Hail Mary: TNF Special – Saints D does the job

The New Orleans Saints offence didn’t have the greatest game on Thursday night, but then they don’t need to when they have one of the best defences in the NFL, and playing an opponent that is woefully short in all areas of the game helps too.

The Saints are now 9-2 after a 17-13 win in the Georgia Dome, whereas the Atlanta Falcons slip to 2-9.

Drew Brees numbers were good, as always, passing for 278 yards and two touchdowns, one of which to Jimmy Graham who in his “dunking” celebration managed to stop play as the crossbar he planted the ball over was tilted to one side. Running back Pierre Thomas ably backed up the aerial game by averaging 7.3 yards off just ten carries.

The story was one of how inept the Atlanta game has become, they did have a chance to win it with five minutes to play, but that’s when the Saints’ D played big and the Falcons couldn’t even manage a long field goal to give them any last shot of an upset win, should they have managed to get the ball back after.

It was the Falcons’ fifth straight loss and officially eliminates them from the NFC South division race, and even the best mathematician will struggle to find them a way into the post-season.

On the other hand New Orleans still harbour hopes of the number one seed and that will probably be decided in Seattle next week on Monday Night Football, but then they still have the Carolina Panthers to worry about in the division.