Season 22 – Week 9

Week 9 is in the record books. Division leaders New England, Indianapolis, Green Bay, Atlanta, and Seattle all wont their games. Indianapolis and Atlanta were able to extend their Division lead over the number two team, while the other Division leaders were able to maintain their lead against a winning second place team. Indy has won four in a row, bringing their record to 6-3 after a 2-3 start to the season. With their overtime win over Cincinnati, the Browns are now within a half game of the Bengals. Las Vegas’ win over the New York Giants brings them within a game of the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC West.

Week 10 is shaping up to be a big one as the two remaining undefeated teams go head to head with Green Bay set to host Seattle.

Turning to the statistic of the week, Let’s focus on Turnovers. Turnovers are a key part of the game, and it is not surprising to see the league’s two undefeated teams sitting at the top of the Takeaway / Giveaway chart. Green Bay is +12 for the season and Seattle is +7. the only real surprise is the Division leading Cincinnati team -9 while still holding down first place in the AFC North.

Game of the Week

Atlanta pulls off a big divisional win versus the New Orleans Jason Voorhees’s. The first half was nip and tuck after the Falcons marched downfield off the opening kick to hit paydirt for a 7-0 lead helped out by a couple penalties. Cordarrelle Patterson hauled in a 6-yard toss from matt Ryan for the score. Taysom Hill got the start at QB for New Orleans and threw a pick on their first possession and Ryan snap fumbled to give the ball back. Ryan now has 11 snap fumbles in 8 USFFL games, equaling his IRL 2021 fumble total. Yikes! On the flip side, we have 15 INTs despite ATL picking off only 12 all year IRL. The teams then exchanged 2,000 punts in a row until chaos ruled the last couple minutes before halftime.

The Saints punted from their 26 with 2:06 left before the break. FUMBLE!!! Avery Williams. NO now sat 1st and 10 at the ATL 29 with a chance to tie it up. On 3rd and 4 from the ATL 23, Hill hit Adam Trautman for 11 yards and a 1st down. Hill lokked for Trautman again in the end zone (guessed wrong) but Erik Harris picked it off on a D card 4MIZ 2- roll on 2-4 interception chance. ATL couldn’t pick up a first down in three plays and also punted. FUMBLE! Deonte Harris and now the Falcons had the chance to score late with :45 left at the NO31. On the first play, Patterson busted around the left end for a touchdown run to go up 14-0. Huge momentum shift. After the kick, Hill looked to deep trying to scrtach something up before halftime, but Harris snagged it again and with just :22 left ATL was at the NO 45 hoping for a field goal chance. Mike Davis picked up 7 yards on a draw to the 38. Ryan wanted to see he could get Younghoe Koo closer but tossing a flair to Patterson and before you knew it Patterson was busting down the sideline and ridden out of bounds at the 4 just shy of another score. Koo drilled a 21 yarder and just like that it was 17-0 at the break. Big time luck for ATL!

The Saints didn’t lay down and die, nor was that expected. The NO D stymied the Falcons offense for nearly the whole 2nd half and Hill went nuts closing the gap. The Saints totaled 96 yards of offense in the 1st half and 3 first downs to ATL 186 & 12. NO rolled downfield after taking the 2nd half kick for a touchdown and then a FG on its second possession. Two drives, 23 plays, 149 yards, 10 first downs, chewing up over 11 minutes of clock. The Falcons had one possession in the 3rd running only 5 plays and picking up 1 first down.

The 4th quarter started with an ATL possession but the teams each exchanged 2 punts struggling to move the ball. When the Falcons took over with 6:54 left at their own 24, up 17-10, the goal was to get downfield, chew as much clock as possible and at least pick up 3 and make it a two-score game. They did pick up 3 first downs and had a 1st down at the NO 35 with 3:54 left. Instead of chewing clock, Ryan looked for fullback Keith Smith on a quick slant, but Coach Suhr loaded look-in with 2MIZ and BOOM — auto-INT & DT Shy Tuttle picked it off, rumbled 18 yards across midfield to the Falcons 48 with 3:18 left needing a TD to tie. Uh-oh!

Alvin Kamara sped around end for 16 yards to the 32. Mark Ingram rumbled off tackle for 12 to the ATL 20 with 2:24 left. FP incomplete and then a 3-yard Kamara run brought up 3rd and 7 at the 17. The Falcons took over on downs after two incompletions with 1:45 left. All good, right? Ryan knew sitting on the ball on the ground with NO’s tough run D may give the Saints another shot so he looked for rookie stud Kyle Pitts on a quick out. 13 yards! FIRST DOWN! Oh no. Flag on the play. Spot foul. Holding. 1st & 18. Atlanta would eventually be forced to punt and NO had another chance from its own 30-yard line with 1:07 left and one time-out.

