NFL Monday Night Wrap-Up-Falcons/Saints

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Not that last night's game didn't lack a little excitement. In fact, the game had a little bit of everything...defensive touchdowns off turnovers, lots of offense and scoring, missed field goals from two pretty accurate kickers. Just a few things I took away from last night's Falcons/Saints clash.

1. I mentioned the turnovers. Considering that these two teams are considered playoff teams, there were too many turnovers. Falcons QB Matt Ryan threw 3 picks with one of those being returned 48 yard for a Saints TD by Jabari Greer. Saints QB Drew Brees threw a pick and fumbled which was scooped up and returned for a TD by Atlanta's Kroy Biermann. Saints RBs Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell also put the ball on the ground which were recovered bt the Falcons. That's seven total turnovers.

2. I questioned the "disappearance" of Falcons RB Michael Turner (right). He "appeared" last night with 20 carries for 151 yards and a TD...and this effort. That's the Michael Turner we saw in 2008!

3. Between the Falcons Jason Elam and the Saints John Carney, there were three missed filed goals. Elam missed two, a 34 yard try that banged off the left post and a 51 yard effort that missed miserably left at the end of the first half. He did connect from 25 and 40 yards. For the season, Elam is only 60% (6 of 10) on all FG attempts for the season. For his career, Elam is 81%. Carney missed an effort from 37 yards that was pushed to the right and is 73% for the season (8 of 11) and 82.4% for his career. And some people don't think kicking can make a difference. Elam hits all his tres and the game is that much closer.

4. All we know about Saints WR Marques Colston (left) is that he "is a beast." He was referred to as that on at least four occassions during last night's telecast. And he performed like one. All Brees had to do was put the ball within 5 yards of Colston and he came up with the reception. To Jon Gruden, I concur.

5. The most impressive stat of the night: The Saints had four drives of at least 80 yards. Simple math tells me that's at least 320 yards of offense. I did say the "bend, but don't break" defense of the Falcons would eventually catch up to them and it did against New Orleans. The Saints managed a redzone efficiency of 75% (3 for 4) and 100% (2 for 2) on goal-to-goal situations.

The loss by Atlanta now puts them three games behind New Orleans in the NFC South with a long road to go in order to win the division. It's not to early to think about their playoff possibilities. They do get New Orleans at home in week 14. Atlanta has three other tests ahead. They travel to the Meadowlands twice (week 11 for the Giants and week 15 for the Jets) and will play host to the Eagls in week 13. The Saints have the easiest remaining schedule in the league.

A long road, indeed.