The Falcons are still alive, a fact the team emphatically relayed on a raucous Sunday afternoon.
Boosted by the return of wide receiver Julio Jones and safety William Moore, the Falcons rallied behind an opportunistic defense to throttle the Saints 30-14 at the Superdome and kept their playoff hopes alive.
The Falcons (6-9) play Carolina (6-8-1) for the NFC South title on Sunday at the Georgia Dome. With one more win, they will host a playoff game as the NFC’s number four seed in the wild-card round.
The talk leading up the game was full of the usual blather: Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis talked about hosting the Falcons’ funeral; and Falcons linebacker Sean Weatherspoon spoke about taking a broom to get the rare regular sweep over the Saints.
There would be a funeral at the Superdome, but it belonged to the Saints. They were eliminated from the playoffs and were swept by the Falcons for the first time since 2005.
“We just woke up out of the grave,” Falcons wide receiver Roddy White said.
The Falcons, who were 1-5 against the Saints in the Superdome under head coach Mike Smith, took some pride in the resurrection.
“This is our first time in a long time sweeping these guys,” said White, who had six catches for 55 yards. “They didn’t feel sorry beating us. They beat us like 8-of-10 times, and they were talking about how they have whipped us. But this year, that didn’t happen. We’ve got two wins.”
The Falcons beat the Saints 37-34 in overtime in the season-opener on Sept. 7.
“Over the past few years, that has been a good football team,” White said. “They have a good quarterback. They have always put themselves in position to be a great team and have postseason success. To eliminate those guys, that feels really good to me. Today is a great day.”
The Falcons’ defense, which entered the game ranked last (32nd) in the league, was electric. The unit posted five sacks, two interceptions, six quarterback hits, six tackles for losses, and defensive end Osi Umenyiora closed out the game with an 86-yard fumble return for a touchdown.
Jones, who missed last week’s game with a hip injury, finished with seven catches for 107 yards.
“They (the defense) were the reason why we were able to get it done today,” said quarterback Matt Ryan, who completed 30 of 40 passes for 322 yards and a touchdown.
The biggest defensive play among many was the strip-fumble of Saints tight end Jimmy Graham by safety Kemal Ishmael at the goal line on the first play of the fourth quarter with the Falcons holding a 20-7 lead. A review confirmed the ball did not cross the goal line before it was pulled loose.
“(Dezmen Southward) did a good job of holding him up and not letting him cross the plane,” Ishmael said. “I was just making an effort play. I felt that we held him and the ball came out too clean. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that it was a fumble.”
The Saints did not concur.
“What we were looking at is a television angle. There is only one angle that matters,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “The others didn’t matter. Did I think it was a score? Yes.”
The day opened with a Saints’ haymaker. Backup wide receiver Jalen Saunders got the Superdome rocking early when he took the opening kickoff 99 yards to the Falcon’s 1-yard line. Saints running back Mark Ingram waltzed into the end zone to make it 7-0 with 20 seconds elapsed.
The Falcons responded with field goals of 44 and 50 yards from Matt Bryant to make it 7-6 and then took control late in the second quarter. Ryan guided the Falcons on a 15-play, 89-yard drive to take the lead, wide receiver Eric Weems scoring on a shovel pass from 3 yards out for a 13-7 lead with three seconds left.
With running back Steven Jackson knocked out with a quadriceps injury, backup Devonta Freeman picked up the slack, scoring on a 31-yard run for a 20-7 lead with 5:42 left in the third quarter.
The Saints tried to answer, but their promising drive from the 20-yard line was thwarted by Ishmael’s strip at the goal line. The Falcons added a third 31-yard field goal by Bryant with 1:56 to play and closed it out with Umenyiora’s touchdown romp.
Now, the Falcons can legitimately talk about the playoffs.
“It was hard, but when it’s hard, it’s better for you,” White said. “Everybody in the locker room, we felt like we should have won a lot of games. But we’d find a way to not win.”
And don’t make the case that they crept into the playoffs with a losing record.
“We don’t feel bad about our position,” White said. “We feel really fortunate, and next week, if we can get us a win, we’ll wear our division hats and move on.”
