Well, what do you know? Saints head coach Sean Payton said his team would run the more, and he was true to his word. The Saints ran 30 times for a season high 184 yards. Drew Brees threw 32 passes.
It was the Saints most complete the game of the season. The defense bent, but did not break. Pierre Thomas scored on a 7 yard reception and 5 yard run, both in the 4th quarter. Thomas was terrific. He is a decisive North South runner.
Saints guard Carl Nicks had a great day opening holes for the run game.
The Falcons lost the game, but quarterback Matt Ryan is definitely a franchise quarterback.
One of the things Sean Payton needs to clean up is: his challenges. Payton challenged a touchdown pass by Ryan to Brian Finneran in the second quarter. Finneran clearly had two feet in bounds, and possession of the ball. So, with 2:13 to play, the Saints were out of challenges and out of first half timeouts. Not having a time was costly. With 12 seconds to play in the first half, Drew Brees threw 18 yards to Devery Henderson down to the Atlanta 7. The Saints were forced to hurry to the line and spike the football. Garrett Hartley then came on to kick a field goal.
The Pittsburgh Steelers did the Saints a huge favor. The Steelers beat Dallas 20-13 by scoring 17 fourth quarter points. The loss puts Dallas in a tie with Atlanta with records of 8-5. The loser of Monday night's Tampa Bay at Carolina game will be 9-4, and thus own the 5th wild card spot.