2009 Game Reviews
NFL Week 8
by Jody Jamieson
5/11/2009
 
Seahawks 17 Cowboys 38
 
Dallas have done an impressive job turning themselves around since their bye week. They looked completely lost in Denver when the impressive Broncos defeated them, and were even more devoid of inspiration in struggling past Kansas City in overtime. Since the bye week they’ve whooped the Falcons and now the Seahawks in very impressive fashion. Romo (21/36, 256 yds, 3 TD) had another impressive game after struggling early in the season. Ten different Cowboys had receptions in this one as the offensive line did a much better job in allowing Romo to spread the ball around. Miles Austin paced the Cowboys yet again with 5 catches for 61 yards and a touchdown. On the other side Hasselbeck (22/39, 249 yds, 2 TD) did a good job despite being under pressure all day. He was dropped three times and hassled on just about every dropback.
 
Dallas took a 7-3 lead when Sam Hurd caught a pass on an out route and broke some pathetic Seattle tackles on route to the endzone. The Seahawks defenders actually did a better job of taking each other out than getting to Hurd. Marion Barber made it 14-3 after Justin Forsett’s only carry of the day was fumbled to set up a short field for Dallas. Hasselbeck cut the deficit on a beautiful touchdown toss to Deion Branch, but Roy Williams had his first score since Week 1 to give the Cowboys a 21-10 half time lead.
 
Miles Austin had his TD grab towards the end of the third quarter, and after a three and out from Seattle, Patrick Crayton returned the punt 82 yards for a score that featured a hilarious stiff arm on the punter. Romo was strip sacked inside his own 10 yard line to set up an easy Seattle score (Hasselbeck to Justin Griffith) in garbage time. Dallas now have won three on the bounce and are looking like a true force in an NFC East that is completely up for grabs now that the Giants are on the slide. Romo will have to perform in December before anyone anoints them as a Super Bowl contender, but after a slow start, the signs are there that the Cowboys are clicking.
 
Broncos 7 Ravens 30
 
Denver came out of the bye week and lost their unbeaten record in spectacular fashion. Baltimore had lost three close games in a row in the build up to this one after starting off fabulously, but they found their feet again in spectacular fashion to knock off the Broncos. In a funny way, they did it the way Denver won a few games this season by making better half time adjustments to turn close games into comfortable wins. It was 6-0 at the half before Baltimore came out and dominated the second half. It started on the first play of the half as rookie Lardarius Webb returned the kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and the Ravens didn’t look back. Denver did manage to cut the lead to 13-7 when Knowshon Moreno scored on the ground, but Baltimore stamped their authority on this game in the 4th quarter when Derek Mason through the air on a beautiful pass from Joe Flacco, and Ray Rice on the ground scored touchdowns to give the Ravens a big win that they had to have before going to Cincinnati on Sunday.
 
Flacco was economical as always, going 20/25 for 175 yards and a touchdown. Kyle Orton meanwhile was 23/37 for 152 yards for an average of just over 4 yards per attempt. When Denver’s running game is on schedule, Kyle Orton can be effective in moving the chains on third down. But Knowshon Moreno (10-39-1) and Correll Buckhalter (8-16-0) struggled to keep it going, and thus Orton was a lousy 3-13 on third down. Baltimore meanwhile were 11-18 on third down against a defense who has spent the whole season coming up huge on third downs. Just a complete role reversal for Denver who looked a little sloppy after two weeks off.
 
Browns 6 Bears 30
 
The Bears were threatening to ruin themselves in this one, constantly driving deep but settling for field goals. Thankfully they were playing Cleveland who had no intentions of ever getting close. They were 9-0 up in the 2nd quarter and the final two field goals were set up by turnovers in Browns territory. Danieal Manning made a marvellous diving interception before a Jamal Lewis fumble. Finally Chicago put together a touchdown drive which ended on a Matt Forte 1 yard run. Cleveland scored their only points on a Derek Anderson sneak but the extra point was blocked. Steve Heiden then fumbled at midfield and Danieal Manning recovered, setting up a 50 yard scoring drive that ended on another Forte TD run, this time from 10 yards. Anderson then finished off his miserable day by throwing a pick six with no receiver in sight to Charles Tillman. Cleveland have scored a miserable 5 offensive touchdowns in their last 14 games.
 
