And although he’ll turn 37 next week, Brees is showing little, if any, signs of decline, even though for his first time with the Saints he did miss a game because of injury this season. Atlanta’s defense stopped New Orleans on third down after three consecutive incomplete passes, and Kai Forbath hit a 41-yard field goal to tie the game up at 17-17.
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The team fired defensive coordinator Rob Ryan during the season and promoted assistant Dennis Allen to fill the opening. He was 19-26 overall in two-plus seasons with the Chiefs.
“No, listen, we get in tomorrow”, he said.
“We had a ton of injuries, but we really didn’t use it as an excuse”, Sean Payton said after the game. Devonta Freeman has been a stellar back and a young player that the Falcons can build around.
Photo by Associated Press /Times Free Press. The Saints finish the year 7-9 and could see major changes coming soon.
Ryan threw touchdown passes to tight end Tony Moeaki and Freeman in the first half, helping Atlanta build at 17-14 lead at intermission. Brees finished with 4,870 yards and 32 TDs against only 11 interceptions, tying his lowest interception total as a Saint.
His 136 catches and 1,871 yards receiving both rank second-best. Yes, it was disappointing to drop to 8-8 after a 5-0 start, but if you jumble up the schedule, it evens out as a step in the right direction.
The day started well for Atlanta, as the defense forced a quick three and out before embarking on a drive that would open the scoring, as Shayne Graham nailed a 51-yard field goal midway through the first quarter.
And to a lesser degree the Falcons might be similarly motivated against the Saints.
“There was no intention to cheap-shot anybody”, Levitre said. “I was just trying to help the receiver make a play”.
He became Saints coach in 2006 after working three years on Bill Parcells’ Dallas Cowboys staff. Payton has combined with Drew Brees for one of the NFL’s top offenses for almost a decade, highlighted by the Saints’ Super Bowl title in the 2009 season. And the Monday morning quarterback talk was not about the plays called in Atlanta Sunday, but the coach who will call the plays of tomorrow.
In his postgame news conference Sunday, Payton wasn’t ready to answer the speculation that has been building since mid-October when a reporter tried to ask him about it. SI’s Peter King put the chances at “50/50” while ESPN’s Mike Triplett said the Saints were still very much in play if Payton doesn’t find a team he wants to join more. “We had plenty of opportunities to capitalize on some of the things we did well offensively, and we weren’t able to put it in the end zone”.
Although some teams might scoff at losing a high draft choice for a coach, others could view the transaction similar to acquiring a top-flight player.
Edwards guided the Chiefs to the playoffs in his first year, but quickly lost his luster after two double-digit loss seasons. That, for me, as you get older, one of the things that comes with the aging process, as people say, is that you’re not going to recover as fast.
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Brees has one year left on his deal with the Saints, counting about $30 million against the salary cap.
