The truth is Saints outplayed the Falcons
Seeing a whole lot of "sky is falling" posts, but the truth is we outplayed the Falcons. They won on three plays, one of which was a fluke.
Play #1: mistake by Shaheed trying to field a punt inside the 5 yard line. This was his mistake completely. Players shouldn't ever try to field a ball there. Let it bounce and hope it goes into the end zone. Instead, he muffed and Atlanta scores.
Play #2: Nice job by the Atlanta lineman getting his hands up to knock down the screen pass. THIS IS THE FLUKE PLAY. Instead of the ball falling harmlessly to the ground, it bounced up in the air into the waiting arms of a Falcon who easily ran it in. This play was just bad luck, no way to prevent the ball not "bouncing your way" sometimes.
Play #3: 4th quarter. We have them, but Adebo panicked and gave up huge yardage by unnecessarily interfering n the pass. The receiver wouldn't have caught the ball. He shouldn't have interfered. That's a learning moment on him.
Three plays, two of which are completely fixable with coaching (and by the player being smart enough to learn from making the mistake). The other play was a fluke.
Other than that, we outplayed them completely. Their offense only managed field goals and was mostly anemic the entire game. Our offense scored 24 on them, well enough to win most games, especially when one's defense is shutting the opponent out of the end zone.
Yes, it's a game we should have won, but it's also a game to look at and see that our team is good, not bad. Even with a bunch of injuries, we were the better team on the field. To me, this game shows how much promise and talent we have, on the field and on the sidelines. I expect we're gong to go on quite a winning streak from here because our schedule is very easy once we're past next week.
And frankly, watching the Chiefs play these first four weeks, they are no great shakes so far. We have an excellent shot at beating them...unless, of course, the NFL already has decided we're supposed to lose.
Just my two shakes.