Saints Report: Saints show resolve in 21-18 win over Falcons

The New Orleans Saints could have used a bye week much earlier in the season, but week 14 is the one they got and they made the most of it, coming out refreshed against their NFC South rival the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday afternoon en route to a 21-18 win in week 15.

In their first home game since before Thanksgiving, the Saints did most of their damage in the first quarter, jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead less than seven minutes into the game courtesy of a 19-yard touchdown pass from Andy Dalton to Juwan Johnson and then a 68-yard end zone strike from Taysom Hill to Rashid Shaheed.

Dalton and Johnson hooked up again in the third quarter from 22 yards out, but the Falcons making things interesting late in the fourth quarter thanks to their potent ground attack accounting for 231 yards compared to just 89 passing.

Head Coach Dennis Allen says winning’s winning. “We need a win; you know what I mean? It’s one thing – we all talk about running the ball, running the ball. Look, I don’t think we tackled as good as we needed to today. Okay, but what did they have, 80-something yards passing? So, it’s not about, do you stop the run? Do you stop the pass? Do you do this? Do you do that? It’s do you win? And that’s what we did today.”

Dalton said, “I think there’s something to finish the season strong regardless of making the playoffs or not, and so we had four left before today. We got one win today and we’ve got three more to go, and so our mindset and our goal is to finish the season the right way and to win the next three.”

The Saints return to action Saturday at Cleveland for a noon kick-off on Christmas Eve.