Drew Brees threw for 296 yards and
three touchdowns, Jonathan Vilma came up with two huge defensive plays,
and the Saints remained perfect with another tight win, 26-23 over the
pesky Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Garrett Hartley won it on a 38-yard
field goal with a 4:42 remaining after the Falcons rallied from 14
points down. The offensive-minded Saints (13-0) then turned to defense
to preserve another victory — Vilma came up with an interception, then
doled out a big fourth-down hit on Jason Snelling to finish off the
Falcons' final drive.
The Falcons (6-7) lost for the sixth
time in eight games and their playoff hopes appear to be over. Atlanta
played without two of its biggest stars, quarterback Matt Ryan and
running back Michael Turner, both out for the second week in a row with
injuries.
A week ago, New Orleans appeared on
the verge of losing until Washington missed a chip-shot field goal in
regulation. The Saints pulled out a 33-30 win in overtime.
While again failing to score many
style points, New Orleans set a franchise record for wins in a season,
clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs and moved a step closer to
ensuring home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
Brees had another big game with a
31-of-40 performance that included a pair of touchdown passes to Reggie
Bush and another to Marques Colston.
The Saints appeared to be pulling
away when Brees hooked up with Bush on a 21-yard score to cap the
opening possession of the second half, pushing New Orleans to a 23-9
lead.
But Atlanta bounced back. Michael
Jenkins hauled in a 50-yard touchdown pass from Chris Redman, the
Falcons' defense forced New Orleans' lone punt of the game and Snelling
powered in from the 4 to tie the game at 23 with 12:56 remaining.
Back came Brees and the Saints.
Looking as though they intended to run off most of the clock, they put
together their longest drive of the game, a 16-play, 63-yard march that
finally stalled at the Atlanta 20 after an intentional grounding call
on Brees.
Hartley, who had earlier missed an extra point, knocked through his second field goal to put the Saints ahead for good.
Atlanta had a couple of chances to pull out an improbable win. Vilma stopped them both.
First, the linebacker dropped into
coverage to pick off a pass that Redman intended for Roddy White over
the middle. The Saints failed to score any points off that miscue,
attempting a fake field goal that didn't work.
The Falcons were getting close to
field-goal range when they faced fourth-and-2 at the New Orleans 46
with just over a minute remaining. Redman threw short to Snelling, but
Vilma plastered the running back for only a 1-yard gain.
Redman was 23-of-34 for 303 yards
but got little help from the ground game with Turner out. Snelling was
the top rusher with 37 yards on 10 carries.