Saints Knock Off Falcons 31-27 in Thriller at Superdome

Shortened fingernails. A few less folicles. A lot less of your voice. 

That's what you usually get from a Saints-Falcons game. We sure got that this afternoon as our New Orleans Saints hung on to knock off the previously unbeaten Atlanta Falcons 31-27.

The game got off to a shaky start for the Who Dat Nation as Atlanta marched down the field on their first possession for a touchdown. Then on the first play of the Saints' first possession, Drew Brees threw an interception. The defense held but the Falcons were quickly up 10-0.

New Orleans would bounce back in a big way as running back Chris Ivory had an outstanding 56-yard touchdown run to pull the home team within three points.

The second quarter was dominated by each teams' sensational tight ends. Jimmy Graham had two second quarter touchdowns while Tony Gonzalez for Atlanta had one. The Saints went into the locker room up 21-17 and the ball first in the second half.

Neither team did anything on their first possession of the third quarter. However, the Saints put together a nice drive on their second possession capping it off with a Brees to Marques Colston 7-yard touchdown pass.

Down 28-17, Atlanta put together a furious comeback in the fourth quarter and at one point pulled within a point of New Orleans. A Garrett Hartley 31-yard field goal with 5:54 left though would push the Saints' lead to an important four points.

Late in the fourth quarter the Falcons were able to put together what appeared to be a game-winning drive. After starting at their own 20, nine plays later, the visitors had the ball first and goal at the Saints' 10-yard line. A 9-yard completion to Jacquizz Rodgers got the ball down to the 1 with three chances to cash in. However, the Saints defense came up with three consecutive stops to basically ice the game.

With the win, the New Orleans Saints improve to 4-5 and the Atlanta Falcons drop their first game of the year and still stand at a league-best 8-1. Next Sunday the Saints travel to Oakland for a 3:05pm kick-off. Pre-game on 97.3 The Dawg starts at 1pm. Atlanta has a bye next week.