NEW ORLEANS — This time, the Atlanta Falcons walked into a trap.
The team that had compiled a 3-0 record on the road and made headlines along the way as quarterback Kirk Cousins quoted lyrics from Bankroll Fresh’s “Take Over Your Trap” couldn’t keep the momentum going against its most bitter rival. Playing a New Orleans team awakened last week by the firing of their head coach, Atlanta slumbered through much of Sunday’s game and fell 20-17 to the Saints at the Caesars Superdome.
“This will be one you’re sick over,” Cousins said. “It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”
The Falcons (6-4) turned Marquez Valdes-Scantling into Jerry Rice in the first half, failed on three of their four field goal attempts and managed only 26 yards in the first quarter. The Saints, playing under interim head coach Darren Rizzi after the firing of Dennis Allen, won for the first time since Week 2, capping an eventful day for Rizzi.
“I get to the Superdome and I go to the head coach’s locker room, which I’ve never used before,” he said. “It’s early in the morning, so this is how my day started, I clogged the toilet, and I’m like, ‘This is going to be a crappy day, pun intended.’”
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Instead, it turned out to be a stinker for the Falcons, who were upset that they ignored their own warnings to expect an energized Saints team.
“You can’t take anybody for granted especially when they have a coaching switch like that,” cornerback A.J. Terrell said. “Teams tend to come out hot. They get more energy when they get a new coach, and we mentioned that all week. We knew they were going to come out hot and throw everything at us. We just started slow. We gave up a lot of stuff early running the ball and passing the ball, and we kind of locked in a little too late.”
THE HONEY BADGER TAKES WHAT HE WANTS.
📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/EW3gy44UtU
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 10, 2024
Valdes-Scantling, who has played for four teams in his seven-year career, had three catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. It was more yards than he had had in his previous 14 games combined, and he finished with the fifth-best game of his career despite not catching a pass in the second half.
“We knew what kind of game it was going to be,” Falcons safety Justin Simmons said. “We started really flat the first half. It’s disappointing. We have too many talented players to be operating how we did in the first half of the game.”
The Saints (3-7) gained only 100 yards and scored three points after halftime, but it was enough because of an inconsistent Falcons offense and kicker Younghoe Koo’s 1-for-4 performance.
“This game is fully on me,” Koo said. “That’s not OK. We are playing well enough to win football games, especially this one, and I let the team down. I don’t take that lightly. It’s one of the lowest points for a kicker. I’ll bury myself in it for the next couple days and try to make the most out of it.”
Quite a moment caught by @bkfox5sports after Falcons loss — kicker Younghoe Koo taps himself on the chest as he exits field, then team owner Arthur Blank puts his arm around Koo and talks with him as they walk off the field. pic.twitter.com/wZkqTCMqGM
— Justin Felder (@Justin_FOX5) November 10, 2024
Koo — who missed once wide left, once wide right and had one kick blocked — is 17-for-24 for the season. He kicked a career-long 58-yard game-winner in Week 4 to beat the Saints, but his seven misses already are the most he’s had in any of his six seasons.
“I have all the confidence in the world in Younghoe,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “He’s one of the best kickers in this game. He’s done it for us for a long time. He had an off day. Shooters shoot. He went out there and took his shots today and didn’t make them.”
Running back Bijan Robinson, who had 116 rushing yards and two touchdowns and is now fifth in the league in rushing (748 yards), compared the game to the Week 7 loss to Seattle, the Falcons’ only other defeat since Week 3, but Morris said he didn’t think his team was flat against the Saints.
“I’m fired up about my guys staying in the fight,” the coach said. “I’m fired up about the adjustments. I’m proud of our guys playing the right way. Just want to be able to finish that game off and we’d be a lot happier. Once we got going, it was too late.”
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The message in the locker room was the same, Robinson said. The Falcons remain two games ahead in the NFC South thanks to Tampa Bay’s 23-20 loss to Kansas City on Sunday.
“That’s why we love (Morris),” Robinson said. “He’s so positive, no matter what it is. It gives us so much confidence. We had our little postgame speech, I said a prayer for the whole team and then we’re just back to being happy because that’s what we have to do. We don’t want to hang our heads down at all, that’s how you start losing games, and that’s not who we are as a team.”
Cousins, who broods after defeats, said he appreciates Morris’ opposite stance. Cousins finished 23-for-38 for 306 yards and an interception and failed to throw a touchdown pass for just the second time as the Falcons’ quarterback. The first time also came against the Saints.
“I think it’s a good way to approach it,” Cousins said. “I have learned that not much is going to get to Coach. He stays very level, very positive. I do internalize it. It hurts. It hurts for him, too, but you have your process.”
(Photo of Younghoe Koo: Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images)
