Not this season
Falcons fall to Saints, won’t repeat as title winners in NFC South
NEW ORLEANS — Whether it was the weirdest interception of Marshon Lattimore’s football life or a ball-dislodging hit by Tyeler Davison near the goal line, the New Orleans defense poetically tipped the scales in a long-awaited playoff-clinching victory.
Shoddy defense was widely seen as the reason the Saints missed the playoffs the past three seasons, but it’s clear those days are over.
Lattimore corralled a momentum-turning interception off his backside, New Orleans made two defensive stands from inside its 2-yard line, and now the Saints are headed to the postseason for the first time in four years thanks to a 23-13 victory over the rival Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
“We want the team to win because of the defense, not in spite of the defense, and I feel like we’ve all kind of hung our hat on that,” Davison said. “We saw it in our mind, and we turned it into real life, man, and it feels amazing. It feels just as you thought it would when you pictured it 100 times.”
The Saints’ Ted Ginn caught a 54-yard touchdown pass that came a few plays after Lattimore’s interception and shortly before halftime. Mark Ingram used a sharp cutback to break loose for a 26-yard touchdown for New Orleans (11-4), which kept its tenuous hold on first place in the NFC South heading into the final week of the season.
While the loss eliminated the Falcons (9-6) from the race for the division title, they can clinch a wildcard berth by beating Carolina next Sunday to close the regular season.
The Falcons entered the game with a second straight division crown within reach, but they needed to beat the Saints. They squandered chances spectacularly, much to the delight of a deafening Superdome crowd — and certainly to the chagrin of scattered fans wearing Falcons red.
Atlanta trailed 6-0 when Lattimore’s interception of Matt Ryan set the Saints up to double their lead.
Drafted 11th overall this past spring out of Ohio State, Lattimore said he’d never had a more unusual interception at any level of football. He had been beaten on the play and launched into a desperate dive as Ryan’s high pass deflected off the hands of receiver Marvin Hall and fell on Lattimore as he hit the turf face down.
Lattimore curled his leg up on the ball to try to prevent it from touching the ground, then reached back with his right hand to swipe it from players from both teams who grasped at it.
“I felt the ball on the back of my leg. I knew it didn’t touch the ground because everybody was trying to fight for it,” he said. “I just went back and reached for it and got it.”
Early in the third quarter, Atlanta linebacker Deion Jones intercepted a pass that deflected off Ginn’s hands and returned it 41 yards to the New Orleans 2. But Devonta Freeman fumbled on a hit by Davison two plays later, and linebacker Manti Teo recovered.
“That was my fault,” said Freeman, who was held to 36 yards on 11 carries as Atlanta’s ground game struggled. “No matter what play is called, you’ve got to get in the end zone and score, and I’ve got to protect the ball. I’ve got to do better at that. I’m going to do whatever it takes to fix it.”
Early in the fourth quarter, Freeman was stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 1, preserving a 20-3 Saints lead. One play earlier, Julio Jones caught a third-down pass and was able to plant both feet in the end zone, but he was unable to pull the ball across the goal line after reaching back to make the catch. Atlanta challenged the spot, but the call on the field was upheld.
“We had two chances, really, from having the ball at the 1-yard line and to come away with zero points — that’s kind of the tale of the day,” said Ryan, who was 22-of-36 passing for 288 yards and was sacked five times, twice by Cameron Jordan. “We can’t do that in these type of games, and we missed too many opportunities.”
Jones had seven catches for 149 yards, but it wasn’t enough as the Falcons were just 2-for-13 on thirddown conversions and had 10 penalties for 91 yards.
The Saints’ Drew Brees completed 21 of 28 passes for 239 yards, becoming the third quarterback in NFL history to eclipse 70,000 career yards passing. He joined Peyton Manning and Brett Favre.