The Atlanta Falcons traveled to New Orleans as one of the biggest underdogs in the NFL this season. Las Vegas thought the Saints were 13.5 points better than the Falcons. Well, there is a reason the phrase “Any Given Sunday” exists!

The 1-7 Falcons waltzed into New Orleans and embarrassed the 7-1 Saints by a score of 26 to 9. The Saints never got anything going in what was hopefully just a bump in the road for them.

Saints Offensive Struggles

Over their last two games, the Saints were averaging 33 PPG, and they only managed 9 points yesterday. They got Alvin Kamara back, and this was supposed to be the game where the offense really put it together. Well, it seemed like they were really trying to ease him back into things. He got only 12 touches yesterday compared to the 20+ he had been averaging all season prior to the injury.

The Saints as a team only ran the ball 11 times against a team giving up over 110 YPG on the ground. It was very uncharacteristic for a team that averages 25 rush attempts per game. I don’t see this as an issue for the rest of the season. Kamara will get back to full strength, and the offense will be able to utilize their assortment of weapons pretty soon.

Drew Brees was good, but not great. On a day where he probably knew the run game would not be there, he needed to be better. We should know by now though that Brees will not be a problem going forward.

Problems on the OL?

The Saints came into this game allowing less than two sacks per game, good for top 10 in the NFL. The Falcons went into this game averaging one sack per game, which was good for last in the NFL. The Saints OL seemed destined to dominate this matchup, but alas, it was the other way around.

The Falcons almost doubled their season sack total by sacking Brees 6 times. The question now is, will this become a trend, or is this a one-time thing? The stats say that this is an anomaly, and it will absolutely not continue. Even after yesterday, the Saints OL still only allows a sack on 5% of their QB dropbacks. That is 8th best in the NFL, and that is what I expect to see from this OL going forward.

Saints Defensive Struggles

A lot of the Falcons offensive struggles this season have come while Matt Ryan is under pressure. The Saints did not take advantage of the Falcons below average pass protection, coming up with only one sack. Getting pressure on the QB is the easiest way to rattle an offense, and although the Falcons were not great, it was enough to score 26 points.

Obviously, it didn’t help that Marshon Lattimore left the game, and Julio immediately had a 54-yard catch and run. Lattimore shutting down the opponent’s top WR is essential to this defense’s success. That was obvious after he left yesterday’s game with a hamstring injury. All of Julio’s 79 yards came with Lattimore off the field.

The defense overall was not terrible, but if they cannot pressure the QB, there will be more games just like this.

Verdict

This game seemed to be just a bump in the road. The offense and defense both did not perform to the season-long standard they had set. This will all change, and the Saints will be fine. They are still two games ahead of the Panthers in the NFC South and are in prime position to make a playoff run.

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