The Saints came marching into the Falcons stadium and escaped with their lives.
The New Orleans Saints defeated the Atlanta Falcons 43-37 in overtime after a crazy back and forth in the 4th quarter. A game that really either team could of won and the loser was always going to feel hard done by.
Ice Melts Saints D
Matt Ryan had a tremendous game on Sunday completing 26 out of 35 passes for 374 and five touchdowns. Ryan got everyone in the offense, including rookie Calvin Ridley, who we will talk about shortly, involved. Ever since his meltdown in the season opener, Ryan has been on fire throwing 49-of-73 for 746 yards and seven touchdowns with only one interception in the past two games. Thats not even mentioning he also has two rushing touchdowns on the year as well. Safe to say Ryan has bounced back.
Have A Day, Rook
In the first game of the year, rookie Calvin Ridley had no catches or even a target. Last week, he caught his first touchdown and played reasonably well. Against the Saints, he absolutely dominated. Ridley caught seven passes for 146 yards and three touchdowns. He was easily Ryan’s favorite target all day as he received eight targets. Ridley used the elite route running he showed in college and murdered corner PJ Williams all game long. At this rate, Ridley could even challenge Julio’s spot at WR1 by the time the season is done. But let’s not get too crazy y’all.
Defense Fizzles
If you’re wondering how the Falcons still managed to lose even after posting 37 points look no further than the defense. The defense played like utter trash as the Saints kept shoving them left, right, north, and south all over the field all game long.
It seemed like no one on defense could tackle if their lives depended on it, especially corner Brain Poole. You would think since the only thing he’s actually good at is tackling he wouldn’t have issues but instead he ultimately caused a game tying TD run by none other than Drew Brees as instead of attempting to wrap him up he went for the killshot. This move would in the end make him miss and cause him to knock fellow corner Robert Alford who was nearby out of the play. Even if they’re playing with third stringers that’s no excuse for the puke poor tackling that was on display. Oh, and speaking of third stringers.
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Injuries Pile Up
As you thought it couldn’t get worse it does. As he was beginning to show promise, rookie linebacker Foye Oluokun went down with an injury and never came back in the game. The worst, however, occurred to safety Ricardo Allen who tore his Achilles and is now done for the year. This injury comes at a bad time as safety Keanu Neal is already out for the year with a torn ACL he suffered in the opener aagainst Philly. With all this, the Falcons are looking thin at safety with their options being Demontae Kazee and former Patriot Jordan Richards who played badly last game. Head coach Dan Quinn said today that he plans to work out Keith Yandy and Kemal Ishmael for the strong safety spot as well. 
It seems they aren’t going to sign a starter caliber safety like Eric Reid yet. However, it’s looking Richards is running out of time to prove himself as he could be on the chopping block quite soon.
Final Falcons Word
The Bengals from Cincy roll into Atlanta next week as two high powered offense look to duel it out on Sunday afternoon. The defense has to improve a lot if the Falcons want to win this game or else it could be a repeat of what happened last Sunday. I have no worries about the offense however, for once
I hope you enjoyed reading this article and always remember to RISE UP!