Anderson was horrible in this one, going 6/17 for 76 yards and the two previously mentioned interceptions. Brady Quinn came in and was 1/3 for 9 yards. Matt Forte had 90 yards to go with his 2 touchdowns. After not being able to get near Aaron Rodgers last week, Cleveland’s defense actually came to play here, sacking Cutler 4 times. Unfortunately the Bears scored 20 points off 5 turnovers and the Browns had no chance to make up for Anderson’s awful play. Cutler struggled at times but finished 17/30 for 225 yards and a pick. Funny moment in this game at 23-6 in the 4th quarter when Cutler on play action tried to throw a touchdown pass to Greg Olsen but it was batted away by Kameron Wimbley. Browns defensive co-ordinator Rob Ryan exploded at Cutler, obviously feeling that he was running up the score. Unfortunately, Cleveland don’t have New England on their schedule. That would be an interesting rant by The Hobo Ryan.
 
Dolphins 30 Jets 25
 
This was such a terrible loss for the Jets. It’s the type of loss that can completely ruin your season. The Non-Hobo Ryan was understandably disconsolate in his press conference. They completely dominated this game, but allowed the Dolphins defense and special teams to score 21 points. They annihilated the Dolphins in yards (378-104), first downs (23-10) and time of possession (34:06-25:54) but couldn’t come up with a win due to miscues and the explosion of Ted Ginn Jr on kickoff returns. Ginn had never scored on a return in his NFL career, but bagged touchdowns on consecutive kickoffs in this game to put Miami over the top in a game they had no business winning.
 
It was 3-3 at the half, and really there was nothing to talk about as both teams traded punts for the first 30 minutes. The only thing worth noting before the second half explosion was the pre-game festivities, with Kerry Rhodes getting into it with Joey Porter. Joey The Mouth always has something nonsensical to say which invariably ends up causing a barney. This made Tony Sparano’s post game comments rather ironic. “We don’t talk. We just go out and play football.”
 
After Jay Feely kicked a 55 yard field goal to make it 6-3, Feely kicked off to Ginn, who took it back 100 yards for the score. Rookie Shonn Greene fumbled and Jason Taylor picked it up and took it to the house. Sanchez then scored on the easiest one yard run of all time after Davone Bess muffed a punt. Twenty one players were piled up between the hash marks on the goalline, while Sanchez wandered off to the left and into the endzone. Unfortunately they had to kick off again, and Ginn took it back for a 101 yard score. Sanchez kept on fighting and led a drive in reply that culminated in a 17 yard touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards. Chad Henne led a 13 play touchdown drive and finished it off with a 5 yard pass to Joey Haynos, but the Jets replied again when Sanchez hit Dustin Keller. New York had a chance to win the game late but a 4th down pass fell incomplete and Miami held on for an unlikely win.
 
Chad Henne (12/21, 112 yds, 1 TD) has to learn to get rid of the ball. Too many times in this game he was running about in the backfield and getting sacked a lot deeper than he needed to be. It’s nice to see a quarterback with a little bit of mobility escaping pressure, but Henne doesn’t have that mobility and looks like a deer in the headlights as he shuffles about before getting dropped. Mark Sanchez had his best game in a few weeks (20/25, 265 yds, 2 TD, 1 rush TD) and did more than enough to win the game, but his kickoff coverage team spoiled his good effort.
 
