Falcons run for 205 yards and five touchdowns in 45-24 rout of Saints

The Falcons walked into the Superdome as 1.5-point underdogs on the night New Orleans was celebrating the 20th anniversary of the building reopening, and they ran the Saints over, 45 to 24. Atlanta rushed for 205 yards, scored five rushing touchdowns to tie the franchise record, averaged 7.5 yards a play and did not turn the ball over. After the first quarter the Saints never got within 14 again.

Bijan Robinson set the terms on the third snap of the game. Michael Penix Jr. found Drake London for 12 and Austin Hooper for 9, and on 2nd and 1 from the Atlanta 41 Robinson took a handoff around left end, burst through the left side and ran 59 yards without being touched. The Saints' best answer of the quarter was a 10-play drive that died when Daniel Carlson pushed a 52-yard field goal wide left with 5:08 on the clock.

The game turned at 2:52 of the first quarter. New Orleans had it at its own 20 on 1st and 10, Kendre Miller ran left guard for three yards, and the officials ruled him down by contact. Atlanta challenged, the replay showed C.J. Henderson had knocked the ball loose before Miller was down, and the reversal gave the Falcons the ball at the New Orleans 22. They needed five plays. On 4th and 4 at the 8 they spent their first timeout, went for it, and drew a defensive holding flag on Kool-Aid McKinstry when Penix's throw to Jahan Dotson fell incomplete. First and goal at the 4. Robinson scored from there with 48 seconds left in the quarter, and ESPN's model had Atlanta at 75.8 percent before the second quarter even started. The Falcons never handed that number back.

Offense

The plan was plain: hand the ball off and make New Orleans prove it could do something about it. The Saints could not. Atlanta ran it 35 times for 205 yards, 5.9 a carry, and got 13 of its 24 first downs on the ground. Robinson finished with 19 carries for 145 and two touchdowns. Brian Robinson Jr. took 14 for 62 and scored three times, all of them from inside the 12. Pete Werner and Danny Stutsman spent the night two steps late, and the interior of Davon Godchaux, Nathan Shepherd and Khristian Boyd got moved off the ball on the short-yardage snaps that mattered.

Penix was efficient rather than busy, which is what the script called for. He went 15 of 20 for 223 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions, 11.2 yards an attempt, sacked once. The explosive plays came off the run look: London's 37-yard catch to open the second-quarter field goal drive and a 27-yard grab on the touchdown drive before it, a 28-yard throw to Kyle Pitts Sr. that started the fourth-quarter possession, and the one genuine haymaker, a 31-yard touchdown to Dotson on 1st and 10 from the New Orleans 31 with 9:50 left. London had five catches for 96 on six targets. Pitts had three for 47. Atlanta finished 420 yards on 56 plays, 4 of 5 in the red zone and 4 of 8 on third down, and the one third-down conversion that mattered most was Penix to London for 14 on 3rd and 10 at the Saints' 28 in the third quarter, three plays before the score went to 31-10.

That is now two straight games at 7.5 yards a play. It is also two straight games with Penix starting and one turnover total, after the Falcons gave the ball away seven times in the two Cooper Rush starts that opened the season.

Defense

The run defense decided this side of the ball. New Orleans ran 19 times for 50 yards, 2.6 a carry, and Alvin Kamara needed seven carries to get 23. Tyler Shough was left to throw it 48 times, and he completed 30 for 286, which is 6.0 an attempt and exactly the kind of night Atlanta wanted to give him. The Saints gained 320 yards on 69 plays, 4.6 a play, and took 13 plays to produce each of their two touchdown drives after the first quarter.

Henderson had the game's only takeaway and 10 tackles, nine of them solo. Harold Perkins Jr. also had 10 with half a sack and a quarterback hit. Cameron Thomas was in on five stops and broke up the third-and-3 throw at the Atlanta 8 that held New Orleans to a field goal in the third quarter. Samson Ebukam produced the biggest defensive play of the second half, a nine-yard sack of Shough on 4th and 6 from the New Orleans 30 with 8:33 left that handed the offense the ball at the 21 and turned into a touchdown three plays later.

What did not hold up: the back end on third and long, and the discipline that goes with it. Chris Olave caught eight for 116 on 12 targets and beat whoever drew him. A.J. Terrell's 25-yard pass interference on 3rd and 10 at the New Orleans 32 revived a drive that had opened with two incompletions and a third on third down, and Billy Bowman Jr.'s interference inside the Atlanta 20 gave the Saints a free first down on the field goal drive. New Orleans went 3 of 4 on fourth down. Atlanta also lost Za'Darius Smith to a concussion in the second quarter and finished with one sack.

Special teams

Nick Folk was perfect, 1 for 1 on field goals from 29 and 6 for 6 on extra points for nine points, and three of his kickoffs traveled 61 yards or more. Zachariah Branch was useful, 65 yards on three kick returns and a 25-yard punt return. The rest was a loss. Jake Bailey punted twice and averaged 36.0, one inside the 20, while Ryan Wright averaged 49.7 on three with two inside the 20. Worse, the kickoff coverage gave up 209 yards on eight returns, 26.1 a crack, with Barion Brown taking five for 130. New Orleans started its drives at an average of its own 28, which is how a team with 50 rushing yards still managed 22 first downs. Carlson's miss from 52 was worth three points to Atlanta and the only real gift the unit received.

Coaching

Kevin Stefanski's best decision was throwing the challenge flag on the Miller run. It was not an obvious call from the sideline, and it produced the short field that became the 14-0 lead. Going for it on 4th and 4 at the 8 a few minutes later was the right call on its own merits even though a penalty bailed out the incompletion. Taking the 29-yard field goal on 4th and 7 at the 11 in the second quarter was the correct read of the same situation with worse distance.

Halftime held up too. The Saints opened the third quarter with a 13-play, 7:22 possession and got three points for it, and Atlanta answered immediately with nine plays and 74 yards for the touchdown that made it 31-10. The Falcons also lost left tackle Jake Matthews to a groin injury at the end of the first quarter and ran for 205 yards anyway, which says something about both the plan and the backup.

The complaint is the same one as the last three weeks. Eight penalties for 70 yards, including neutral zone infractions by Brandon Dorlus and Maason Smith that gifted New Orleans free yardage on the third-quarter drive, and two pass interference calls in coverage. Nine flags, then six, then six, now eight. It did not cost Atlanta this game. It will cost one.

What it means

The Falcons are 2-2 and tied with Carolina at the top of the NFC South, with the Saints at 1-3 and Tampa Bay at 0-4. They are 2-1 on the road and 0-1 at home. The two wins have come by a combined 80-38.

What has now shown up two weeks running is specific: 447 rushing yards across two games, 7.5 yards a play in both, a quarterback who has thrown 33 of 45 for 479 yards in his two starts, and one turnover in eight quarters. It is a different offense than the one that scored 16 points in the first two weeks. The honest caveat is that it has been two games, one on a Thursday night at Green Bay and one against a Saints defense that could not tackle, and the 34-3 loss to Carolina at home is still sitting on the ledger.

What is next

Baltimore comes to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday night, October 11, 8:20 p.m. Eastern on NBC. The question Atlanta has to answer by then is whether any of this travels back home. The Falcons have won twice on the road and been outscored 34-3 in their own building, and a pass rush that managed one sack against Shough now gets a short week of preparation without Za'Darius Smith.