Generally speaking, I find the act of excuse making to be worth nothing more than an exaggerated eye roll. Therefore, I'll try to spare as much bias as I can in the reporting of the following absolute fact. An eye-popping amount of injuries, piss poor officiating, and one extremely dumb throw cost the Saints a win against a Falcons team that should be embarrassed by how much help they needed in just barely squeaking out victorious in a game they absolutely needed. First, the injuries. It's as if the loss of their most versatile weapon and one of the league's preeminent matchup nightmares in Alvin Kamara to a concussion wasn't bad enough. If the initial drive was any indication then a rushed game script appeared as though it was going to heavily feature him while easing the burden on the toe that had Mark Ingram's playing status up in the air. Unfortunately, almost every single subsequent drive after that continued to highlight just how stupid Thursday Night Football is as anywhere between 5-35 of New Orleans starters had to be helped off the field throughout the night. Now, the officiating. Admittedly, the Saints didn't make things easier on themselves with how often they got caught clutching and grabbing in the secondary. That said, the Falcons only touchdown drive of the first half was aided by a phantom roughing the passer call that came just as the Saints were getting off the field and, if anything, should have resulted in a flag thrown against the strong gust that appeared to knock over Matt Ryan...
I suppose the illegal formation penalty that took three points off the board as the first half expired was self-inflicted, but it was also the same type of ticky-tack bullshit that had Sean Payton getting called for a fatal unsportsmanlike conduct because the cowardly official decided to put his imprint on the outcome after refusing to listen to an incessant plea for a timeout...
When it comes to playing discipline the Saints did more than their fair share of crapping the carpet, but a frivolously one-sided game of flag throwing made it nearly impossible for them to clean up after themselves. Lastly, a ridiculously unnecessary attempt at a kill shot. With time working in their favor and their defense having spent most of the game either on the field or in the trainer's tent, I have no idea why Drew Brees tried to to force that ball to Josh Hill, of all people. Credit to Deion Jones for making a hell of a play, but it was a hell of play that he shouldn't have been given the opportunity to make considering the circumstances. With the situation offering them the use of literally the entire playbook, they decided to go with "jump ball to the athletically limited blocking tight-end that's had issues with ball security". To call that a head scratcher would be to imply that there is any sort of critical thinking required to identify it as a bad decision. As Drew Brees was driving the length of the field I couldn't help but think how gutsy the entirety of New Orleans' effort was, so I'm not going to completely reverse course on that narrative due to one silly turnover. The fact that the Saints were even in a position to win that game is pretty remarkable seeing as everything appeared to be working in favor of the more desperate team that didn't have to worry about traveling on a short week. Oddly enough, I couldn't be more confident that the Saints are a far superior team to the Falcons after watching the defense turn Matt Ryan into a partially blind, blubbering fool. It's extremely rare for a team to go undefeated in their own division, but I'll settle for 5-1 because there's no way that Atlanta team beats a (presumably) healthier New Orleans team on their own turf. Even if they are used to playing in front of a limited smattering of Falcons fans...
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