The New Orleans Saints were run out of their own building on Monday night as the Atlanta Falcons steamrolled their division rival to a 45-24 victory in Week 4. Given that this is one of the most venomous rivalries in the league, Saints fans weren't happy to see such a lopsided result, especially on a night celebrating the 20th anniversary of the return to the Superdome following Hurricane Katrina. And they let the team have it, with boos raining down from the stands.
"Fans understandably are upset," quarterback Tyler Shough said postgame, via ESPN. "We had some opportunities that we didn't take advantage of, and you're playing the Falcons, and you lose like that. That sucks." The game wasn't particularly close, with the Falcons almost instantly jumping out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead.
Over that same stretch as Atlanta punched it into the end zone twice, New Orleans went three-and-out, missed a field goal, and fumbled. By halftime, that grew to a 24-7 lead, and Atlanta was effectively off to the races from there. Cam Jordan candidly said that New Orleans got "punched in the mouth early" and the Falcons "had their way today." The loss dropped the Saints to 1-3 on the season, leaving them looking up at both the Panthers and Falcons, who finished the first month of the regular season at 2-2.
More than anything, you lose to the Falcons like that and especially on a Monday night game, it sucks," said Shough, who dropped to 0-3 in his career against the Falcons on Monday. "There's nothing you can say, like, 'Ah man, it doesn't suck.' It definitely does. But I do know as a team that we're extremely close, and we're going to keep going and keep our eyes forward.
"We have really good leadership, and our leadership on the team admits that we got to get better... But at the same time, it is a long season, and there's a lot of games yet to be played to where we can do that." Saints' coach Kellen Moore agreed. He called the game "disappointing" for several reasons, including the fact that it was a Monday night matchup with a crowd ready to roll.
"The dome was an incredible night, incredible energy," Moore said. "Didn't coach well enough; didn't play well enough. Obviously, it wasn't good enough.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
