The 16-point fourth-quarter deficit is the largest the #Saints have overcome to earn a win.
Prior to today, the biggest was on Nov. 19, 2017, when New Orleans beat Washington in OT after being down 15 points in the 4th. pic.twitter.com/n8PT6RyrHs
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) September 12, 2022
Bang: the New Orleans Saints set a new franchise record in Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons, the team announced. They overcame a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to leave town with a 27-26 victory. That’s bigger than the historic 15-point deficit that the Saints erased a few years back, upsetting Washington in 2017’s thrilling home game.
So of course it had to happen against the team’s biggest rivals, adding a little insult to injury. The Falcons were in prime position to win this game after going up 26-10. They even had a nice shot when they were up 26-24 with just 1:40 remaining in regulation, having forced the Saints to burn all of their timeouts and set up shop on the edge of field goal range.
Then Marcus Mariota fumbled the snap in the biggest moment of the game, mishandling the ball on 3rd and 1 to lose a critical down. Faced with the prospect of a 4th and 1 situation in New Orleans territory with the game on the line, Falcons coach Arthur Smith opted to run out more clock and punt it away, trusting his defense to handle their business with the Saints in the game’s final minute.
Bad call. Jameis Winston flipped the field with a 40-yard pass to Jarvis Landry, then eased into field goal range with a 17-yard link to Juwan Johnson. Sure, it could have been better executed. A botched spike drew a flag from the officiating crew, and Wil Lutz’s game-winning field goal sailed through the uprights with 19 seconds left on the clock.
The Falcons had another shot at winning the day, taking over at their own 25-yard line with all three of their timeouts, but they needed a bogus personal foul penalty on Marshon Lattimore to get close enough for Younghoe Koo to try a game-winning field goal of his own.
But the Saints came through on special teams to seal the deal. Defensive end Payton Turner got a hand on the ball to send it back where it came from, with linebacker Zack Baun and safety J.T. Gray splitting a tackle for emphasis. It was as electric a game we’ve seen from New Orleans. But as Saints coach Dennis Allen noted postgame, let’s hope they all aren’t quite so volatile.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=none image=https://saintswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=115569]