Saints 26 @ Falcons 23 FINAL

Sunday, December 13, 2009
12:00 PM CT
Georgia Dome; Atlanta, Ga.
FOX

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS SEEK CLUB RECORD 13TH VICTORY, FIRST-ROUND BYE AT ATLANTA

The New Orleans Saints (12-0), who tied a club record for wins in a season and clinched the NFC South Division title last week with a 33-30 overtime win in Washington, travel to the Atlanta Falcons (6-6) for Sunday’s noon CT game at the Georgia Dome.

The contest has playoff implications for both clubs. New Orleans can clinch a first-round bye with a win or a tie. The Falcons, meanwhile, are also in the hunt for a postseason wildcard berth. The Falcons currently trail three 8-4 teams in the NFC (Dallas, Philadelphia and Green Bay) and are the lone team in the wildcard card hunt to be at .500 in the race for a postseason berth.

Following Sunday’s dramatic overtime come-from-behind 33-30 win at the Washington Redskins, the Saints are one of only eight teams in NFL history to start a season 12-0. The Falcons currently hold a 44-36 edge in the all-time series, with New Orleans defeating Atlanta six of seven times since 2006. The Falcons have a 9-8 edge in contests played at the Georgia Dome. The Saints have played the Falcons 80 times, more than any other opponent in their history.

In the first meeting between the two clubs this season at the Louisiana Superdome on Monday, November 2, the Saints racked up over 400 yards in total offense, while a swarming defense intercepted Falcons QB Matt Ryan three times, including twice in the fourth quarter to provide the formula for a 35-27 victory.

On Sunday at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., the Saints overcame ten-point deficits on three different occasions and K Garrett Hartley made his fourth field goal of the day in overtime to bring New Orleans back after they were trailing 30-20 in the fourth quarter. Hartley kicked a field goal with 6:52 left in the fourth quarter to pull the Saints within seven at 30-23, but time was running out when Redskins K Shaun Suisham trotted out to attempt 23-yard field goal with 1:56 left. The attempt missed wide to the right, though and QB Drew Brees found WR Robert Meachem with a 53-yard touchdown to tie the game at 30-30. It marked the second big play of the game for Meachem, who had a career-high eight catches for 142 yards, as he had previously tracked down a Washington defender (S Kareem Moore) on an interception return, stripped the ball from him and ran it in 44 yards for a touchdown.

With the Redskins driving once more as time wound down, LB Jonathan Vilma snared an interception late in regulation that set up an unsuccessful 58-yard field goal attempt and ensured the game would go into overtime. With the Redskins winning the coin toss for the fifth period, New Orleans would snare one more turnover when CB Chris McAlister hit Redskins FB Mike Sellers after a short completion, forced him to lose the football and recovered it at the Washington 37-yard line.

Brees, who completed 35 of 49 passes for 419 yards with two touchdowns and a passer rating of 102.3, engineered the game-winning drive.

With a combination of short passes and four runs by RB Mike Bell, New Orleans advanced to the one-yard line, where Hartley completed the dramatic comeback when his field goal attempt sailed through the uprights and sent the victorious team into their locker room, where NFC South division title hats awaited them. It marked the second division title in four years for the Saints and represented a last to first turnaround in the NFC South division standings from 2008 to 2009