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Saints-Falcons
11/02/09 - 11:40 PM
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By BRETT MARTEL
AP Sports Writer
    NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Saints have tied their best start to a
season.
    Drew Brees had 308 yards passing, Pierre Thomas scored two
touchdowns and Jabari Greer returned an interception for a score to
help the Saints improve to 7-0 with a 35-27 victory over the
Atlanta Falcons on Monday night. Only the 1991 Saints began a
season with as many wins.
    Greer’s touchdown was the Saints’ fifth score on an interception
this season, tying a single-season franchise mark set in 1998.
Tracy Porter also had an interception on the Saints 1-yard line on
a pass tipped by Jonathan Vilma in the fourth quarter, preserving a
28-24 lead.
    Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan was intercepted three times, the
third straight game he’d been intercepted at least twice.
    Still, the Falcons stayed in it until the end, getting a 40-yard
field goal from Jason Elam with 28 seconds left, then recovering an
onside kick. Ryan only had time for a desperation heave in the
final seconds, and Darren Sharper turned it into his seventh
interception of the season.
    Sharper’s interception also was the Saints’ 16th overall this
season, surpassing New Orleans’ total of 15 from last season. The
Saints have at least one interception in every game this season.
    Brees hit Marques Colston for an 18-yard score. Thomas scored on
a 22-yard run in the first quarter and a 1-yard catch out of the
backfield with 3:03 to go, flipping backward over a tackler and
into the end zone. That touchdown made it 35-24 and ignited the
entire Superdome into chants of “Who dat say they gonna’ beat them
Saints?”
    Reggie Bush added a 1-yard touchdown late in the first half,
giving the Saints a lead they would not relinquish.
    Roddy White beat Greer on a 68-yard scoring pass from Ryan early
in the third quarter, and the Falcons pulled to 28-24 on Elam’s
25-yard field goal with 11:33 to go in the game.
    That field goal, however, came only after Saints coach Sean
Payton sprinted down the sideline and launched his red flag about
20 yards just in time to challenge what had been ruled a game-tying
touchdown catch by White in the back of the end zone. Replays
showed White allowed the ball to touch the turf as he bobbled the
catch.
    The loss, Atlanta’s second straight, dropped the Falcons (4-3)
three games behind the Saints in the NFC South. It marked the first
time the Falcons had lost two straight under second-year coach Mike
Smith. It also squandered Michael Turner’s best game of the season.
He had 151 yards rushing, including a 13-yard touchdown.
    The Falcons’ defense also produced a score. Thomas DeCoud’s
jarring sack on a delayed blitz up the middle dislodged the ball
from Brees and Kroy Biermann returned it from the 4-yard line,
giving Atlanta a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter.
    Brees came back strong from the turnover, leading the Saints 80
yards on 12 plays to tie it at 14 on his TD pass to Colston, who
outjumped cornerback Tye Hill on the grab. Colston finished with 85
yards on six catches and tight end Jeremy Shockey caught five
passes for 72 yards.
    Atlanta had two first-half drives stall on Elam’s missed field
goal attempts from 34 and 51 yards.
    One Saints drive stalled deep in Atlanta territory when
cornerback Brent Grimes made a spectacular leaping interception on
the Atlanta 18.
    Brees once again bounced back, going 4 for 4 for 76 yards on the
Saints’ final offensive series of the first half, setting up Bush’s
touchdown on a run around the left end.
    A little more than three years ago, the Falcons were the
visitors when the Saints returned to the newly reopened Louisiana
Superdome for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. That Monday
night had a storybook start for the Saints, who scored on a blocked
punt on Atlanta’s opening drive.
    With those vivid memories still fresh, the Superdome crowd was
cheering wildly as the Saints defense took the field after the
opening kickoff.
    This time, however, Ryan calmly led the Falcons 77 yards for a
score, with Turner gaining 38 of those yards, including his lone
TD.
    New Orleans answered when Thomas broke former LSU star Chevis
Jackson’s tackle near the line of scrimmage, then cut left away
from John Abraham to tie it at 7.