49ers 14 Colts 18
 
Good teams always seem to find a way to come out with a win, even when they don’t play particularly well. Peyton Manning and the Colts put up their flattest offensive performance of the year, but still managed to sneak past the Niners and record their 16th straight regular season win. Indianapolis moved the ball well for the most part, but then seemed to bog down around midfield and find themselves punting. They couldn’t score a touchdown in the first half and trailed 14-9 at the break. Frank Gore scampered up the middle for 66 yards and a score on San Francisco’s first drive, and towards the end of the first half Alex Smith (19/32, 198 yds, TD, INT) hit Vernon Davis for his 4th touchdown reception in less than 60 minutes of football after 3 second half scores last week. Indy could only reply with 3 Matt Stover field goals. Stover kicked his 4th field goal in the third quarter before the Colts finally got into the endzone with a bit of trickery to start the 4th. Joseph Addai took the handoff, rolled to his left and threw a touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne. Smith took a delay of game on 3rd and 7 while trailing by 4 points with 10 minutes to go. He was sacked on the next play and the Niners found themselves out of field goal range. Sound familiar? After doing the exact same thing last week, it’s a worrying trend.
 
Peyton Manning (31/48, 347 yds) became the 4th player in NFL history (Dan Marino, John Elway, Brett Favre) to complete 4,000 passes in his career when he hit Dallas Clark for a 15 yard gain in the first quarter. He set a new record by doing this in just his 183rd career game. Marino previously held the record by doing it in 193 games. Reggie Wayne finished with 12 catches for 147 yards and a touchdown. Wayne through 7 games has 51 catches, 689 yards and 6 touchdowns.
 
Rams 17 Lions 10
 
The Rams finally got a win. It would have sucked to have had another 0-16 team in the NFL, but right now, only Tampa Bay can repeat the futility of the 2008 Detroit Lions. Let’s not kid ourselves though, Tampa Bay have a great chance of doing so. Detroit were in a tough spot here with Matt Stafford still gimpy with a knee injury and Calvin Johnson out, but they should have had enough to beat the Rams. But finally St Louis were able to keep a game close enough to allow Steven Jackson to be a factor. Jackson has been the lone bright spot on a horrific offense, but too often the team has found itself well behind and essentially having to limit Jackson’s carries in an effort to make the score respectable. With the score tied at 10 and the Rams with the ball, you knew they were going to let Jackson carry them to victory. Jackson scored on a 25 yard rush late in this one to snap the 0-17 skid. Jackson pounded Detroit on the ground, amassing 149 yards and the game winning touchdown on just 22 carries.
 
There were two bizarre scoring plays in this one. First with St Louis leading 3-0, James Butler picked off Matthew Stafford in the endzone after the pass went through Aaron Brown’s hands. Butler got up, left the endzone, went back into the endzone and was tackled by Kevin Smith for a safety. Then with the second half winding down, Josh Brown set up for a 54 yard field goal. Punter Donnie Jones took the snap, flipped it to Brown who threw a touchdown pass to Daniel Fells to give St Louis a 10-2 half time lead. The Rams were threatening to put the game out of reach in the 3rd quarter, but Dewayne White made a marvellous interception on a pass intended for Steven Jackson. Detroit took that opportunity to tie the game by going on a 10 play, 82 yard drive that ended on a Matthew Stafford two yard run. Stafford to Maurice Morris was good for the two point conversion. With the game heading for overtime Jackson ripped off a 17 yard rush up the middle one play before scoring the game winning touchdown. Detroit went backwards in a desperate attempt to take the game to overtime. Stafford threw incomplete on a 4th and 20 as St Louis picked up their first win since beating Washington and Dallas in consecutive weeks last year.
 
Giants 17 Eagles 40
 
I really thought the Giants would come out and make a statement in this game, but their worrying struggles continued as they were beaten down by Philadelphia. Three key injuries are undermining them at the moment. On defense, the loss of Aaron Ross at corner and Kenny Phillips has exposed their depth as “safety” C.C. Brown continues to get torched, while Eli Manning hasn’t been the same since the Oakland game with his heel injury. If the injury is causing Eli more trouble than the Giants are leading us to believe, this is going to be a really tough season for New York. Plantar fasciitis is not an injury that is going to heal during the football season as the only remedy is rest. Manning has completed less than 50% of his passes (53/107) during the Giants 3 game losing streak and has thrown 6 INT’s to go along with just 3 touchdowns. Manning (20/39, 222 yds, TD, 2 INT) was all over the place early and after Asante Samuel picked him off, he could have been intercepted a couple more times by Quintin Mikell. He eventually was picked off for the second time as he threw a wobbler over the middle of the field and Quintin Demps came down with it.
 