On the first play, Hill looked short for Lil’Jordan Humphrey. PICKED OFF by Fabian Moreau! FLAG! ATL offsides. NO keeps the ball, 1st and 5. Hil,then hit kamara and Tre-Quan Smith on consecutive flats for 9 and 18 yards respectively to the Falcons 38. NO used its last TO stopping the clock with :45 left. Hill looked deep for Kamara but hit a must run for 0 yards – technically a sack in the field of play but offsetting penalties stopped the clock with :37 left.  A flat to T Smith lost 2 yards but he got OOB. Another deep shot to a covered Kamara forced Hill to scramble 8 yards to the 32 and a 3rd and 4 with :22 left. A short pass to Humphrey fell incomplete to bring up 4th and 4 with :15 left and Hill was injured, forcing Trevor Siemian behind center. Siemian converted by hitting Smith for 10 yards to the 22 yard-line! Siemian spiked it to stop the clock with :01 left. One more play left from the 22. Siemian looked downfield, scrambled, couldn’t find anyone, saw Smith double-covered in the end zone and heaved it up. 12 ROLL! DOUBLE TEAM COLUMN! It’s a HIT! TOUCHDOWN! OH MY GOD! Interestingly enough, Hill has no DT hits on his LP column. What a turn of events. But we weren’t heading to OT just yet. NO kicker Brett Maher has misses on XP 9 & 10 but he drilled it through, and we were off to extra football. The last couple minutes of both halves were just crazy – even for Strat.

This time the Saints D held ATL under 100 yards in the half and 6 first downs. Meanwhile, Hill & Siemian led the NO offense to 268 yards!!! after haltime and 17 first downs!!!

The overtime period was less eventful and crazy. All Falcons offensive cylinders were cranking once they won the toss. Patterson went to work again, picking up 28 yards on 3 carries and 2 first downs to the NO 47 to start the possession. A Falcons penalty then kicked them back to a 1st and 15. Patterson off tackle for no gain. Ryan then decided to pull Pitts back into the game plan. Coach Suhr was doubling him like a madman all game – over a dozen times in regulation – but Ryan hit him short for 17 and then 19, the latter on a run call. Prior to OT, the Saints held him to just 17 yards on 3 catches. ATL was at the 16. Patterson ran for 2 yards and then was stopped cold to reach fatigue. On 3rd and 8 at the 14, Ryan hit Olamide Zaccheus short for 11 to the 3. Ryan missed Patterson in the end zone on 1st down, but LB Kwon Alexander was called for pass interference putting the ball at the 1. NO’s D was literally up against a wall, called run-key on Ryan but he jumped back and hit Pitts for the game-winner. HOLY CRAP!!!!

I drank Mountain Dew in the first half. beers in the second half and pulled out the bourbon for OT. No joke. Fun game, Coach Suhr. He was a great sport even when I blurted out “Ridiculous!” on the last play game-tying TD. I’m sorry, Dan. We all see the “bad luck” but rarely compare it to our good luck. For example, my 10 points off of turnovers and a couple big hits offensively in the last 45 seconds of the first half.

Patterson rushed for 120 yards on 17 carries, added 47 yards receiving, and scored twice. He broke 1,000 yards from scrimmage now through 8 games. Kamara had 105 yards from scrimmage. Hill threw 3 picks. The teams were only 5 for 26 on third downs with ATL going just 1 for 10 but they combined for 327 yards rushing – averaging over 5.5 a carry.

Monster divisional win for the #DirtyBirds who are now 6-1-1 with a 3 1/2 game division lead nearly halfway through the season. A Saints win would’ve pulled them with 1 1/2 games, a 2-game swing. It’s a good thing because ATL faces some real big boy cards the next two weeks vs Dallas and New England. ATL went 0-2 & was outscored 68-3 by the Cowboys & Patriots IRL :flushed: The Saints now visit Tennessee. 

Top Performers

Quarterback – Joe Burrow 31 / 47 for 397 yards and – TDs

Receiver – Sterling Shepard – 10 receptions 116 yards and 2 TDs

Running Back – 30 carries for 177 yards

Week 9 Broadcasts

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