Saints hold off Falcons 35-27 to stay unbeaten
The Saints took a 28-14 halftime lead, then hung on to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in a tough division game 35-27 to remain undefeated at 7-0, matching their best start ever in 1991, and more importantly, take a 3 game lead over the Falcons(4 with head-to-head) in the NFC South.
Drew Brees threw for 308 yards on 25 of 33 attempts with 2 TD passes and 1 INT, and lost a fumble that was returned for a Falcon TD that gave the Falcons a 14-7 lead late in the 1st quarter(though it should have been called back for a helmet-to-helmet hit by the defender). Brees has 2,006 yards passing through 7 games.
Pierre Thomas ran for 91 yards on just 14 carries and scored on a 22 yard run. Mike Bell added 49 yards on 17 carries. Reggie Bush had a rushing TD that gave the Saints the lead for good at 21-14 with 1:05 left in the 1st half.
Marques Colston had 6 catches for 85 yards and a TD(that tied the game at 14), and Jeremy Shockey had 5 for 72 yards.
The Saints defense added 3 more interceptions: Jabari Greer had one he returned 48 yards for a TD(the 5th INT return TD by the Saints this season), Tracy Porter picked off one at the Saint 1 yd line midway through the 4th with the Saints holding at 28-24, and Darren Sharper picked off a Hail Mary attempt(his 7th of the season, tying him for the league lead with Jairus Byrd of the Buffalo Bills) with :03 left.
The Saints will try to make it 8-0 for the first time in franchise history Sunday at 3:05pm at the Dome against the 3-4 Carolina Panthers, who beat the Arizona Cardinals 34-21 yesterday in a weird reversal of their playoff game in Charlotte in January(Cards QB Kurt Warner had 6 turnovers yesterday, 5 INT's and a lost fumble, same as Panthers QB Jake Delhomme did in January).
Drew Brees threw for 308 yards on 25 of 33 attempts with 2 TD passes and 1 INT, and lost a fumble that was returned for a Falcon TD that gave the Falcons a 14-7 lead late in the 1st quarter(though it should have been called back for a helmet-to-helmet hit by the defender). Brees has 2,006 yards passing through 7 games.
Pierre Thomas ran for 91 yards on just 14 carries and scored on a 22 yard run. Mike Bell added 49 yards on 17 carries. Reggie Bush had a rushing TD that gave the Saints the lead for good at 21-14 with 1:05 left in the 1st half.
Marques Colston had 6 catches for 85 yards and a TD(that tied the game at 14), and Jeremy Shockey had 5 for 72 yards.
The Saints defense added 3 more interceptions: Jabari Greer had one he returned 48 yards for a TD(the 5th INT return TD by the Saints this season), Tracy Porter picked off one at the Saint 1 yd line midway through the 4th with the Saints holding at 28-24, and Darren Sharper picked off a Hail Mary attempt(his 7th of the season, tying him for the league lead with Jairus Byrd of the Buffalo Bills) with :03 left.
The Saints will try to make it 8-0 for the first time in franchise history Sunday at 3:05pm at the Dome against the 3-4 Carolina Panthers, who beat the Arizona Cardinals 34-21 yesterday in a weird reversal of their playoff game in Charlotte in January(Cards QB Kurt Warner had 6 turnovers yesterday, 5 INT's and a lost fumble, same as Panthers QB Jake Delhomme did in January).