NEW ORLEANS, La. (WLBT) - The Saints’ struggles in the red zone, third down efficiency, and special team woes were too much to overcome in New Orleans’ loss against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, 24-10.
The Saints now fall to 2-9 on the season, last place in the NFC South.
The Saints finished just 5-of-16 on third down and 2-of-5 on fourth down attempts.
In the red zone, New Orleans could not find a single point in their three possessions inside the 20-yard-line.
Blake Grupe, who has struggled all year, missed two more field goals on Sunday. He missed his first from 38 yards and another just before the half from 47 yards.
New Orleans was able to force a three-and-out to get this game started but, on their second play on offense, Tyler Shough fumbled the ball on an exchange to Alvin Kamara which set up the Falcons with great field position.
The Saints were able to force a 56-yard Zane Gonzalez field goal after that to keep it at a 3-0 game.
On New Orleans’ second drive, Grupe had his first miss of the day and was not able to tie the game up early.
At the start of the second quarter, Kirk Cousins was able to extend the Falcons lead on a nine-yard passing touchdown to David Sills V.
The Saints’ defense then made a much needed play on the Falcons’ next possession thanks to a Justin Reed pick-six off of a tip to make it a three point game with just under seven minutes to play in the first half.
Atlanta responded with another Gonzalez field from 41 yards to make it a 13-7 game.
New Orleans was then able to put together a solid two-minute drive to close out the half, moving the ball all the way to Atlanta’s 29-yard-line. The drive would stall out after two-straight incompletions, leading to another Grupe missed kick from 47 yards.
The Falcons took advantage with less than a minute left in the half, moving the ball to the Saints’ 36-yard-line.
Gonzalez was able to knock through another kick from 54 yards to make it a 16-7 game at halftime.
Coming out of the break, New Orleans tried to take the air out of the ball with an over seven-minute drive to the Falcons’ one-yard-line.
Atlanta’s defense held strong though, forcing a turnover-on-downs from a yard out.
The Saints then put together an over eight-minute, 15-play drive on their second possession of the second half.
New Orleans was only able to come away with three points off of the drive, though, to make it a 16-10 game early in the fourth quarter.
Atlanta then put the nail in the coffin on their next drive, thanks to a 49-yard pass and catch from Cousins to Darnell Mooney to extend the Falcons’ lead to 14 points after a two-point conversion.
Shough finished 30-of-43 for 243 yards with an interception late in the game. He also led the team in rushing with 22 yards on seven carries.
Defensively, the Saints were able to secure three sacks, six tackles for loss, and an interception.
Cameron Jordan recorded a sack to push his career sack total to 126, which is 19th on the all-time career sack list in NFL history.
The Saints now prepare to hit the road next week against the Miami Dolphins.
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