ATLANTA – Falling short on a late-game comeback attempt, the Atlanta Falcons fall to NFC South Division rival New Orleans Saints 21-16.
Atlanta Falcons interim head coach Raheem Morris on the close loss to the Saints, “We gave ourselves a chance at the end. We really had a chance down there on the 12-yard line. We knew we were going for it, we were going to give them all four downs and we would have an opportunity to try to win the football game, hopefully, end up in our two-minute defense and let us win it there, but it didn’t work out that way. Matt threw a nice throw on the fourth down and gave Julio a chance. The ball fell incomplete. It could have been a call there, potentially, but it wasn’t. It is what it is, and those guys did a great job. You got to give the Saints credit. They fought through an ugly tough football game, exactly what you’re supposed to do to win games on road.”
Quarterback Matt Ryan completed 19 of his 39 passes for 273-yards and a touchdown, providing most of the Atlanta offense on the day. The stat line looked fine for the veteran quarterback, but he said post-game that the team, “walked away with too many field goals and not enough touchdowns.”
For much of the game, the Atlanta offense struggled to put a full drive together, settling for field goals three separate times and only getting into the endzone once in the fourth quarter. In the end, this was the difference in the game in a five-point loss to New Orleans, as the Saints were able to finish off the drives when they needed to.
Star receiver Julio Jones returned to the lineup after missing last week’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders and delivered a solid performance with six catches for 94-yards. The passing game struggled in his absence last week, and it was good to see everything gel once Jones was back on the field.
Alongside Julio, receiver Calvin Ridley also delivered a solid performance for Atlanta with five catches for 108-yards. Ridley was targeted in several key situations down the stretch of the game to keep drives alive, and the third-year receiver out of Alabama kept coming up with the big plays to keep the Falcons in the game to the end.
Defensively, the Falcons really struggled to get off the field on third down, as the Saints converted eight times on the game. These extended drives allowed New Orleans to control the game and the time of possession with an almost 14-minute time advantage.
Despite having to stay on the field for extended periods of time, the Atlanta defense never truly broke, which kept the Falcons in the game. The defense has improved their play since the start of the season, which is great for the future of the team with players like Keanu Neal and Deion Jones coming back healthy from injury this season.
Trailing by five late in the game, the Falcons defense came up with their biggest stop on a quick Saints three and out to give Atlanta one final chance to steal the win. Matt Ryan led the team to midfield for a shot at the endzone, where the pass fell incomplete to end the game.
The loss moves the Falcons to 4-8 on the 2020 NFL season as they have now been swept in the season series by the New Orleans Saints and have lost six of the last seven to their division rival.
Next up for the Atlanta Falcons is a road trip to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers next Sunday with a 4:25 p.m. kickoff.
