Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones, who had an outside shot at a couple of league records, left the game with an ankle injury at halftime.
He returned to the game on the first possession of the third quarter.
Jones had four catches for 66 yards at halftime with the Falcons leading 17-14.
Jones entered the game with franchise-record 127 catches 1,722 yards and eight touchdowns and has drawn within striking distance of the league’s single-season marks for catches and yards.
Jones was 17 catches away from breaking the NFL single season reception mark of 143, which was set by Indianapolis’ Marvin Harrison in 2002. He needs a whopping 243 yards to break Detroit’s Calvin Johnson’s record of 1,964 yards receiving, which was set in 2012.
The Falcons were hoping the Saints’ porous defense is not inspired to stop Jones. The Saints ranked 31st overall in yards allowed(413.4 yards per game), against the run (132.3) and the pass (281.1).
In their previous meeting, a 31-21 loss on Oct. 15, Jones has six catches for 93 yards.
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