What-ifs loomed large in Saints comeback win in Atlanta

By Ed Daniels
WGNO Sports Director

Moments after the Saints’ comeback win over the Falcons, a friend called to remind me that last year, in a game moved from New Orleans to Jacksonville, the Saints routed the Packers in the season opener.

“Season openers are a lie,” warned the friend.

Maybe so.

The what-ifs for the Falcons were all over the place. 

What if their quarterback Marcus Mariotta had not fumbled twice? The first, leading 23-10 late in the third quarter and driving, Mariotta coughed up the football on a hit by Marcus Maye. Tyrann Mathieu recovered at the Saints 5.

Then, with under two minutes to play and the Saints out of timeouts, Mariotta fumbled the snap on third-and-1. Atlanta then punted.

And, you know the rest. 

Here’s last Sunday’s win in a nutshell. 

One franchise knew it could win. The other was hoping it could win, but wasn’t entirely sure.

So, where do the Saints go from here? Well, down the trail of a very long season. 

It will be weeks before we know the identity of the 2022 Saints. Last season, it became evident quite quickly. 

The Saints played good defense, protected the football and counted on Alvin Kamara to be a huge part of their offense. With Kamara, the Saints were 9-4; without him, they were 0-4.

This year’s club figures to be quite different. Jameis Winston has three playmakers at wide receiver. Jarvis Landry, Michael Thomas and Chris Olave combined for 15 receptions for 212 yards.

And, in the NFL, the team with the best quarterback play usually wins. Last Sunday’s noon and 3 p.m. games only emphasized that fact.

Of the eight passers with a quarterback rating of 100 or better, seven were on winning teams. Winston’s passer rating was 111.

However, a comeback win over the Falcons can’t hide the fact that the Saints were not their usual dominant self on the line of scrimmage. New Orleans allowed four quarterback sacks. The Falcons did not yield a sack to the Saints defense.

Atlanta also rushed for an alarming 201 yards. In 2021, the Saints allowed 1,589 yards for the season.

So, here we are in Week Two. Tom Brady gets another chance to do something he hasn’t done in four tries – that is, beat the Saints, in the regular season, as the starting quarterback in Tampa Bay.

Mrs. Brady, according to People Magazine, wasn’t thrilled that her husband, who turned 45 years old in August, had announced his retirement and then changed his mind. Giselle knows it is a long season.

And, after this Sunday, there’s still 15 more games to play.  

Ed Daniels is sports director at ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at [email protected].