Stingy defense propels Saints into playoffs

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 Saints’ defense poetically tipped the scales in a long-awaited playoffclinching victory.

Shoddy defense was widely seen as the reason the Saints missed the playoffs the last three seasons. 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 the Saints clinched their first postseason berth since 2013 with 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.”

Ted Ginn caught a 54-yard pass for a touchdown, which 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 NFC South race, Atlanta can clinch a wild-card berth by beating Carolina in the final regular-season game.

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. The Falcons were taunted on their way to the game by a plane towing a banner that read “28-3 Merry Xmas,” a reference to Atlanta’s Super Bowl collapse.

Atlanta trailed 6-0 when Lattimore’s interception of Matt Ryan set the Saints up to double their lead.