Donovan McNabb meanwhile had an excellent game after a couple of down weeks for him. The Giants did get to him twice, but the line kept him clean for the most part. McNabb was 17/23 for 240 yards and 3 touchdowns. Philadelphia had an early 16-0 lead after Leonard Weaver ran away from the Giants defense for a 41 yard score. After the Samuel interception, Philly looked to be wasting the opportunity, but on 3rd and goal from the 17 yard line McNabb fired a laser over the middle to Brent Celek. Kevin Boss had an 18 yard TD catch on the first play after the two minute warning, but the Giants somehow allowed the Eagles to score twice before the half. First McNabb hit Jackson for 54 yards on the first play after a good return by Ellis Hobbs, and then after Eli was picked by Demps, the Eagles needed only 3 plays before McNabb threw a strike to Jeremy Maclin in tight coverage. Ahmad Bradshaw scored from a yard out in the third quarter, but LeSean McCoy responded with a 66 yard dash to complete the scoring. The Eagles put it together on both sides of the ball for the first time in a while, but the Giants look more than vulnerable. New York looked like a lock for the division three weeks ago, but the Dallas-Philadelphia showdown on Sunday Night Football will be for NFC East supremacy unless the Giants can turn it around.
 
Texans 31 Bills 10
 
Steve Slaton ruined my fantasy team. He had six fumbles coming into the game and after putting another ball on the floor Gary Kubiak lost patience and benched him in favour of Ryan Moats. Moats torched the Bills. This was such a good matchup I couldn’t resist picking Slaton due to the fact that the Bills can’t stop anyone running the football. Moats got the majority of the carries after Slaton’s removal from the game and trampled all over Buffalo. Moats had 126 yards and three scores on 23 carries. Owen Daniels meanwhile has been lost for the season after going down with a knee injury while running a route. The loss of Daniels threw the Texans offense off in the first half as they settled for field goals without their big redzone presence. Buffalo led 10-6 at half time in this one with the lone first half touchdown coming on a Terrell Owens 29 yard end around. Matt Schaub struggled in the first half, throwing two interceptions to Jairus Byrd. It was the third game in a row that Byrd had multiple picks and is making a good case for defensive rookie of the year on the back of his 7 INT’s. Byrd is most definitely one of the reasons that the Bills are being run on as he’s simply terrible in run support from safety, but he’s getting a reputation as an excellent ball hawking playmaker and was a huge reason that Buffalo came out with two tough road wins going into this contest.
 
Houston never really got their offense going until the 4th quarter where they tallied 22 unanswered points. Ryan Moats bagged all three of his touchdowns in the final quarter going in from 11, 1 and 3 yards. The second score was set up by a strange 4th and 2 fake punt that failed miserably. Punter Brian Moorman ran right and handed off to Justin Jenkins who came back to the middle and got wiped out. Maybe designing a fake punt to go back to the middle where all the punt blockers will be may not be the smartest idea ever? Fitzpatrick then tossed a late interception which pretty much ended the game when he threw to Owens on a go route. It was a shame TO ran a 10 yard comeback route on the play. Neither quarterback threw a touchdown pass in the contest, while both ended with 2 interceptions. Schaub though was by far the more effective passer, going 25/34 for 268 yards. Fitzpatrick was 15/23 for 117 yards. Andre Johnson had 6 catches for 63 yards to pace Houston, while Terrell Owens had 5 catches but for just 39 yards.
 
