The Atlanta Falcons offense was driving hard down the field against the New Orleans Saints defense, until it wasn’t. Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan threw a low pass that deflected off of backup Saints nose tackle Shy Tuttle’s chest; Tuttle surprised by showing great awareness to intercept the ball.
What happened next was even more surprising. Tuttle didn’t go down. Instead, the rookie out of Tennessee returned the interception into the open field, with only Ryan to stop him. And when Ryan tried to tackle the big man, Tuttle threw out a stiff arm and shoved Ryan into oblivion. A few Falcons linemen chased him out of bounds after that, though Ryan was busy trying to lift himself back up from the turf.
Unfortunately, it didn’t count for much after a penalty on Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan. Jordan was flagged for a block in the back penalty on Ryan, having attempted to shield Tuttle during the return. It was an unnecessary penalty but not unforgivable — how was Jordan going to know that Tuttle would destroy Ryan with that jab? We won’t hold it against him when he was just trying to help his team.
RUMBLIN' BUMBLIN' STUMBLIN' pic.twitter.com/1tjZZDm2TX
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 29, 2019
The Saints defense has given up some big gains to the Falcons on critical downs, but this is the kind of complimentary football New Orleans has won with all year. Creating turnovers on defense gives the offense opportunities to go get points, and Drew Brees and company will take as many of these extra chances as their teammates can give them.
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