photo courtesy of Michael C. Hebert/New Orleans Saints
The Saints make their return to national television for the first time in two years and proceed to stink up the field. On a night when they observed the 20th anniversary of the reopening of the Superdome following Hurricane Katrina, the Falcons dominated the Saints, 45-24. Head Coach Kellen Moore says it was not the performance he was looking for in front of a national TV audience.
“Anytime you get to play a national game, those are big-time opportunities; and it’s just disappointing, obviously, for us. I know there’s frustration for everyone. We’re all frustrated, we’re all disappointed in where we’re at. We’re going to have to learn from this one and move forward,” Moore said.
There was certainly a lot of excitement before the game, with a stirring National Anthem performance by Irma Thomas, who also performed the national anthem at the Domecoming game 20 years earlier. That was followed by Steve Gleason leading the sellout crowd in the “Who Dat” chant. It took the Falcons three plays to take the crowd right out of the game, with Bijan Robinson scoring on a 59-yard run. Moore says the fact that his team laid an egg under those circumstances was especially frustrating.
“Certainly, we talked about it throughout the week; and I think our guys grew a great appreciation for it, and we understood the opportunity that was presented. I thought there was great energy in there. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the juice continued just because they were able to get things going early and we weren’t able to catch up,” Moore explained.
Tyler Shough completed 30 out of 48 passes for 286 yards and a touchdown, with that touchdown pass coming late in the fourth quarter with the game well out of reach. Shough said he was hoping for a better performance under the circumstances.
“It’s extremely disappointing; it’s embarrassing. And you can’t say enough good things about the fans showing up, the entire process, what this game meant; and we fell short as a team to not get that win,” Shough said.
The Saints fall to 1-3 on the season and will try again Sunday against the Vikings in the Superdome.
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