Jaguars 13 Titans 30
 
The Tennessee Titans joined the St Louis Rams in getting their first win of 2009 in Week 8 with a convincing win over Jacksonville. Before I praise Tennessee for what they did well, I’m going to have to complain (shocker) about Jacksonville. Everyone knows they have an average quarterback and an excellent running back. Ever think of playing to your strengths, Mr Del Rio? Their first rushing play came midway through the second quarter... on an end around to David Thomas. Maurice Jones-Drew made a tackle before he had a touch on the next play after then end around, bringing down Rod Hood on an interception return. Jones-Drew then got his first touch on the next drive, and scored on an 80 yard rush. And you wonder why they spent the first 20 minutes of this game piling up three and outs? Maurice Jones-Drew somehow was only given 8 carries in this one, but he ripped off two huge runs and finished with 177 rushing yards and two scores. Garrard was meanwhile a meagre 14/27 for 139 yards, 2 picks and a fumble.
 
My other complaint about this game was one call by the officials which was completely laughable. On a Tennessee kickoff the ball clearly bounced out of bounds before getting to the pylon. By rule, the ball should have been placed on the 40 yard line. The idiot umpire who was standing about 3 feet from it somehow thought the ball went inside the pylon and ruled it a touchback. Jack Del Rio rightly challenged the call and the umpires accepted it. Over two minutes later they realised the call was not reviewable. Jacksonville went 3 and out, punted and Tennessee drove down and kicked a 45 yard field goal. You think the 20 yards were important? Not even Rob Bironas is kicking a 65 yarder.
 
There was a strange quote from the colour commentator in this game. Vince Young made a miraculous escape under pressure on a third down play before completing a pass to the sideline for the first down. “Athleticism! You can’t teach that! You can’t even coach that!” Huh? Let’s not even pretend that made any sort of sense.
 
Tennessee went back to their 2006 offense which allowed Young to be effective. Norm Chow had some success with Young before asking him to be almost strictly a pocket passer and ended up getting himself fired. Mike Heimerdinger allowed VY to have the freedom to move around and do what he does best. Young was thus 15/18 for 125 yards and a touchdown and rushed 12 times for 30 yards but the key was that he had no turnovers. The problem when he was staying in the pocket was that he didn’t always make the best reads and thus threw far too many interceptions. Letting him move around is a much better way to utilise his skills.
 
But the absolute star of the game for Tennessee was Chris Johnson. Johnson had 228 rushing yards on 24 carries and scored two long touchdowns. Jacksonville didn’t do a great job of tackling him, but his pure speed was the factor. Twice early in the game he should have been killed in the backfield but managed to turn the corner and get some good yards, and his breakaway speed was never more apparent when he scored from 52 yards in the 3rd quarter, before an 89 yard scamper in the 4th quarter killed the game. The second long run also looked to have killed Johnson who threw up in the endzone and looked finished for the day. Why Jeff Fisher didn’t wrap him up in cotton wool after that I don’t know. He was back out in the next series running up the middle.
 
Jones-Drew scored on the first play of the second half on a miraculous rush. He broke three tackles at the line and scampered free with one man to beat and one blocker in front of him. The blocker was David Garrard who had hustled down the field to help complete the play. That’s the type of leadership you love in a quarterback. This tied the score at 13, but Tennessee scored 17 unanswered on a field goal and the two Chris Johnson runs.
 
Raiders 16 Chargers 24
 
San Diego beat Oakland for the 13th consecutive time, but allowed the Raiders to stay close and even have a chance to tie the game late. Oakland only got the ball into the endzone once when Justin Fargas tied the game on a 3 yard rush after a LaDanian Tomlinson rushing touchdown, but stayed close by getting 10 points off turnovers in San Diego territory. The Chargers held a 21-10 half time lead after Vincent Jackson receiving and LT rushing made it 21-7. Jonathan Howard had a 60 yard return on the ensuing kickoff, and Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 47 yarder.
 
Janikowski added 2 more field goals in the second half before Nate Kaeding kicked one of his own to make it an 8 point game. Oakland had the ball inside the Chargers 45 at the two minute warning, but had a 13 yard loss on a strip sack that they luckily recovered (Johnnie Lee Higgins and Louis Murphy actually collided and fell over running their routes to ruin the play), a false start, and a 3 yard sack to set up a very Raideresque 3rd and 31. Russell managed to cut it to 4th and 20 and threw one over the middle, but Higgins dropped it. Russell was 14/22 for 109 yard and an interception which would be mediocre for most, but with only one turnover, this can be seen as a successful day. Darrius Heyward-Bey had one catch for 10 yards. He is on pace for 10 catches, 148 yards and no touchdowns. That’s enough to make Roy Williams weep.
 
