LOS ANGELES: Matt Ryan threw two touchdowns as the Atlanta Falcons piled on the misery for the winless New Orleans Saints with a 45-32 victory at the Superdome on Monday.
Tevin Coleman ran for two scores before rookie linebacker Deion Jones galloped 90 yards for a touchdown after collecting an interception from Saints quarterback Drew Brees in the fourth quarter.
The win left the Falcons on top of the NFC South with a 2-1 record as the Saints slumped to 0-3 on a night to forget for the home team.
The Falcons took control of the contest after scoring touchdowns on five consecutive possessions before adding a field goal to forge into a 38-25 lead late in the third quarter.
The Saints still had plenty of time to play with however and appeared to be closing in on a touchdown that would have reduced the deficit to six points early in the fourth quarter.
But cornerback Brian Poole deflected Brees’ pass for Michael Thomas and the ball bounced kindly into the arms of Jones, who sprinted 90 yards to put Atlanta ahead 45-25 with 13:37 left.
That decisive play ended Brees’ run of 305 consecutive passes without an interception, the fourth-longest streak in league history behind Tom Brady (359), Alex Smith (312) and Bernie Kosar (308).
The Saints rallied briefly when Mark Ingram scored a touchdown to make it 45-32 with 10 minutes left but it was too little too late.
Quarterback Ryan made 20 completions from 30 attempts for 240 yards while Devonta Freeman led Atlanta’s rushing with 152 yards from 14 carries.
Brees posted respectable numbers with 36 from 54 for 376 yards and three touchdowns.
Cardinals dealing with issues in 1-2 start to season
The Arizona Cardinals were widely expected to contend for the Super Bowl this season. That lofty goal is still in play, of course, but a 1-2 start and coming off a 33-18 loss at Buffalo on Sunday has the Cardinals trying to find solutions to unexpected problems.
Those issues, coach Bruce Arians said Monday, include communication in-game on the road, increased mental errors, slow starts coming out of halftime, and too many leaders with not enough followers in the locker room.
Those four trouble spots came out of Sunday’s loss, which saw Arizona trail by as many as 23 points in the third quarter. The Bills gashed a typically more stout Cardinals defense for 208 rushing yards, with an average of 6.5 yards per attempt.
On offense, Carson Palmer threw four interceptions and was sacked five times.
“We’ve never given up that many yards rushing. Never had that poor a performance on third down (offense). This one, it was a good old-fashioned butt-kicking, and we took it,” Arians said. “We’ve got some guys that are trying to do too much . pressing and trying too hard. I think that’s easily correctable.”
Arians feels the Cardinals have yet to start second halves well. With Buffalo being the first road game, he said players had problems hearing calls amid the noise. And there are roughly five more mental mistakes occurring than in a typical game.
“We went over there and we weren’t ready,” left guard Mike Iupati said. “Film don’t lie.”
The Cardinals spent Monday going over the film from Sunday’s game in what was sure to be an unpleasant lookback. Then they’ll turn the page and start preparing for a home game against the Los Angeles Rams (2-1) this week.
“I definitely feel like this week is going to be very intense for us,” running back David Johnson said.
Veteran leadership isn’t an issue, but younger players trying to “do their own thing” is, Arians said.
“We’re finding out about ourselves,” Arians said. “We’re good enough . they know the talent is there, I don’t have to give them that message. The message to the team was find a positive way to fix what’s wrong.”
Players seemed to take that to heart, as they individually spoke of having to improve on the field while remembering to keep things simple.
“At the end of the day it’s just football,” safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “You always have to go back to your fundamentals.
“You’re playing for the guy next to you, you’re not playing for expectations or trophies that aren’t won in September,” Mathieu added. “We just have to get back to that.”
Tevin Coleman ran for two scores before rookie linebacker Deion Jones galloped 90 yards for a touchdown after collecting an interception from Saints quarterback Drew Brees in the fourth quarter.
The win left the Falcons on top of the NFC South with a 2-1 record as the Saints slumped to 0-3 on a night to forget for the home team.
The Falcons took control of the contest after scoring touchdowns on five consecutive possessions before adding a field goal to forge into a 38-25 lead late in the third quarter.
The Saints still had plenty of time to play with however and appeared to be closing in on a touchdown that would have reduced the deficit to six points early in the fourth quarter.
But cornerback Brian Poole deflected Brees’ pass for Michael Thomas and the ball bounced kindly into the arms of Jones, who sprinted 90 yards to put Atlanta ahead 45-25 with 13:37 left.
That decisive play ended Brees’ run of 305 consecutive passes without an interception, the fourth-longest streak in league history behind Tom Brady (359), Alex Smith (312) and Bernie Kosar (308).
The Saints rallied briefly when Mark Ingram scored a touchdown to make it 45-32 with 10 minutes left but it was too little too late.
Quarterback Ryan made 20 completions from 30 attempts for 240 yards while Devonta Freeman led Atlanta’s rushing with 152 yards from 14 carries.
Brees posted respectable numbers with 36 from 54 for 376 yards and three touchdowns.
Cardinals dealing with issues in 1-2 start to season
The Arizona Cardinals were widely expected to contend for the Super Bowl this season. That lofty goal is still in play, of course, but a 1-2 start and coming off a 33-18 loss at Buffalo on Sunday has the Cardinals trying to find solutions to unexpected problems.
Those issues, coach Bruce Arians said Monday, include communication in-game on the road, increased mental errors, slow starts coming out of halftime, and too many leaders with not enough followers in the locker room.
Those four trouble spots came out of Sunday’s loss, which saw Arizona trail by as many as 23 points in the third quarter. The Bills gashed a typically more stout Cardinals defense for 208 rushing yards, with an average of 6.5 yards per attempt.
On offense, Carson Palmer threw four interceptions and was sacked five times.
“We’ve never given up that many yards rushing. Never had that poor a performance on third down (offense). This one, it was a good old-fashioned butt-kicking, and we took it,” Arians said. “We’ve got some guys that are trying to do too much . pressing and trying too hard. I think that’s easily correctable.”
Arians feels the Cardinals have yet to start second halves well. With Buffalo being the first road game, he said players had problems hearing calls amid the noise. And there are roughly five more mental mistakes occurring than in a typical game.
“We went over there and we weren’t ready,” left guard Mike Iupati said. “Film don’t lie.”
The Cardinals spent Monday going over the film from Sunday’s game in what was sure to be an unpleasant lookback. Then they’ll turn the page and start preparing for a home game against the Los Angeles Rams (2-1) this week.
“I definitely feel like this week is going to be very intense for us,” running back David Johnson said.
Veteran leadership isn’t an issue, but younger players trying to “do their own thing” is, Arians said.
“We’re finding out about ourselves,” Arians said. “We’re good enough . they know the talent is there, I don’t have to give them that message. The message to the team was find a positive way to fix what’s wrong.”
Players seemed to take that to heart, as they individually spoke of having to improve on the field while remembering to keep things simple.
“At the end of the day it’s just football,” safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “You always have to go back to your fundamentals.
“You’re playing for the guy next to you, you’re not playing for expectations or trophies that aren’t won in September,” Mathieu added. “We just have to get back to that.”
