If you simply look at the stats at the end of the game, you’ll see the New Orleans Saints forced two turnovers and gave up two turnovers to the Atlanta Falcons. Mathematically, that means each team tied in the turnover battle. Numbers do lie, or at least don’t tell the full story.
Despite having the same amount of turnovers, New Orleans’ turnovers were met with more consequences. Both of the Saints turnovers came in the red zone and took points off the board. Derek Carr’s interception to Jessie Bates III was returned for a touchdown, taking points away from the Saints and directly giving them to the Falcons. Atlanta then turned a Taysom Hill fumble into another touchdown after a nine-play, 95-yard drive.
While teams may have forced two turnovers (with Tyrann Mathieu twice intercepting Desmond Ridder), Atlanta turned those opportunities into 14 points. The Saints got zero points from their takeaways. The Saints get a slight pass on one turnover because it was at the end of the half.
Still, the point discrepancy was a major difference in the game. The battle can’t be equal when one team scored over half their points from turnovers and the other couldn’t capitalize on their opponent’s mistakes. The Saints were the latter on Sunday.
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