Speaking of unproductive wide receivers, the Chargers finally cut Chris Chambers. The Dolphins somehow got a second round pick for Chambers when the traded him two years ago. Miami drafted Chad Henne with the pick.
 
Vikings 38 Packers 26
 
Brett Favre went back into Lambeau Field for the first time since his “retirement” and beat his old team in impressive fashion. Favre had a marvellous game, going 17/20 for 244 yards and 4 touchdowns. We all wondered what type of reaction Favre would get in his old home, and while there were a few Packers fans applauding, the boos were very loud. Favre’s little feud with Ted Thompson seems a little stupid to most, but it obviously means a lot to Number 4. With the win at the Metrodome earlier in the year, you wonder if this is what Brett came back for. But with the Vikings at 7-1 now, they have more important business than Green Bay going forward. The Vikings put together an impressive performance on both sides of the ball and held a 24-3 lead at one point, but the Packers came roaring back to make a game of it. Unfortunately for Green Bay, they put themselves in too big of a hole to get out of.
 
Green Bay held a 3-0 lead when they seemed to have stopped the Vikes on third down, but Johnny Jolly head butted Chester Taylor for some stupid reason. The drive stayed alive and Adrian Peterson took a fourth and goal carry in for the first score before the floodgates opened. A Ryan Longwell field goal and touchdown catches for Visanthe Shiancoe and Percy Harvin (check out three Packer defenders taking each other out on the pass to allow Harvin to get into the open field for the score) established the 21 point lead before the Packers offensive line started to protect Aaron Rodgers and allow him to put together some drives. They were also helped on a pooch kickoff to keep the ball out of Harvin’s hands that was picked up and fumbled by John Sullivan. Linebacker come tight end Spencer Havner had two 3rd quarter touchdown catches, but Favre’s 3rd TD pass to Jeff Dugan looked to have ended it. A quick strike from Rodgers to Greg Jennings made it a one score game again, but Favre to Berrian established a 12 point lead. The Packers couldn’t respond and turned the ball over on downs. Rodgers was sacked 6 times in the contest and the beating obviously took its toll as he had to leave the game on the final drive. Matt Flynn came in and completed his only pass for 3 yards.
 
In two games against Green Bay, Favre was 41/59, 515 yards, 7 touchdowns, no interceptions and wasn’t sacked once. The magic is still there. Minnesota will hope the magic doesn’t fade down the stretch like it did last year. Jared Allen had 7.5 sacks in two games against Green Bay. In the Metrodome he abused Daryn Colledge, and this time it was rookie TJ Lang that was victimised.
 
Interesting fact. Vikings guard Steve Hutchinson was flagged for holding on Sunday, negating a 2 yard Adrian Peterson run. This was the first time Hutchinson was flagged for holding since 2003. Of course, we know that NFL officials don’t know how to enforce the holding rule for the most part, but that cannot possibly take away from a six year gap between holding infractions.
 
Panthers 34 Cardinals 21
 
Carolina repaid the favour from the Divisional Round of the playoffs last year in bizarrely similar fashion. Yet again, the heavily favoured home teams’ signal caller had a turnover laden game that gave his team far too much to do. Kurt Warner had 5 interceptions and a fumble in this one that put him team in a big hole that he couldn’t get out of. Carolina amazingly led 28-7 at the half, yet only one of these touchdown scores can be blamed on Warner. Carolina’s first three scoring drives were 15 plays, 74 yards, (Jonathan Stewart 6 yard rush), 3 plays, 87 yards (Jonathan Stewart 10 yard rush), and 4 plays, 75 yards (Delhomme 50 yard pass to Steve Smith). Of course, the fourth touchdown was a 13 yard pick six by Julius Peppers, so understandably it’s a little difficult to absolve Warner of any blame for this one, especially considering it was a horrible throw. The Cardinals final three possessions of the first half ended with interceptions, but Carolina only profited from the first. The wonderfully named LaRod Stephens-Howling had the lone first half score for Arizona on a 14 yard pass from Warner. The reason Carolina were able to be so far ahead at the half was that DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart gashed the #1 rated rush defense for 195 rushing yards in the first half alone.
 
