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Matt Ryan threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns, and Devonta Freeman added 100 yards on 13 rushes, but it wasn't enough to overcome the blocked punt and three lost fumbles, including two in the red zone.
But it was Atlanta that didn't have any answers in its first nationally televised game of the season, though first-year coach Dan Quinn didn't think there was any pressure on his young team.
"We are a team that focuses on getting the ball back to our offense as much as possible and we just didn't do that today,Nike Air Max 90 Black Women," Falcons defensive end Tyson Jackson said.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Nine seasons after the Saints' Steve Gleason blocked a punt in New Orleans' emotional return to the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina, another blunder by Atlanta's punt team cost the Falcons in the latest edition of this NFC South rivalry.
Atlanta pulled within 14-7 early in the second quarter when Ryan found Roddy White for a 7-yard touchdown.
New Orleans, meanwhile, was coming off a 39-17 loss at Philadelphia and was last in the league in total defense,Cheap NFL Jerseys, giving up 409 yards per game.
New Orleans' Drew Brees finished 30 of 39 passing for 312 yards and a touchdown. Atlanta had no answer for Saints tight end Benjamin Watson,Cheap Jerseys, who finished with a career-high 127 yards receiving and a touchdown. The Saints,Brian Poole Falcons Jersey, for the second time this season,Cheap Air Max 90 Shoes, didn't turn the ball over.
New Orleans (2-4) found the end zone first as running back Mark Ingram capped a 12-play, 80-yard opening drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.
That's when the echoes of Gleason, who was at the Superdome watching Thursday night, rang.
New Orleans blocked a first-quarter punt by Matt Bosher, returned it for a touchdown and the Falcons never recovered, losing 31-21 Thursday night and falling for the first time this season.
New Orleans linebacker Michael Mauti bulled through the middle of the Atlanta line on fourth down and knocked the ball off of Bosher's foot. Mauti quickly jumped on the ball and lunged into the end zone for a 14-0 lead,Cheap Baltimore Ravens Jerseys.
Atlanta entered the game with three wins by less than a touchdown, including last week's overtime victory over Washington, and was one of six remaining undefeated teams in the NFL.
It was as close as Atlanta would get.
"It's just ball security," Ryan said. "I thought we moved the ball pretty efficiently the entire night. We had a couple of scoring chances where we ended up turning the football over. When you do that in this building, going against this team, it's extremely difficult to overcome."
The Falcons got the ball back after turning it over on downs and forcing a New Orleans punt.
The Falcons (5-1) fell to 1-7 against New Orleans in night games since 2006 and 5-14 overall against the Saints in that same period.
Freeman pulled the Falcons to 24-14 early in the fourth quarter, but the Saints answered with Ingram's second touchdown of the game.
"We wanted to rush the first punt and it just happened it was backed up a little bit and obviously, there is some significance in that it happened here against Atlanta," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "That was a pretty important play, I think, early in the game."
"I don't sense that was the case coming in where we had to put more pressure on ourselves to really play well," he said. "But at the end of it, I think it was really the mistakes that cost us tonight — the turnovers in the red zone, the blocked punt and then defensively not generating any turnovers." |
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