to give the Saints third-and-one at the Atlanta six-yard line as time expired on the third quarter. Two plays later, Hill kept the drive alive with a two-yard plunge to give the Saints first-and-goal.
Two Shough runs that ended at the one-yard line and an intentional grounding call after Hill fumbled the third-down snap led the Saints to send Grupe onto the field. The third time was the charm for Grupe, as he split the uprights on a 33-yard attempt to make the score 16-10 with 12:13 left in the game.
The Falcons started their next drive with two critical errors. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the kickoff and an intentional grounding call on first down forced Atlanta back to their own 19-yard line.
However, the Saints defense collapsed on the next two plays, allowing Cousins to find Robinson for a 32-yard completion and Mooney for a 49-yard touchdown pass. Robinson then punched the ball into the end zone for the two-point conversion to give Atlanta a 24-10 lead with 11:04 to go in regulation.
The teams traded punts over the next eight minutes of game time. The Saints were unsuccessful in their last-ditch effort to pull closer to the Falcons. Their final drive ended with Atlanta safety Xavier Watts picking off Shough in the end zone with 10 seconds left in the game.
The next Saints home game is set for Sunday, December 14 against the Carolina Panthers.