Arizona made it a two score game in the 3rd quarter when Warner tossed a touchdown to Ben Patrick. It was a 10 point game when Tim Hightower answered a John Kasay field goal with a one yard rushing touchdown, but the Cardinals could get no closer. Kasay kicked another field goal in the 4th quarter to ice this one. Rookie Sherrod Martin recorded his first two interceptions of his career. Thomas Davis, Julius Peppers and Richard Marshall had the other thefts of Warner. Jake Delhomme finally had a turnover free day. He was 7/14 for 90 yards and a TD, but didn’t have anything else to do as his rushing game was on, and Warner was doing his best Jake Delhomme impression on the other side. Delhomme left the game late with a chest injury, but is likely to be available this Sunday in New Orleans.
 
Falcons 27 Saints 35
 
New Orleans remained undefeated after knocking off Atlanta on Monday Night Football, but it wasn’t easy against a plucky Falcons side. Michael Turner scored the opening touchdown from 13 yards after a marvellous opening drive, but the Saints replied immediately. Pierre Thomas should have been levelled at the line of scrimmage on a 3rd and 4 run, but Chevis Jackson missed the tacked and Thomas joked out two more would be tacklers to scamper home from 22 yards. Atlanta took a 14-7 lead when Thomas DeCoud came through the middle on a delayed safety blitz and levelled Drew Brees. The ball came loose and Kroy Biermann picked it up and took it into the endzone, but the scoring continued as New Orleans tied the score at 14 when Brees hit Marques Colston for the score. The scoring finally slowed down for a while, but only because Jason Elam missed a 34 yard field goal, and rookie Brett Grimes made an incredible interception as the Saints were driving. Brees threw a great pass down the sideline to Devery Henderson who made an excellent catch. One play later Reggie Bush scored on a misdirection run. Ryan than made an ill advised throw to Roddy White. Jabari Greer stepped in front of the route and had himself an interception that he returned to the house. It was Matt Ryan’s first pick six of his career. Jonathan Vilma could have been called for pass interference on the call but the refs missed it and Greer would have made the pick anyway. Elam shanked a 51 yarder to end the half.
 
Roddy White scored on a deep pass from Matt Ryan to make it 28-21 in the third quarter. I’ve no idea how it wasn’t called pass interference. Not only did White bump Greer while the ball was in the air, but he pushed off to make the catch. John Carney then missed from 37 yards as the Saints just couldn’t pull away. They threatened to blow it as at 28-24 Pierre Thomas fumbled the ball on the New Orleans side of the field, but the Falcons couldn’t capitalise. Ryan threw an interception to Tracy Porter in the redzone, and the Saints went the other way, taking nearly 6 minutes off, and eventually scoring on a Pierre Thomas 1 yard catch. But the Saints weren’t done trying to chuck it away.
 
Atlanta turned the ball over on downs on their own 46 yard line with 102 seconds left and just one time out. Sure, you can’t completely end the game by taking a knee, but you can take three kneel downs, punt the ball and make them score twice. At the absolute worst, they’ll have the ball on the 20 yard line with about 15 seconds left. They’re not coming back from that. Instead Sean Payton rushed 3 times, got center Jonathan Goodwin injured (which stopped the clock) and Mike Bell fumbled. Atlanta got the ball back on the spot they turned it over at with only 19 seconds off the clock. Atlanta drove down and kicked a field goal to make it an 8 point game, and then recovered the onside kick. With 11 seconds left Atlanta had the ball at midfield, but Matt Ryan’s Hail Mary was intercepted by Darren Sharper as the Saints held on.