6 takeaways from the Saints vs. Falcons

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1. This was the best defensive effort of the season
The Saints offense has carried the team this season, but this was a night for the defense. The Saints recorded a season-high six sacks, forced four turnovers and held Atlanta to its lowest rushing total in three years.

The Saints' opportunistic defense stripped Falcons ballcarriers of the ball in the red zone three times to stop potential scoring drives. The Saints recovered the loose balls at their own 7-, 13- and 1-yard lines.

The Saints had only eight takeways in their first eight games. They forced nine turnovers in the past three.

The run defense was smothering. The Saints held Atlanta to a season-low 26 rushing yards on 16 carries, a 1.6-yards-per-carry average. The rushing output was the lowest by the Falcons since 2015.

Considering the Falcons' firepower, this was the best performance of the season for the Saints defense by far. And if the defense can continue to make big plays like this, the Saints are going to be very difficult to beat the rest of the way.

2. Tommylee Lewis, Dan Arnold and Keith Kirkwood joined the scoring parade
Tommylee Lewis didn't take long to make an impact in his first game off the injured reserve shelf. The third-year receiver made a leaping 28-yard touchdown catch to cap the Saints' opening drive.

Tight end Dan Arnold added a spectacular 25-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter for his first career touchdown catch.

And later, rookie receiver Keith Kirkwood got in on the action, grabbing a 5-yard scoring grab.

Lewis, Arnold and Kirkwood are the 11th, 12th and 13th players, respectively, to catch a touchdown pass from Brees this season. That's a club record and ties an NFL record. It's also a testament to Brees' spread-the-wealth philosophy.

It doesn't seem to matter who plays receiver for the Saints, Brees will find them if they're open this season.

3. Saints continued their Dome domination
The Saints scored on their opening drive for the fifth consecutive game and never trailed in recording their fourth consecutive wire-to-wire win at the Superdome. The last time the Saints trailed at home was in the fourth quarter against Cleveland in Week 2.

4. Cam Jordan had a monster night
The Saints' Pro Bowl defensive end had been relatively quiet in recent weeks, but he had a breakout night against the Falcons. His final numbers: four tackles, two sacks, three quarterback hits and three tackles for loss.

And two of his biggest plays won't show up in the box score.

Marcus Williams made a spectacular play on the strip sack of Matt Ryan to thwart a Falcons scoring drive on their opening possession. But Jordan deserved the assist. The veteran defensive end read the slant pattern Ryan was trying to go to and dropped into the passing lane, forcing Ryan to hesitate and giving Williams time to slide inside and knock the ball from Ryan's grasp. Jordan later made a cagey read on a screen pass attempt to Tevin Coleman and forced Ryan to intentionally ground the ball. The play had a potential to be a gainer, but Jordan snuffed it out. Two great plays that won't show up in the stat sheet.

5. Sheldon Rankins continued to eat
The third-year defensive tackle recorded a sack in the second quarter to increase his season total to seven on the season. Rankins now ranks third among defensive tackles in sacks in the NFL and is making a strong case for a Pro Bowl invitation. He has recorded at least one sack in four of the past five games.

6. Some streaks finally came to an end
Damontae Kazee's first-quarter interception of Drew Brees ended a streak of 107 consecutive passes without an interception for Brees. His last and only other interception this season game in the second quarter of the Week 8 game against the Vikings. The second-quarter holding penalty against Andrus Peat also snapped a streak. It was the first infraction committed by a Saints offensive lineman since the Vikings game, when Peat was guilty of a holding penalty.