papz

NEW ORLEANS — It wasn’t a masterpiece of a football game.
It fact, it was quite gruesome at times, as the Falcons, the defending NFC South champs, lost 23-17 to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at the Superdome.

“If we score 17 points, I’m just saying: That’s terrible,” Falcons receiver Roddy White said. “You know? I’m just telling the truth. All of the guys that we have we should be able to score a lot more points than that.”

Yet, on a day when the offense was sputtering and couldn’t protect quarterback Matt Ryan, the Falcons still somehow had a chance to win.
A fourth-and-goal pass from the 3 intended for a smothered Tony Gonzalez was tipped and intercepted by Saints safety Roman Harper with 43 seconds left.

The Falcons, considered Super Bowl title contenders in some quarters, dropped to 0-1. The Saints, trying to rebound from a down season, got off to 1-0 start as head coach Sean Payton returned to the sidelines after a year-long suspension for the Bounty Gate scandal.

Ryan was under duress for most of the game as he was either sacked or hit on almost a fourth of the Falcons’ 38 pass attempts.

Before the key interception, the Falcons lost a chance to tie the game on third down, when running back Steven Jackson dropped an apparent touchdown pass in the end zone.

“When my number is called, I expect to make plays,” Jackson said. “Difficult, easy or whatever. That’s the expectation that I have of myself. I don’t live in a ‘what if’ world. I expect to make the play… I expect to make the play … I expect to make the play. I dropped the ball. ”

Ryan completed 25 of 38 passes for 304 yards, two touchdowns and had the interception on his final toss. He had a passer rating of 96.8.
Overall, Jackson, signed to replace Michael Turner, had a strong debut. He rushed for 77 yards on 11 carries and caught five passes for 45 yards. The Falcons have lauded his pass-catching ability as an upgrade over Turner, but he had two drops on eight targets.

The Falcons didn’t appear to be in sync offensively.

Read more: Falcons

Attached Thumbnails

 

Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

All little common sense goes a long way.